The work of Canadian mokuhanga printmaker Graham Scholes is the work of an artist searching for history. His career has taken him across Canada, teaching, studying and creating his prints and water colours.  Graham has worked in various types of printmaking and art but it is mokuhanga which he seems to have found his voice.  In this episode of The Unfinished Print, Graham (accompanied with his wife Marnie) goes into his artist life, his relationship with printmaker Noboru Sawai, his various print series as well as his printmaking methods and philosophies. We also discover how history shapes an artist.  

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Notes: notes may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase.

Graham Scholes website and shop can be found here.

Art Gallery Of Ontario is a big box art gallery located in the city of Toronto founded in 1900.

Western Technical School is a high school located centrally in the city of Toronto and was founded in 1927 with a focus on machinery and robotics. 

Font de libération du Québec (FLQ) was a neo-nationalist and separatist political group and terrorist organization which was highly active in the Canadian province of Québec from 1963-1971. For a good read on the subject, D’arcy Jenish’s book The Making of the October Crisis is worth a read.

Barrie, Ontario, Canada is a city located in the Canadian province of Ontario with a long a rich history of First Nation and settler tradition and culture. The McLaren Art Centre which Graham discussed in the episode is located in Barrie.

Vancouver Island is an island off the coast of Canada with a rich history of First Nations and settler culture.

Watercolours and How is a book published by Graham Scholes describing the use of watercolours as an art form.   Let There Be Light  is a book by Graham Scholes about his lighthouse woodblock prints.   Noboru Sawai (1931-2016) - mokuhanga and printmaking teacher of Graham Scholes, an American/Japanese printmaker who spent 22 years in Calgary, Alberta at the University of Calgary. He studied printmaking with Tōshi Yoshida (1911-1995) in Japan. His studio, Sawai Atelier was established in Vancouver, BC in 1981.   Kochi, is a prefecture located on Shikoku Island in Japan. It has a rich samurai history and tradition of paper making. Inochō paper making museum is located in Kochi.   Takamatsu is a port city in Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku Island in Japan. shina (Tilia Japonica) is a Japanese plywood made for mokuhanga printmaking.    The West Coast Trail is a 75km trail for backpacking which follows the southwestern edge of Vancouver Island. gomazuri is a printmaking technique called sesame printing in English printed with water and pigment.    waterless lithography is a form of printmaking developed by Canadian printmaker Nik Semenoff using silicone, offset aluminum plates, toner, water-soluble pencils and heat.  dry point is drawing on copper plates with diamond or carbide tipped needles, inked then cleaned.  This process is in the intaglio family of printmaking. John Amoss is an American mokuhanga printmaker whose Appalachian Trail series is one of the greatest modern mokuhanga print series available today. He was interviewed by The Unfinished Print and can be found here.  Sybil Andrews (1898-1992) was a British modernist linocut printmaker, painter, and teacher who lived in British Columbia. Her works are lauded and highly collectable.  kappazuri are Japanese stencil prints by layering colour and form with stencils cut by the artist. Made famous by Yoshitoshi Mori (1898-1992). Mokuhanga printer and painter Paul Binnie also began his career with kappazuri. Ronin Gallery NY has a great blog post about kappazuri  here.  reduction printmaking, colloquially known as “suicide prints,” is a form of printmaking where the printmaker cuts away from one  wood or Lino block , printing as they go.   Walter J. Phillips (1884-1963) was a British born printmaker who lived in Victoria, British Columbia. Famous for his watercolours and self-taught woodblock prints, WJP made his own tools and made some of the greatest woodblock prints ever produced.   opening and closing credit background music:  Blue, Red and Grey by The Who from the record, The Who By Numbers (1975) 

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