Joan Dix Blair makes woodcuts, etchings, and monoprints, using traditional techniques. She chooses her plate material according to her concept - copper or wood or plastic. Her "vocabulary" is abstraction, simplification, and storytelling... Printmaking as a language.

Her inspirations come from the landscape of Massachusetts where she lives. A series of etchings about salamanders and their habitat occupied the artist for several years. These are 6-foot long, etched scrolls, accompanied by a ceramic installation, and short videos of a pond.

In 2018, Blair began a series of etchings based on the typology of oak leaves. One of these drypoint prints was selected for a Southern Graphics Council Traveling Exhibit.

Another exhibit titled “Leaves” allows the double meaning that the etchings of tree leaves are equally evidence that she lived. Blair’s prints are inspired by the landscape that surrounds her rural home. She is inspired by weather, water, and vegetation. Her photographs evolve into abstract drawings for the copper etching plates or woodblocks. These studio works are often a remembrance, place, gifts, and household ornaments. She uses traditional methods of etching and woodcut. 

The most important influence on Blair's printmaking education was participating in workshops at Kathan Brown's Crown Point Press in San Francisco, CA.