Drawing is something I’ve been doing since I was a little girl. Like many children, I doodled all the time, but I never stopped. After high school, I first trained as a fashion designer. What interested me most was repetitive patterns and textiles as a medium, rather than clothing itself.

This desire for creative freedom naturally led me to an art school.

During my studies, I drew a lot and also did film photography. I loved developing photos, and the day I walked into an engraving studio, I had a revelation: I found that it resembled a photo lab… but with daylight!

Engraving immediately appealed to me because it combined my two passions: drawing and printed images. You engrave a surface (metal, linoleum, etc.), ink it, and then print the image like a photo print. I was fascinated by this process: you start with a line to obtain an imprint, a bit like starting with a negative to reveal a photo. It was this link between the gesture, the material, and the image that won me over.

This is the technique I use most often. Linocut is popular because it is non-toxic, easy to clean (with water), and quick to implement. In just an hour and a half, you can make a small ink stamp! It is a flexible technique that allows for a lot of freedom.

I also work with Tetra Pak, a recycled material (food cartons) whose metalized interior allows for engraving, just like on a copper plate. The result is similar to traditional drypoint, at virtually no cost. You can print at home with a manual press or even a pasta machine! It’s a very DIY technique, which I enjoy sharing in my workshops.

Monotype is a direct printing technique that is almost pictorial. You paint or ink a smooth surface (plastic) and then place elements (lace, plants, fabrics) on it to create a unique composition. Then you put it all through a press to reveal the imprint. It’s a very free process, similar to intuitive painting.

What I love most of all is experimentation. Testing materials, textures, tools… Engraving is an infinite playground.

Yes, a linocut that belongs to my Cosmic Statuettes series. It is a work inspired by prehistoric menhir statues, anthropomorphic sculptures that can be seen at the Fenaille Museum in Rodez. I fell in love with these archaic, powerful, almost magical forms.

For the past four or five years, I have been exploring this theme through hybrid characters, like nature spirits. It’s a very personal, almost meditative work.

I exhibit regularly, both collectively and solo.
The next exhibition will take place on October 4 and 5, 2025, in my friend Valerie Harris‘s studio at 3 Allée du Docteur Festal, 33120 Arcachon. She has very kindly invited me to share her space for a weekend during the sixth edition of the Parcours des Ateliers d’Artiste d’Arcachon (Arcachon Artist Studio Tour).

I am passionate about traveling, visiting museums, reading… but everything always revolves around art in one way or another. I love exploring, learning, and marveling at new things. It is this curiosity that also fuels my artistic practice.

Marie-Atina embodies a generation of artists for whom material, gesture, and transmission are at the heart of their approach. Through her delicate engravings and sensitive experiments, she invites us to slow down, observe, and rediscover the world through the marks we leave on it. You can find her now on Nohô to learn more about the techniques she uses. The meeting will take place in the Marcel Sembat neighborhood in Bègles (near the Simone Veille Bridge and the boulevards).