Ukiyo-e is a genre of art in Edo period in Japan, which includes both paintings and prints, that typically depict images of everyday life, such as landscapes, female beauties, kabuki actors, scenes from history and fantasy. It consisted of texts and images that were printed in black and white. To be precise, water-based woodblock printing itself developed in China during the 7th century AD, primarily for religious practice. Traditionally, images that were reproduced using this technique were popularized during the Edo period in Japan (1603-1868). Mokuhanga is the term that contemporary artists have adapted when describing Japanese-style, water-based woodblock printmaking. What makes Mokuhanga different from European woodblock print or other Japanese woodblock techniques?įirst, what is mokuhanga? The word “Moku hanga” in Japanese translates to “Wood block printmaking”. I have continued to explore this technique over the years, returning to Japan in the summer of 2017 for the MI-LAB Advanced Residency and then in 2019 for the Upper Advanced Residency. It gave me the skills in a technique that allowed me to continue my work in printmaking and book arts with limited space and equipment. Learning about the tradition of tools, materials and process of mokuhanga shaped my studio work. Since it’s beginning, over 200 artists from more than 30 countries lived, trained, and worked at these programs. Kadota started the Nagasawa Art Park program in 1996, and its successor Mi-lab in 2011, in order to spread knowledge of the Japanese woodblock printing process to artists outside of Japan. These prints astonished Kadota with their combination of technical mastery and cutting edge contemporary art, solidifying her determination to introduce this medium to a wider audience of artists. Over the course of ten years, Crown Point Press worked with Japanese master printer, Tadashi Toda, to print works of major contemporary artists like Chuck Close, Helen Frankenthaler, and Francisco Clemente. On a visit to San Francisco, she was deeply impressed by the mokuhanga print works published by Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press. Beginning in 1992, Kadota researched and visited artist residencies and training programs around the world to find models for an art center that would be based in a Japanese village. Nagasawa Art Park Residency was the vision of Keiko Kadota. Tell us a bit about your experience studying in Japan. That year, I attended the Nagasawa Art Park residency, where I lived and worked for three months, along with other international artists learning about the process of mokuhanga. My creative practice was facing serious limitations: my kitchen table was about to become my studio. After graduation, I no longer had access to the presses that had been available to me as a student. In 2004 I earned my MFA from the University of the Arts in book arts and printmaking. The idea that the process didn’t require a large studio space and was non-toxic stayed with me. I carved a woodblock and managed to pull a few humble prints. I spent a few weeks experimenting with cooking rice paste and making a small baren from cardboard, chord and canvas. Shortly after, I came across a technical book in Japanese woodblock printing at my local library. I was curious as Peter described the process and history of the print. However,I became interested in the process of mokuhanga from looking at a Ukiyo-e print hanging on the wall in the print shop. I was an art student, primarily studying sculpture. I was first introduced to the basics of mokuhanga while I was a student at The Evergreen State College in 1993 by my teacher Peter Ramsey. When did you first fall in love with printmaking? One of the wonderful aspects of this process is that it does not require a press, or a large workspace! All participants will have the opportunity to carve and print their own two-color image. Participants will learn about tools, materials, as well as the carving sequence and printing methods associated with this process. This workshop will be an introduction to the printing process mokuhanga, which uses water-based pigments (or sumi ink), a kento registration method, and hand printing with a baren. Participants will learn how to achieve multiple colors in a woodblock image with perfect registration through the traditional technique of Japanese woodblock printing. Tell us about the workshop that you will be teaching.
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