Interview with Kat Foxhall - Soil Association card artist

Emma interviewed Kat Foxhall, artist of our new Soil Association Christmas card range, to hear about the inspiration for her art and what's involved in the creative process.

1) What is the main inspiration for your designs?

I live in Uffington, near Oxford, and can see the famous white horse chalk figure from outside my house and I'm always wondering about the things that horse has seen over its three thousand years. So the horse features a lot, but in general I love the line of hills that the ancient Ridgeway road run alongs, the deep rolling combes that fall to the valley plains below, and the way the wind tugs at the crops in the arable fields of the North Wessex Downs. It's also a really dark area with little light pollution, which makes it beautiful at night, so lots of my work also features clouds, the Milky Way, the moon. I love to pick out particular constellations, including by drilling small holes in the metal plate to create little points of light. More recently, and this probably comes from being involved in local green politics, I've become fascinated by the places that our natural world meets modern infrastructure. I've been working on several designs that include wind turbines, pylons and even construction cranes.

2) Could you explain the process for using metal plates to create your art?

The first time I walked into a print room, I immediately fell in love with the chemistry of making an etching plate. Working with either sheet roofing zinc or copper, we first coat the plate in a protective "ground" made of beeswax and resin before drawing our design into the surface. Then we put the plate into an acid bath; any of the metal that has been exposed in the drawing is etched away, creating a very fine line. Once the plate is cleaned off, we rub very thick printing ink into the lines using a pad of muslin called "scrim". Finally, we polish the surface of the plate to leave the areas we want white, and put it through a very high pressure metal roller press under wet paper. The rollers transfer the link from the etched plate lines onto the paper. You can always tell an original etching print, because if you look closely you can see the imprint of the metal plate will be embossed onto the paper. I've been printmaking for 6 years now, and still feel that I'm only just beginning to understand how to create different effects, or to judge how long to leave a plate in the acid to achieve the line I want!

Adding the finishing touches to an etching plate

3) What is it like being part of the Oxford Printmakers Co-operative?

It's such a special space, with so many wonderful and generous members. I love coming round the corner of Tyndale Road in Oxford, and seeing our blue arched door at the end of the street. Then as you go inside the smell of the inks greets you, and this cavernous old church hall opens up with shafts of light coming through the high windows and the wonderful historic presses in the middle of the room. I joined as a full member in 2022 after taking evening and weekend courses at OPC and Leicester Print Workshop. I've recently become a keyholder and try to go to the workshop once a week. I love the quiet and calm of an early morning when I'm the first one in, but the best times are the days we come together to hang a new exhibition, or to open the workshop to the public. The co-operative has over a hundred members who work in a whole range of methods including stone lithography, screenprint, woodcut, linocut as well as etching. People are incredibly generous with their knowledge and experience and I've made some wonderful friends. For the second year we're creating a group advent calendar - 24 of us will each print a series of mini prints. It's so exciting to open up each day's little envelope and find another gorgeous work of beautiful mini art.

4) We're so grateful that you have given us exclusive use of your artwork for our 2025 Christmas card series. What does it mean to you that sales of your designs will be supporting Soil Association?

I'm thrilled to have been invited to have my designs included in the Ethical Shop catalogue! When I was a kid, my aunt used to buy organic bread, and I remember fighting with my brother over who got the piece with the little rice paper circle with the Soil Association logo on the bottom - it felt very exotic! Of course as an adult I now realise more that the Soil Association has for a long time been so important in speaking up for the countryside, nature, sustainable farming and better food. I'm delighted to be able to help contribute in a small way through my designs.

Kat Foxhall's collection