Call Your Wise Aunt print with a pink/lavender background. Call is rendered with an old style landline telephone. There's also a small daisy and lupin.
print with the text, I got caught up in so much shame I forgot there's still plenty of life to live. The first part of the phrase is rendered in white as part of a spider web on a pink background which fades out to the right. The rest of the text is shown in white letters on flowers modeled after harebells.
Text "Heal your way through the feeling" in thin white lines on a sky at sunrise over low fog shrouded hills and a calm body of water reflecting the sky. This is paired with a similar nighttime scene, with the text "Feel your way through the healing."
The text "Friends help me see that" appears in a sash draped over an ornate oval mirror, in which the text "I deserve comfort and love" appears in wavy reflections in the mirror.
The text "Surround yourself with love" appears in expanding bands of color which transition from red to orange and back.
The text, "drink from streams which flow" rendered on a pink background with abstract water flowing at the bottom.
The text Experiment Fail Grow appears on a green/yellow background with fingerprints intentionally part of the artwork.
The text "break old patterns" shown as cracking under a sledge hammer striking them, while "create new habits" is rendered as 3-D text.
The text "Play mind games to reinforce psychological abilities" is shown on a 3-D chess board.
The text, "I wake up and I ask myself, how am i" is shown as clouds against a sunrise.
The text "let yourself be supported" appears coming towards the reader with decorative ribbons.
The text, "resist the impulse to self-isolate" is in two arcs around the text, "If a friend was hurting you wouldn't want them to suffer alone" which radiates outside of a door opening slightly ajar.
The text "it can be a gift to ask for help when you need it most" is shown on a box with a ribbon bow.
A writing prompt with handwriting and a pink arrow indicating how a passage "I called my wise aunt" in response to a family conflict.
A series of drawings for Call Your Wise Aunt, with a pencil sketch, blue pencil sketch, and color mock-up
The Call Your Wise Aunt foam blocks, print-in-progress with only "Your", and the final print.
An Asian woman artist operating an old press, printing the sash block in the "I Deserve Love and Comfort" print. A large printing rack is behind her with some finished prints.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Call Your Wise Aunt print with a pink/lavender background. Call is rendered with an old style landline telephone. There's also a small daisy and lupin.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, print with the text, I got caught up in so much shame I forgot there's still plenty of life to live. The first part of the phrase is rendered in white as part of a spider web on a pink background which fades out to the right. The rest of the text is shown in white letters on flowers modeled after harebells.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, Text "Heal your way through the feeling" in thin white lines on a sky at sunrise over low fog shrouded hills and a calm body of water reflecting the sky. This is paired with a similar nighttime scene, with the text "Feel your way through the healing."
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "Friends help me see that" appears in a sash draped over an ornate oval mirror, in which the text "I deserve comfort and love" appears in wavy reflections in the mirror.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "Surround yourself with love" appears in expanding bands of color which transition from red to orange and back.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text, "drink from streams which flow" rendered on a pink background with abstract water flowing at the bottom.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text Experiment Fail Grow appears on a green/yellow background with fingerprints intentionally part of the artwork.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "break old patterns" shown as cracking under a sledge hammer striking them, while "create new habits" is rendered as 3-D text.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "Play mind games to reinforce psychological abilities" is shown on a 3-D chess board.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text, "I wake up and I ask myself, how am i" is shown as clouds against a sunrise.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "let yourself be supported" appears coming towards the reader with decorative ribbons.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text, "resist the impulse to self-isolate" is in two arcs around the text, "If a friend was hurting you wouldn't want them to suffer alone" which radiates outside of a door opening slightly ajar.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The text "it can be a gift to ask for help when you need it most" is shown on a box with a ribbon bow.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, A writing prompt with handwriting and a pink arrow indicating how a passage "I called my wise aunt" in response to a family conflict.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, A series of drawings for Call Your Wise Aunt, with a pencil sketch, blue pencil sketch, and color mock-up
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, The Call Your Wise Aunt foam blocks, print-in-progress with only "Your", and the final print.
  • Load image into Gallery viewer, An Asian woman artist operating an old press, printing the sash block in the "I Deserve Love and Comfort" print. A large printing rack is behind her with some finished prints.

Life Lessons Limited Edition Letterpress Prints

Regular price
$100.00
Sale price
$100.00
Regular price
Sold out
Unit price
per 

The Life Lessons series is features real people's advice, rooted on their own lived experiences.

The texts are mostly inspired by written submissions from members of the public, who responded to prompts on adversity, coping, and advice to friends in similar situations. A few prints were inspired by the artist's own therapeutic journey. 

Artist Christine Wong Yap created the lettering and design, cut the design with an Xacto knife, mixed inks, and physically printed each separate color on a vintage Vandercook letterpress—all by hand (see process photos). To achieve the various colors, all prints had to be printed multiple times using different plates.

Each artwork is available as a signed and numbered limited edition.

  • Small prints (8.5 x 11 inches) are available for $100.
  • Large prints (12 x 18 inches) are available for $200. 
  • To check the size and price, select a title from the pull-down menu above; the artwork and price will automatically update.

For over 10 years, Christine has studied of positive psychology by reading established researchers and conducing participatory research with local communities. She conceived of Life Lessons while working alongside the City of Berkeley Mental Wellness and Recovery program's social workers and consumers at Kala Art Institute. She expanded the project as a StudioWorks artist-in-residence at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport (Muselenk), Maine. 

Photos may show a version without the number and signature, or with a rubber stamp; however, the prints for sale are signed and numbered limited edition.

Note: Inks used are not lightfast. Avoid direct light or frame under UV protective glass to minimize fading. 

*Due to variables in international shipping costs, Life Lessons prints are currently only available to ship to addresses within the US. Please inquire for international orders.

Photo of the artist at work in the StudioWorks Building by Hugh French, courtesy of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art, Eastport, Maine.