Scott D.S. Young
Oakland, CA
My work draws from nature’s textures and found materials, layering color and surface to uncover beauty shaped by time, touch, and place.
Message
Professional Development:
Cortijo el Moro Artist Residency – Andalucía, Spain (September–October 2025)
Focused on mixed media and printmaking processes using natural materials and working without a press. Created rust prints, monotypes, and large-format paintings inspired by the region’s mountainous landscape and olive groves.
Express Your Visual Voice through Printmaking Workshop – Guanajuato, Mexico (March 11–15, 2025)
I explored carborundum printmaking, adding rich tonal textures and painterly surfaces, intense color, and a strong physicality to printmaking. We used various materials as print substrates, including acrylic plates and cardboard.
Visual Record: Art as Artifact Workshop – Willow Pond Retreat, Arroyo Grande, CA (September 2024)
Co-taught by Lisa Pressman and Susan Stover; a five-day workshop focusing on translating personal memory and environment into print and mixed-media work.
Monotype Printmaking Workshop with Ron Pokrasso Guanajuato, Mexico (June 2024)
Screen Print Monotype – School of Visual Philosophy, San Jose, CA (August 2023)
With artist Dana Harris-Seegar.
In-depth Relief Workshop with Printmaker Hugo Anaya Guanajuato, Mexico (June 2023)
Collagraph Printmaking Retreat – Guanajuato, Mexico (January 2022)
Explored collagraph printmaking under the guidance of artist Elise Wagner, developing textured plates from found materials like plexiglass and cardboard to experiment with layered surfaces and tactile expression.
Encaustic Painting with Fire, Encaustic, and Printmaking Guanajuato, Mexico (February 2016)
I Learned how exploring the techniques and methods of both encaustic and printmaking—two age-old mediums—can expand and influence your creative practice. With artist Elise Wagner.
Education:
San Francisco State University, Bachelor of Arts, Liberal Studies, 2004 - 2008
Platt College-San Diego, Associate of Applied Science: Graphic Design, Illustration/Graphic Arts, 1989 – 1992
Selected Past Exhibitions:
February 1 - 27, 2025 www.thomsongallery.com, exhibited in the Thomson Gallery, Zug/Switzerland
August 2024 Artist Closeup Magazine
Feature in Artist Closeup Magazine
August 2024 Runner up in the REDBUBBLE Summer Design Challenge
Title: Waggle Dance Size
Intaglio chine collè monotype print
15 x 11 in (38.1 x 27.94 cm)
August 2024 Print Exchange Travel Exhibition/catalog | Part of the #openpressproject Globally
Title: Black Squid
2.75 x 2.75 in (6.99 x 6.99 cm)
July 2024 Online and Catalog Exhibition, Believe, Vancouver, British Columbia
Title: Beneath the Surface, Encaustic 6 x 6 in (15.24 x 15.24 cm)
July 2023 “Crossroads” Catalyst Art Lab Exhibition, Forshey Gallery - Chicago Temple Methodist Church
October 2023 37th Annual Emeryville Art Exhibition
August 5-28, 2021 Gallery + Online Exhibition, Textures & Patterns, Las Laguna, California
In Collections:
Charcoal drawing sold to a collector, Dallas-Fort Worth, August 1997
Statement
I make work that captures nature’s abstract beauty and the layered imprint of time. My process is rooted in printmaking—monotype, chine-collé, and trace monotype—often combining drawing, encaustic, and collage to build textured, intimate compositions. I use a range of tools, including an etching press, gelli plates, a pin press, and brayers, which allow for both control and spontaneity.
Much of my inspiration comes from found or discarded materials—worn paper, organic textures, and weathered forms—which become both subject and structure in my pieces. There’s a tactile quality in my work that reflects the quiet attention I give to each step, whether layering pigment or embedding fragments of handmade paper. I’m drawn to the idea that beauty can be subtle, fragile, and easily missed, just like the natural details we often overlook.
Through my work, I hope to encourage a moment of reflection, a closer look, and a deeper sense of connection to the materials and world around us.