Mara Cozzolino is one of the best and brightest mokuhanga printmakers working today. Her work delves into the silence and simple moments, sending us face to face with the solitude and beauty that only nature can bring us. On this first of two episodes dedicated to Mara’s work and journey, we speak on her early attempts at mokuhanga, what traveling and attending mokuhanga workshops around the world has done for her current work, and how she believes in the power of mokuhanga as an art form. 

This episode of The Unfinished Print is dedicated to our friend, Tim Whyte.

Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own print work on Instagram @popular_wheatprints, Twitter @unfinishedprint, or email me at [email protected]

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

Mara Cozzolino’s work can be found on her website, And on Instagram. Mara also takes care of the International Mokuhanga Conference Instagram page.

shina - tilia japonica,  is a specific plywood harvested for its sustainability and versatility in mokuhanga. It is a soft wood great for colour blocks but limited in its ability to hold thin line work. McClain’s sells blocks, here.

MI Lab - Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory is located in Tōkyō. It is a place set up for learning mokuhanga. The artist-in-residence program, having been held since 2011 on Lake Kawaguchi near Mt. Fuji, is an application based program hosting international mokuhanga practitioners who are looking to move their work forward. More information can be found, here.

hanshita - is the preliminary drawing or sketch pasted on your woodblock, for the key block, and subsequent blocks of a multi block colour print. One can use a printer and spray tack, or a more traditional method of drawing on the paper itself and pasting with rice glue. One can also draw onto the block themselves, or use a soft plastic acetate to transfer the kentō and key block to the other blocks. Skies the limit.

Motoharu Asaka - is a master woodblock carver located in Tōkyō. His Instagram,  and FB page, and website are a few ways to see his work.

David Bull - is well known around the world as a modern scholar and preserver of the Japanese woodblock print and it’s process. Mokuhankan, woodblock.com, Twitch, and his YouTube channel are a few ways to see his work and what he is currently doing.

mica - a mineral which, when ground into a fine powder, has been used to add a sheen or shine to woodblock prints. David Bull demonstrates this, here.

Woodlike Matsumura   - is a supplier of woodblock print equipment, tools, and information.

Jinbōchō - is an area in Tōkyō predominantly known for its plentiful array of used bookstores. Some information regarding the area can be found, here.

Yamada Shoten - is a woodblock print art gallery located in the above mentioned Jinbōchō area of Tōkyō. Here they sell and exhibit woodblock prints of all types. Their English website can be found, here.

Laura Boswell - is a lithograph and mokuhanga printmaker based in England. A very talented and busy printmaker, Laura is constantly evolving her work, and creating some of the finest prints you can find. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. Her website can be found, here.

Paul Furneaux - is an artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. His work is a fabulous blend of colour and geometric shapes. By blending his mokuhanga, with other types of mediums such as chiné colle, etching, and even sculpture. Paul creates powerfully unique works. His website can be found, here.

intaglio - a type of printmaking which uses etching into a copper plate (or other metals) and pressing the paper onto the etched grooves. A MoMA video can be found here, regarding this process.

Katsushika Hokusai -  (1760-1849) is one of the most famous woodblock print designers and painters in history. More information can be found, here.

Kitagawa Utamaro - (b. ? - d. 1806). A famous ukiyo-e print designer who helped create many amazing prints of women (bijin). Savvy Tōkyō has a fun article about Utamaro, here.

Utagawa Hiroshige - (1797-1858) was a painter and print designer known predominantly for his landscape designs of Edo, (100 Famous Views Of Edo) and the Tōkaidō, (The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō), the main road which leads one from Tōkyō to Kyōto.

sōsaku hanga - an art movement of the early 20th Century which redefined how people looked at the Japanese print. Ronin Gallery in NYC has a great overview, here.

kentō - are the registration marking carved, or stuck onto, the woodblock in order to align all of your blocks together into one unified image, when printed. Traditionally it is an “L” at the bottom right of your block (kagi),  and a flat bit to the center left of your block, (hikitsuke). McClains has a great pdf about the kentō, here.

opening and closing credit background music:  “Static Age” by The Misfits, Reel Platinum, 1985. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) if you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. The opinions expressed in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of Andre Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.