The idea for Fantasma Press came from traveling in Mexico, specifically Veracruz & Oaxaca and visiting print shops and residencies. At the time, my big goal was to move to southern Spain. My Spanish is not very developed and I imagined living on the side of a mountain like a wordless phantom, making my work. For now, we are located in historic downtown Dubuque at 219 W. 9th Street - open by appointment.

About Me:

Andonia Giannakouros (b. 1985) is a figurative painter based in Dubuque, Iowa.
Her work honors the slow, imperfect beauty of handmade patterns—passed down, stitched, carved, and woven through generations of artisans in her family. She draws from folk traditions where embroidery, weaving, and painting serve as vessels of memory, shared language, and symbolic inheritance.

Giannakouros’ visual vocabulary is shaped by early travels to Greece and the repeated forms of European streets—where posters layered on walls and tiled surfaces create rhythms that insist on attention. In her practice, repetition becomes a method of emphasis and a structure of persistence. Through layered compositions, she explores how stories and symbols are communicated across time and space, using pattern as both structure and language.