In this world of mokuhanga, there are artists whose passion and dedication to the art form comes not only from their work, but from how they see the medium itself. Linda J Beeman is a Michigan based mokuhanga printmaker who desires to explore nature, its conservation, its power through colour, its meaning, and aesthetic. Linda's work takes the viewer to an existing place, which when allowed in, soothes and calms, enveloped by the sacred.

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with Linda J. Beeman about her world, natural and artistic, how she got involved with mokuhanga, how she views her audience, her style. We discuss her time at MI Lab, and her love of artist-in-residence programs in the United States. Linda also speak on her process, her tools, and why mokuhanga is such a big part of her life. 

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

Artists works follow after the note about them.

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

Artists works follow after the note.

Linda J. Beeman - website, Instagram, Facebook. 

Aurora Borealis (2022)

Dundas Valley School of Art - is a multi disciplinary art school located in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, which is a suburb of Hamilton. Founded in 1964 by Marion Farnan and Emily Dutton, the DVSA has evolved into a modern, and chic art space, providing accessible and affordable art education for all.   Tuula Moilanen - is a Finnish mokuhanga printmaker and painter based in Finland. She lived and studied in Kyōto from 1989-2012,  where she learned her printmaking at Kyōto Seika University and from printmaker Akira Kurosaki (1937-2019). Her work can be found, here. Urban Holiday (2016)   David Bull's “Baren Forum”  - was an early mokuhanga forum for printmakers which can still be found, here. It’s chock full of information for printmakers of all levels.   Mary Brodbeck - is a mokuhanga printmaker, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She has been producing mokuhanga for nearly 25 years. Her work refelcts nature, and the power it contains.  Remnants   kentō - is the registration system used by printmakers in order to line up the colour woodblocks with your key block, or outline block, carved first.     hanshita - is a thin sheet of gampi paper that is pasted, reverse side, on a piece of wood. This is a guide, carved onto the block and is generally used for the key block and subsequent colour blocks. Methods such as acetate with water based pigment, can also be used rather than the thin gampi paper, which can cause misregistration if not pasted correctly.   Petrified Forest National Park - is a national park located in northeastern Arizona, on what is called the Colorado Plateau. The Plateau connects the American States of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Petrified Forest National Park is famous for early traces of human civilization through archeology and fossils, as well as an abundance of nature and natural formations. More info can be found, here, and here.    The Great Lakes -  are a series of lakes which are connecte to one another. They are located in North America. The lakes are; Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. The lakes connect to the Atlantic Ocean, and through various rivers and other tributaries.    MI Lab - is a mokuhanga residency located in Kawaguchi-ko, near Mount Fuji. More info can be found, here.    Keiko Kadota (1942-2017) - was the director of Nagasawa Art Park at Awaji City from 1997-2011, and then of MI Lab at Lake Kawaguchi from 2011 until her passing.   shin hanga - is a style of Japanese woodblock printmaking which began during the end of the Ukiyo-e period of Japanese printmaking, in the early 20th Century. Focusing on the foreign demand for “traditional” Japanese imagery and motifs such as castles, bridges, famous landscapes, bamboo forests, to name just a few.  Shin hanga was born in 1915 by Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962) when he found Austrian artist Frtiz Capelari (1884-1950) and commissioned Capelari to design some prints for Watanabe's feldgling printing house . From there shin-hanga evolved into its own distinct “new” style of Japanese woodblock printing. It lasted as this distinct style until its innevitable decline after the Second World War (1939-1945).   sōsaku-hanga - or creative prints, is a style of printmaking which is predominantly, although not exclusively, prints made by one person. It started in the early twentieth century in Japan, in the same period as the shin-hanga movement. The artist designs, carves, and prints their own works. The designs, especially in the early days, may seem rudimentary but the creation of self made prints was a breakthrough for printmakers beginning to move away from where only a select group of carvers, printers and publishers created woodblock prints.    Watanabe Shōzaburō [渡辺 庄三郎] (1885-1962) - was the catalyst of the new print movement (shin-hanga) in the Japan of the early 20th Century. He assembled printers, designers, and carvers to re-create the now dead,  ukiyo-e style, of woodblock prints in Japan. Watanabe also welcomed "foreign" artists to design prints, such as Charles Bartlett (1860-1940). His relationship with many of Japan's future woodblock stars, such as Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950), and Hasui Kawase (1883-1957) established a mokuhanga style that has been emulated ever since.   Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park - found in Ontanagan, Michigan, USA. This state park has 35,000 acres of old growth forest, watefalls and abundant nature, on Lake Superior. The artist in residence perogram information can be found, here.    Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park -is an active volcano site, and a UNESCO Heirtage Site. With public tours, a rugged landscape made up of lava rock, as well as incredible biodiversity, the HLNPH is a wonderful way to visit Hawai’i. Their artist in residence program can be found, here.   American National Parks -  are a series of public parks that are federally run. Since 1916, the National Park Service has overseen the national parks in the United States.    National Parks Art Foundation - is a foundatoin that offers artist in residence programs as well as other artist focused programs within the National Parks Service, heritage sites, and National monuments. More info can be found, here.    petroglyphs - are a type of rock art where the rock is marked by abrasion, carving, or picking. Generally associated with humans living 10,000-12,000 years ago, and are found all over the planet except in Antarctica.   Rebecca Salter - is the President of The Royal Academy of Arts, in London, England. She is also an artist who has written two books about Japanese woodblock printing, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), and Japanese Popular Prints (2006). She worked with the Satō Woodblock Print Workshop, documenting their process. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.    Aurora 1 (2014)   Satō woodblock workshop - is a traditional Japanese woodblock production house based in Kyōto, Japan. Here is an article from The Journal of Modern Craft with Rebecca Salter regarding this workshop.    Michigan Artist and Culture Grants - are grants that are given to the citizens of Michigan who want to promote the arts within their communities. There are many avenues for application, so please look into your area of Michigan, perhaps there will be a grant program for you. Here is a link for the Michigan Arts and Council Grants, to get you started.    Winsor & Newton - is a British artist supply company, started in 1832,  which sells artist materials such as pigments, brushes, paper, etc. More info can be found, here.    Paul Furneaux - is a Scottish mokuhanga artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He makes abstract mokuhanga, mixed with wood and other mediums.    Lukas water colours - Lukas is an artist supply company founded in 1862, in Düsseldorf, Germany. They produce the Aquarell 1862 Water-colour which Linda describes in her interview. More info can be found, here.   Jerry’s Artarama - originally founded in 1968 Long Island, New York, and now based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jerry’s Artarama sells various art supplies at reasonable princes. More info, here. 

Dick Blick Art Supplies - is an art supply store with various brick and mortar stores throughout the United States, as well as online. Founded in 1911 by Dick Blick in Galesburg, Illinois, BLICK, as it’s more commonly known, sells various types of art supplies, much like Jerry’s Artarama. More info, here.

shina - is a type of wood used in mokuhanga. It is part of the linden family of trees. This wood is produced in various parts of the world, such as Japan and Russia. Not all shina is created equal so buyer beware.

Center for Contemporary Printmaking - founded by Grace and William Shanly in 1995. Orginally called The Connecticut Graphic Arts Center, it is a non-profit which, as its aim, is to increase the publics knowledge of orignal printmaking. 

floating kentō - is a removable registration system attached to the block when printing. As the kentō isn’t affixed to the block; blotting, and very clean borders are one of the positives of using this method of registration. It is an "L" shape. 

* Production  note  - Linda says “last summer,” when discussing her last workshop. That “summer” was the summer of 2021. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing musical credit - Spadina Station 

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

Слава Україну

If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

       

 

The time and dedication that it takes to make mokuhanga is well known. And if it isn't then it really should be. It feels that it's easy to follow social media, and watch the pretty prints come out of nowhere, but behind all those nice pictures is a lot of hard work, and dedication.

One person who is a prime example of this hard work, dedication and passion for the craft, is Lucy May Schofield. Based in England, Lucy has been making mokuhanga for some time. She has travelled the world, using her environment, and her passion to create mokuhanga that is expressive and powerful. 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print, I speak with Lucy about how she discovered mokuhanga, her time at MI Lab, Lucy's love of bokashi,  and her mokuhanga relationships; those that have helped her along the way. Lucy also speaks on the Mokuhanga Sisters Collective, how grants and scholarships assist in Lucy's artistic pursuits, as well as how her other artistic endeavours affect her mokuhanga. Lucy's is a story which explores independence, pilgrimage, freedom, and how it affects a persons life. 

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

Artists works follow after the note about them.

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

Artists works follow after the note.

Lucy May Schofield - website, Instagram

Rebecca Salter - is the President of The Royal Academy of Arts, in London, England. She is also an artist who has written two books about Japanese woodblock printing, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), and Japanese Popular Prints (2006). She worked with the Satō Woodblock Print Workshop, documenting their process. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Untitled 2015-14 (2015)

Royal Academy of Arts - is an English art institution which as been in operation for 250 years. More info, here. 

Fukuoka, Prefecture, Japan - is a Prefecture in the second most southern part of the Japanese archipelago.  It is known for is temples, hot springs, and natural beauty. Fukuoka tourist website, here.

kotatsu - is a low table, electrically heated by an internal heater underneath the table itself, more info, here. 

Munakata Shikō (志功棟方) - (1903-1975) arguably one of the most famous modern printmakers, Shiko is famous for his prints of women, animals, the supernatural, and Buddhist deities. He made his prints with an esoteric fervour where his philosophies about mokuhanga were just as interesting as his print work. 

Hizakura no Saku (1978) colour lithograph

New Year Card - called nengajo (年賀状) in Japanese, these cards have been traditionally passed from person to person  since the Heian Period (794-1185). Mokuhanga practitioners make them as well, creating a new one every year focusing on the zodiac sign of the year as a theme.

shina - is a type of wood used in mokuhanga. It is part of the linden family of trees. This wood is produced in various parts of the world, such as Japan and Russia. Not all shina is created equal so buyer beware.

magnolia wood - a straight grained hard wood located in North America and Asia. more info, here.

washi paper - (和紙) is a type of Japanese paper made with the fibres of either gampi, mitsumata, or mulberry. It is versatile and can be used in many ways. 

International Mokuhanga Conference - is a bi-yearly conference dedicated to mokuhanga which started in 2011 by the International Mokuhanga Association. Each conference is themed. The latest conference was in 2021, delayed a year because of the pandemic. More information can be found, here. 

Ralph Kiggell (1960-2022) -  was one of the most important mokuhanga practitioners. Originally from England, Ralph lived and worked in Thailand. Ralph pushed the boundaries of mokuhanga with extremely large pieces, jigsaw carving, and by using fantastic colour. He also worked with the International Mokuhanga Conference to promote mokuhanga around the world. He will be greatly missed. Ralph's work can be found, here. His obituary in The Guardian can be found, here. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.

Pool Diver (1996)

Keiko Hara - is an artist who works, and teaches in Walla Walla, Washington. She is a painter, and printmaker in various relief mediums, such as mokuhanga. 

Untitled (2019)

Keiko Kadota - (d. 2017) was a director of MI Lab and of Nagasawa Art Park, previously. She was a mentor to many mokuhanga practitioners and helped to promote mokuhanga around the world.

MI Lab - is a mokuhanga residency located in Kawaguchi-ko, near Mount Fuji. More info can be found, here. 

Kate MacDonagh - is an Irish mokuhanga printmaker based in Dublin, Ireland. Kanreki was an exhibition curated by Kate MacDonagh at The Model, Sligo. Kate's website.

Katsutoshi Yuasa - is a printmaker and artist based in Tokyo, Japan. His work tends to be large scale, and created through photography, bits, and focuses on the overall "image" itself. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. website, Instagram

I-know-not-what (2022) oil-based mokuhanga

kirazruri  - is a style of printing which uses mica to give a silver, glittering tone to the print. Mica is used as a lovely addition to your print. You can find more information, here. 

Hiroki Satake - is a mokuhanga printmaker, and instructor based in Japan. He has taught at MI Lab, as well as given demonstrations regarding tool sharpening, around the world. 

Carol Wilhide Justin - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in London, England. Her work focuses on the natural world and the process of making mokuhanga. Carol's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Asemic Writing 

Tochigi, Prefecture - is a Japanese Prefecture sandwiched between Saitama, Ibaraki, Fukushima, and Gunma Prefectures. It is famous for its autumnal leaves,  temples, and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Nikkō. More info, here. 

Nishijin - is an area in Fukuoka City known for its shopping district. 

inaka (田舎) - is a Japanese word for “country-side.”

Kurokawa Onsen (黒川温泉) - is a hot spring town located on the island of Kyushu, near Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in Japan. It is famous of its traditional style inns, hot springs, baths, and food. More info, here.  

Beppu (別府市) - is a hot spring town located in Kyushu. More info, here.

matsuri (祭り）- is the Japanese word for “festival.” Japan is a country famous of it’s festivals. Each Prefecture, city, town, municipality has a special festival for their area, connected to the seasons, gods, or harvests. 

Itoshima (糸島市) - is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, popular for its beaches, surfing, and nature. 

Northumberland, Britain - is a county located in the northernmost area of Britain. It shares a border with Scotland. It is known for its nature, industry, castles, and history. https://www.visitnorthumberland.com

cyanotype -  a type of work which uses iron compounds, and when exposed to UV light creates various blues. More info, here. 

Indigo dyeing - made famous in the Edo Period (1603-1968), indigo dyeing has been a part of Japanese handicrafts for a long time. Shikoku is famous for it, towns such as Mima, Wakimachi, Tokushima, amongst others continue to produce hand dyed garments of indigo.More info can be found, here, and here. 

Awagami -  is arguably the largest paper making company in Japan at the moment. With a large International name, Awagami sponsors, and promotes its paper all over the world. More information can be found on its website, here. 

88 Temple Pilgrimage - associated with the Buddhist priest Kōbō Daishi (Kūkai) [774-835]. It is one of the few circular pilgrimages in the world. You can walk, or drive the pilgrimage. You can also see it in parts, called kuguri-uchi. Essentially you can walk this pilgrimage in order, backwards or frontwards as they are all temples associated with Kūkai. If you do make the pilgrimage by foot, it is a commitment, but extremely rewarding. Pilgrims are called ō-henro. More info, here.  

Ō-settai - are gifts, such as lodging, food, money, or clothing. They are given by non-pilgrims to pilgrims on they journey of the 88 Temples. More info can be found, here.

QEST - is the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, and is given to British craftspeople who are given money to pursue training and education in their specific field and medium.  More info, here. 

kōzo - is a paper made from the bark of the mulberry bush. It is used in mokuhanga frequently, and comes in various weights.

YInMn - is a blue colour discovered by Professor Mas Subramanian in 2009. 

Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) -  was an American abstract impressionist painter who enjoyed experimenting, discovering new ways of expression through paint. More info, here. 

Echizen - is a region in Fukui Prefecture, Japan associated with Japanese paper making. It has a long history of paper making. There are many paper artisans in the area. One famous person is Iwano Ichibei whom Megan mentions in this episode. He is a Living National Treasure in paper making, and the ninth generation of his family still making paper today. More info can be found here in English, and here in Japanese. 

Paul Furneaux - is a Scottish born mokuhanga printmaker and teacher who uses the medium of  mokuhanga in order to create pieces of work that are third dimensional, and abstract. 

The Mokuhanga Sisters - are a mokuhanga collective consisting of Yoonmi Nam, Mariko Jesse, Lucy May Schofield, Melissa Schulenberg, Kate MacDonagh, Katie Baldwin, Mia-O, Patty Hudak, and Natasha Norman. Instagram

Yasuyuki Sato - is the Chair of Center for the Science of Human Endeavor/CfSHE, and Director of the Mokuhanga Conference. 

Yoonmi Nam (b. 1974) - is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, lithographer, sculptor, and teacher, based in Lawrence, Kansas. Her work can be found, here. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.

More Beer...For Instance (2013)

Katie Baldwin - a woodblock printmaker, letterpress, screen printer. website, Instagram

Raft (shore) #2 (2013)

Mariko Jesse - is an illustrator, and mokuhanga printmaker based in Tōkyō, London, and California. Her work can be found, here. Mariko is also a part of the collective, wood+paper+box, which can be found, here. 

Between Times - folded screen with mokuhanga

wood+paper+box - is a collaborative art group made up of Katie Baldwin, Mariko Jesse, and Yoonmi Nam. It is based on their experiences at Nagasawa Art Park, the precursor of MI Lab. 

Patty Hudak - is an American artist who splits her time between Vermont and NYC, who works in installation, and mokuhanga. She has travelled the world, and is a part of three artist collectives. Patty's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.   

Force of Nature 1

Melissa Schulenberg - is a woodblock printmaker and professor of Art and Art History at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY. Some of her work can be found on her website, here. 

Boom 2 (2019)

Newcastle University - is a public research university located in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Britain.

London College of Printing - now called the London College of Communication, is an art college associated with the University of the Arts London. 

Toshio Sayama - is an instructor at MI Lab as well as on the MI Lab Committee Board. 

Borderless scroll - is the Mokuhanga Sisters collaborative scroll. Shown in Nara during the International Mokuhanga Conference, as well as at the Southern Vermont Art Center.

nori - is a type of paste made from starch. It is usually used when making mokuhanga. You can make nori from any type of material made of starch. For instance, paste can be made with tapioca,  rice, corn, even potato. You can purchase nori pretty much anywhere but making it is more environmentally friendly. Laura Boswell has a great recipe, here. 

bokashi -  is a Japanese term associated with the gradation of water into ink. There are several types of bokashi. For more information regarding these types of bokashi please check out Professor Claire Cuccio's lecture called “A Story in Layers,” for the Library of Congress, and the book Japanese Printmaking by Tōshi Yoshida, and Rei Yuki. Below are the following types of bokashi. This is from the Yoshida book:

ichimonji bokashi - straight line gradation

ichimonji mura bokashi - straight line gradation with an uneven edg.

Ō-bokashi - a gradual shading over a wide area

atenashi bokashi - gradation without definition

futairo bokashi - two tone gradation

Utamaro - A Prelude To Desire Series - is a series created by Kitagawa Utamaro (1750-1806) in 1799. His designs changed the whole perspective of shunga, erotic prints. Below is as print as designed by Utamaro and Lucy's self-produced print, Prelude To Desire IV. 

shunga (春画)- is a type of mokuhanga which is connected with the ukiyo-e period of the Japanese print. The theme is sexuality, whether male-female, or male-male. Many print designers helped to create these prints, and were very popular. 

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) - born in Edo, Hiroshige is famous for his landscape series of that burgeoning city. The most famous series being, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-1859), and the landcape series, Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833-1834). His work highlights bokashi, and bright colours. More info about his work can be found, here. 

Ōmayagashi - from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Northumberland National Park - is a park in Northumberland , England. It is considered a “dark skies” park where the night sky is preserved by having no artificial lighting in the area.

Holbein -  is a pigment company with offices located in Japan, The United States, and Canada. They offer high end gouache, watercolour, and pigment pastes. 

scrolls - called kakemono 掛物 or emakimono 絵巻物  in Japanese. These scrolls contain many different types of themes and subjects. More info can be found, here. 

The Legend of Gisho

Turner Design Gouache - is a company based in Osaka, Japan. The make acrylic and design (water based) gouache. 

Oak gall - is a type of plant swelling, which can be found in various plants. Oak gall is made by the Gall Wasp. The ink and pigment made form oak gall has been used for centuries.

hanshita - is a thin sheet of gampi paper that is pasted, reverse side, on a piece of wood. This is a guide, carved onto the block and is generally used for the key block and subsequent colour blocks. Methods such as acetate with water based pigment, can also be used rather than the thin gampi paper, which can cause misregistration if not pasted correctly.

The Japanese Paper Place - is a Toronto based Japanese paper store servicing the Mokuhanga community for many years.  Interview with the Nancy Jacobi of the JPP can be found, here.

Ozuwashi -  is a brick and mortar paper store located in the Nihonbashi district of Tōkyō. More info here. You can purchase all types of paper that Lucy mentions ion her interview, such as pansion, and sekishu.

Chine-collé - is a two layered printmaking process where the paper is  placed onto an inked metal plated run through a press. More info, here. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing musical credit - The Smiths - The Headmaster Ritual from the album Meat Is Murder (1985)

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

Слава Україну

If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

Matthew Willie Garcia is an incredibly promising mokuhanga printmaker. Having only, relatively recently, begun his mokuhanga journey, Matthew has already travelled to Japan to participate in MI Lab, and is about to have his first solo mokuhanga show at COOP Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee. 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with mokuhanga printmaker, Matthew Willie Garcia, about his mokuhanga journey, his technique,  and learning new ways of printing. Matthew speaks on the concept of queer mokuhanga, the generosity of the mokuhanga community, and we discuss his other forays in printmaking, compared to his mokuhanga work. 

This episode was recorded before Matthew headed off to Japan to participate in the advanced MI Lab workshop in June of 2022. Please stay tuned until after the end credits for my bonus conversation with Matthew about his time at MI Lab. 

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

Artists works follow after the note about them.

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

Artists works follow after their note about them.

Matthew Willie Garcia - website, Instagram

Yoonmi Nam (b. 1974) - is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, lithographer, sculptor, and teacher, based in Lawrence, Kansas. Her work can be found, here. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.

Jazz (2017)

Meiji Era Prints - The Meiji Era of Japan was between 1868-1912 CE. This was a period of immense modernization and industrialization in Japan, where the Japanese economy was booming. New ideas within mokuhanga was occurring as well. Perspective, colour, through new pigments (gamboge, certain yellows), the advancement of photography, and new topics and themes (war, industry, architecture), the Meiji era print designer and publisher had a lot of choice when producing their prints. 

Kansas University - founded in 1866 and is the state’s flagship University. More info, here. They have a fine printmaking department as taught by Yoonmi Nam, Shawn Bitters, and Michael J. Kreuger. This department focuses on screen printing, lithography, and relief printing.

Shawn Bitters - is a printmaker, painter, draftsperson, and photographer. He is Associate Professor, and Undergraduate Director at Kansas University. 

Leftward (2007)

Michael J. Kreuger - is a printmaker, ceramicist, painter, and animator. He is a Professor at Kansas University. 

Two Moons on The River from the series Nondoing (2016)

Lawrence Arts Center - is an arts space founded in 1975 in Lawrence, Kansas. More info, here. 

Awagami Bamboo Select - is a heavy washi paper (170g), used in printmaking, letterpress, amongst other mediums. It can be purchased by Awagami Factory in Japan, here. 

Pansion paper - is a medium-heavy, between 89-95g, paper used in printmaking. 

Rives-BFK (Blanchet Frères & Kiebler) - is a type of paper made of 100% cotton, which comes in a variety of colours and weights. 

Richard Steiner - is a mokuhanga printmaker who has been making prints for over fifty years. He has lived and worked in Kyōto, Japan since 1980. He is currently still making work. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Nine Left, One Thanked (2017)

Rebecca Salter - is the President of The Royal Academy of Arts, in London, England. She is also an artist who has written two books about Japanese woodblock printing, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), and Japanese Popular Prints (2006). She worked with the Satō Woodblock Print Workshop, documenting their process. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

riff (2021)

David Bull - is a Canadian woodblock printmaker, and educator who lives and works in Japan. His love of mokuhanga has almost singlehandedly promoted the art form outside Japan. His company, Mokuhankan, has a brick and mortar store in Asakusa, Tōkyō, and online, here. 

bokashi -  is a Japanese term associated with the gradation of water into ink. There are several types of bokashi. For more information regarding these types of bokashi please check out Professor Claire Cuccio's lecture called “A Story in Layers,” for the Library of Congress, and the book Japanese Printmaking by Tōshi Yoshida, and Rei Yuki. Below are the following types of bokashi. This is from the Yoshida book:

ichimonji bokashi - straight line gradation

ichimonji mura bokashi - straight line gradation with an uneven edg.

Ō-bokashi - a gradual shading over a wide area

atenashi bokashi - gradation without definition

futairo bokashi - two tone gradation

Marvel Comics - is an American comic book publisher founded in 1961. Famous for Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the X-Men. 

Jack Kirby (1917-1994) - was an artist and comic book innovator who focused on narrative in his work. More info can be found at the Kirby Museum, here. 

from The Eternals (1976)

Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) - was an American Pop artist, who worked in New York City. His early work was based on comic books, and later developed into abstract and the melding of different types of Western artistic genres such as Cubism, and Futurism. More info on Lichtenstein's work can be found, here, at the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. 

serigraphy - is another word for the art of silk screen printing. Silk screen printing can be in on various materials, silk, canvas, paper. 

reduction printmaking - is a process in printmaking where the printmaker cuts away on a piece of wood, or linoleum. After every carving, the printmaker makes an impression with pigments, beginning with lighter colours, gradually using darker colours. William H. Mays has a fine description of reduction on his website, here. 

Cameron Bailey - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in Queens, New York. He works predominantly in the reduction method. His interview with the Unfinished Print can be found, here.  

Paul Binnie (b. 1967) - is a Scottish born, mokuhanga printmaker, painter, and portraitist, based in San Diego, California. Paul's theme's in all of his mediums are of landscapes, beautiful men and women, as well as the kabuki theatre. You can find more information about his work, here, and on his Instagram, here. 

Romanticism - was a Western art movement in the 1800's focusing on imagination and emotion. Coming after the Enlightenment, a period of order and morality, Romanticism focused on the power of nature, and the chaos of the world. More info can be found at the MET, here.  

mudabori - is a technique in mokuhanga where the printmaker carves away unwanted wood in their key block during the colour separation process when planning their work.

Power Grip - made by Mikisyo, Japan, Power Grip are wood carving tools of various types. Usually used by beginners, but are used by woodblock printmakers of all levels.

masa paper - is a machine-made Japanese washi. Can be used in printmaking and is 100% sulphite pulp. 

codex - is a type of book binding in the Western method and is a precursor to the modern book. 

Japanese book-binding - in Japan the binding of books began with scroll books based on the Chinese method. Other binding methods evolved over time, such as flutter books (sempūyō) and butterfly books (detchōsō). By the Edo Period (1603-1868) and with the relative peace of the period, paper began to be produced at a steady rate creating a demand for books. Tale of Genji. and Tales of Ise were published for the very first time in this form. *

Jon Lee - is a mokuhanga printmaker and tool maker based in Arizona. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

LO912 (2009)

Gotō Hidehiko (b.1953) - is a mokuhanga printmaker and tool maker based in Japan. He makes and teaches seminars about the construction of the mokuhanga tool, the baren. 

Nothingness (Kyomu) [2010]

Chihiro Taki (b. 1988) - is a mokuhanga printmaker who lives and works in Japan. She helps to teach students at MI Lab as an instructor. 

とばり - Shroud of Night 

Michiko Hamada - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in Japan. She is an instructor at MI Lab. Her Instagram can be found, here. 

AB and K

ball-bearing baren - is a type of baren used in mokuhanga. It is considered an alternative to the traditional hon baren which is made of a bamboo sheathe, and cord. The ball-bearing baren is made up of plastic, metal, and ball-bearing balls of various types. 

Bumpōdō - is an art store based in Tōkyō, Japan, and founded in 1887. The website can be found here, in Japanese. The English pdf, can be found, here. 

Lucy May Schofield - is a British printmaker who works in mokuhanga, book binding, byōbu (screens), kakemono (scrolls). Her work has been shown all over the world. Her website can be found, here. Her Instagram, here. 

The Mokuhanga Sisters - are a mokuhanga collective consisting of Yoonmi Nam, Mariko Jesse, Lucy May Schofield, Melissa Schulenberg, Kate MacDonagh, Katie Baldwin, Mia-O, Patty Hudak, and Natasha Norman. Instagram

CfSHE Gallery - is a gallery located in Chiyoda, Tōkyō. It is associated with MI Lab. More info, here. Their Instagram can be found, here.

MI Lab - is a mokuhanga residency located in Kawaguchi-ko, near Mount Fuji. More info can be found, here. 

* Ikegami, Kojiro, and Barbara B. Stephan. Japanese Book Binding: Instructions from a Master Craftsman. New York etc.: Weatherhill, 1990.

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing musical credit -Life is What You Make It,  by Diamon D from his newest record, The Rear View. (2022)

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

So much has been said about the "supply chain" these days. Our resources from around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Eastern Europe as well as environmental concerns such as climate change, have all had their toll on the movement of goods from around the world.

On this episode of The Unfinished Print, I will be try to unpack the "supply chain," and how it affects a specific artist, and small business owner. I speak with Megan Adie, a co-owner of the Japanese Paper Company. The JPC is an online shop which sells Japanese paper, or washi, with her wife Liz Jones. Megan is herself a printmaker and musician who opened a business at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when new ventures quickly became a risky proposition.   

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

Artists works follow after the note about them.

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

Japanese Paper Company - website, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo.

Post Nord - is a state run postal service. It is operated by the governments of Sweden and Denmark. It is not a private company as referred to in this episode. 

Chaveta Coffee - is a coffee shop servicing the Annex, and Seaton Village neighbourhoods of Toronto. More info, here. 

The Japanese Paper Place - is a Japanese paper store located in Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto. It has been serving the Canadian and International artistic community for forty years. You can hear the JPP's interview with the Unfinished Print, here. 

conservation paper - is a paper used in preservation, disinfestation, and sterilization, wet/clearing etc of aging and old paper. Japanese paper is used in conservation as it has been known to have few impurities and is generally alkaline. More information can be found, here. 

Edition/Basel - is a printmaking program located in Basel, Switzerland, and San Fransisco, California. It focuses on relief, intaglio, lithography, and photopolymer. More info, here.

kōzo - is a paper made from the bark of the mulberry bush. It is used in mokuhanga frequently, and comes in various weights.

Bicchu torinoko - is a handmade paper made from  gampi fibres. Used in mokuhanga. 

A4 - is a commonly used type of paper. It is 297x210mm.

Brexit - is the term used when describing the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union, in 2020.

letterpress - is a type of relief printing by using a printing press. It was popular during Industrialization and the modernity of the West. By the mid twentieth century, letterpress began to become more of an art form, with artists using the medium for books, stationary, and greeting cards.

Mariko Jesse - is an illustrator, and mokuhanga printmaker based in Tōkyō, London, and California. Her work can be found, here. Mariko is also a part of the collective, wood+paper+box, which can be found, here. 

 

Into the Garden

Mia-O - is a South Korean printmaker based in Tōkyō, Japan. Her work is ephemeral and powerful. She has shown all over the world, most recently at the Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, New York. 

Waterfall (2019)

Mara Cozzolino - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in Northern, Italy. Her work is based on nature. She is the Publicity and Alternative Board Member for the International Mokuhanga Conference. 

Rock Garden #2 (2022)

Randi Annie Strand - is an artist based in Norway. She works in sculpture, installation, and book art. Her work can be found on her website, and Instagram. 

Jupiter 2 (2012) - from the Univers series.

Tami Komai - is a printmaker based in Basel, Switzerland. She has worked in intaglio, mokuhanga, linocut, and textile. More info can be found, here. 

Malmö Artist Book Biennale  - is an international biennale which is hosted in Malmö, Sweden. It hosts workshops, and exhibitions "inspired by the structural and conceptual properties of the book form." More info can be found, here.  

Hiromi Paper - is a brick and mortar, and online Japanese paper shop located in Culver City, California. More info can be found, here. 

Echizen - is a region in Fukui Prefecture, Japan associated with Japanese paper making. It has a long history of paper making. There are many paper artisans in the area. One famous person is Iwano Ichibei whom Megan mentions in this episode. He is a Living National Treasure in paper making, and the ninth generation of his family still making paper today. More info can be found here in English, and here in Japanese. 

Nicholas Cladis - is an artist and paper historian who teaches and lives in Iowa. He lived in Echizen from 2014-2020 where he studied how to make washi, taught at the Fukui Prefectural University, as well as being the International liaison for the paper making union. More info can be found on his website, here. 

mitsumata - is a short fibre paper used in mokuhanga, and other art mediums. 

daikon radish - is a Japanese radish which has been found outside of Japan, in parts of Asia and North America. 

Ogawa - is a town in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It has a long history of paper making, from CE 774. You are able to visit Ogawa easily form Tōkyō. More info can be found, here. 

Awagami -  is arguably the largest paper making company in Japan at the moment. With a large International name, Awagami sponsors, and promotes its paper all over the world. More information can be found on its website, here. 

tengu-jo - is a very thin machine made Japanese paper that is 100% kōzo. It has been used in archival conservation.

William Morris  (1834-1896) - was a British poet, textile designer, writer, journalist and politician. His work with book press design is very famous as well as is his hand in the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain. More information about William Morris can be found, here, at the Willam Morris Society of the United States. 

Andrew Stone - is an American mokuhanga printmaker based in Florence, Italy. He is also a baren maker. The baren is a mokuhanga specific tool. Andrew's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

The Three Graces

Vandercook Press - is a proof printing press manufactured by Vandercook & Sons, beginning in 1909. They made different types of presses, such as letterpress and offset. They are now a part of NA Graphics. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing credit - Sleepy Time Time by CREAM. From their debt full length, Fresh Cream (1966).

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

 

 

April Vollmer is one of the most important mokuhanga printmakers and authors working today. Her book, Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, is a must have for any person interested in mokuhanga. its process, history, and the artists making it. 

On this epsiode of The Unfinished Print, I speak with April Vollmer about her travels throughout the mokuhanga landscape. Her time at Nagasawa Art Park, and then onto MI Lab. How she got into becoming an author, writing Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, her influences and her process. 

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

Artists works follow after the note about them.

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

April Vollmer -website, Instagram, Facebook. April was recently a part of the mokuhanga exhibition at the Kentler International Drawing Space, in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York. This show was curated by the Mokuhanga Sisters collective and is called Between Worlds from, June 17 - July 31st, 2022.

Rochester, New York - is a city located in Upstate New York. It was originally inhabited by the Seneca peoples. Shaped by the Genesee River, Rochester was once a flour making city as well as a city famous for its horticulture. More information can be found, here.

Hunter College - Is a public college located in Manhattan, New York, and was founded in 1870 as a college for women. More info, here. 

abstract art - is an art type which moved away from a 19th Century artistic idea of perspective.  Abstract art was a rebellion of colour, shape, and experience, for both the viewer and the maker. It corresponds to the modernism of the industrial world, with science, technology, and architecture. More info can be found, here. 

colour field - is a term in painting associated with the abstract painters of the 1950’s and 1960’s using large swaths of flat colour. Mark Rothko (1903-1970) is one such painter associated with colour field. More info, here. 

Vincent Longo (1923-2017) -  was a painter, printmaker and teacher based in New York City. He was a part of the New York School of artist’s of the 1950’s and 1960’s. His work was based in geometry. You can find more information about Vinnie, here.

4 Blocks (1985)

Bill Paden (1930-2004) - was a woodblock printmaker and artist who studied under the American expat Clifton Karhu (1927-2007) in Kyoto. More info, here.

Beppu Beach Water Bay Mountain (ca. 1970's)

hanmoto system - is the Edo Period (1603-1868) collaboration system of making woodblock prints in Japan. The system was about using, carvers, printers, and craftsmen, by various print publishers in order to produce woodblock prints. The system consisted of the following professions; publisher, artist, carver, and printer.

Tetsuya Noda (b 1940) - is a contemporary print artist, photographer and professor emeritus at Tokyo University of the Arts (Tōkyō Geidai).  His process uses photographs through a mimeograph machine, then woodblock and silk screen. Considered one of Japan’s most famous living artists, Noda’s work is a wonderful representation of what can be done with the print medium. More info, with video, can be found, here. 

The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies - is a not for profit centre at the Columbia University School of the Arts, which provides an atmosphere of print education for students and invited guests. 

Tōkyō v Kyōto (Ōsaka) school of mokuhanga - Tōkyō and Kyōto have, historically, been culturally different throughout Japanese history. Even today, especially with foreign expats, which side of the border you pledge allegiance to can make or break a pleasant conversation. Regarding woodblock printing, it was the moving of the capital to Edo from Kyōto by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), officially in 1603, which centred the world for an entire nation.

Edo became the business, and cultural district in which most people found themselves. The sankin kōtai system, where daimyō from the entire country, were obligated to spend alternating years in the capital, allowed the merchant classes to grow prosperous, spending their time and money on entertainments such as ukiyo-e, kabuki, and sumo. 

This didn’t mean that Kyōto and Ōsaka didn’t have ukiyo-e, it simply meant that it was overshadowed by Edo. This is because many publishers and artists lived and worked in Edo’s environs. Kabuki from Edo and kabuki from Kyōto thrived, therefore there were many prints published for the plays performed in both cities. Stylistically the prints are different, with Ōsaka ukiyo-e being called Kamigata-e, the region where Ōsaka, and Kyōto are situated. For instance, the work of Ōsaka artist, and painter Shunkōsai Hokushū (active 1802-1832) is famous in Ōsaka for his kabuki prints, but is relatively unknown today, as compared to Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) who lived and worked around the same time in Edo. Comparing the two is perhaps comparing Brad Pitt (b. 1963), with Steve Buscemi (b. 1957), but I feel that it shows what both artists, successful in their fields, can accomplish for the genre. More information on Ōsaka ukiyo-e, can be found, here. 

Keiko Kadota (1942-2017) - was the director of Nagasawa Art Park at Awaji City from 1997-2011, and then of MI Lab at Lake Kawaguchi from 2011 until her passing.

Minimalism - is an art movement based on simplicity and geometry. Generally connected to 1960’s New York City. More info, here.

Yoonmi Nam (b. 1974) - is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, lithographer, sculptor, and teacher, based in Lawrence, Kansas. Her work can be found, here. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.

Yakult  (2018)

Katie Baldwin -  is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, illustrator, book maker, and artist based in Huntsville, Alabama.  Her work can be found, here.

The Dance (2015)

Mariko Jesse - is an illustrator, and mokuhanga printmaker based in Tōkyō, London, and California.  Her work can be found, here. Mariko, Katie, and Yoonmi are also a part of the collective, wood+paper+box, which can be found, here. 

Summer Flowers (2021)

Daniel Heyman (b. 1963) - is a painter and printmaker based in Rhode Island at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he is Assistant Professor. His work can be found, here.

Janus (2019/2020)

IMPACT Conference - started by The Center for Print Research, IMPACT stands for "International Multi-discipinary Printmaking, Artists, Concepts and Techniques’. Based in Europe, it is an academic conference discussing printmaking and how it fits into this world. More info about the most recent conference can be found, here. 

Kari Laitinen (b. 1952) - is a Finnish artist and printmaker based in Finland. His works explore colour and dimension. More information can be found, here. He helped write, with Tuula Moilanen, the book Woodblock Printmaking with Oil-based Inks and the Japanese Watercolour Woodcut. It was published in 1999.

Secret Space II (2014)

Tuula Moilanen - is a Finnish mokuhanga printmaker and painter based in Finland. She lived and studied in Kyōto from 1989-2012,  where she learned her printmaking at Kyōto Seika University and from printmaker Akira Kurosaki (1937-2019). Her work can be found, here.

Clear Day Fuji (2014)

Arches - is a brand of Western watercolour paper that is acid-free.

BFK - also knowns as Rives BFK, is a Western printmaking paper, made in France. Like Arches, it is 100% cotton.

Lower East Side Print Shop - founded in 1968, and is a not-for- profit printmaking studio located in New York City. More information can be found, here. 

Jennifer Mack-Watkins -  is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, and serigrapher based in New York City and New Jersey. Her work explores American culture through a personal lens. Her work has been featured  in Vogue and the New York Times. More information can be found, here. 

What To Do (2013)

Andrew Stone - is based in Florence, Italy. Andrew is a wine maker and former full-time doctor who has been making mokuhanga and baren, for years. His blog can be found, here. his interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Mons Veneris (2016)

Frogman’s Print Workshop - is a print space, opened in 1979,  in South Dakota. In 2016 the space moved to the University of Nebraska. More info can be found, here. 

The Adachi Institute of Woodblock Prints - is a print studio located in Tōkyō. Established in 1994 in order to promote and preserve the colour woodblock print of Japan. More information, in English and in Japanese. 

bokashi -  is a Japanese term associated with the gradation of water into ink. There are several types of bokashi. For more information regarding these types of bokashi please check out Professor Claire Cuccio's lecture called “A Story in Layers,” for the Library of Congress, and the book Japanese Printmaking by Tōshi Yoshida, and Rei Yuki. Below are the following types of bokashi. This is from the Yoshida book:

ichimonji bokashi - straight line gradation

ichimonji mura bokashi - straight line gradation with an uneven edg.

Ō-bokashi - a gradual shading over a wide area

atenashi bokashi - gradation without definition

futairo bokashi - two tone gradation

Ansei Uchima (1921-2000) - was a mokuhanga printmaker in the sōsaku hanga style of Japanese printmaking. He was the translator for Japanologist Oliver Statler (1915-2002).

In Memoriam (1958)

Keiji Shinohara (b. 1955) - is a Japanese mokuhanga printmaker who apprenticed under Uesugi Keiichiro in Ōsaka. He is the artist-in-residence at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. More info about Keiji can be found here, and here.

Twilight (2012)

Ursula Schneider - is a painter, woodblock printmaker and teacher at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York. More info about her work can be found, here.

Leaf and Wood (2018)

Jackie Battenfield - is a painter, printmaker, collagist, author, and motivational speaker. April alludes to Jackie’s  book, “The Artist’s Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love,” (2009). More information about Jackie’s work can be found, here.

Soundings (1999)

International Mokuhanga Conference - is a bi-yearly conference dedicated to mokuhanga which started in 2011 by the International Mokuhanga Association. Each conference is themed. The latest conference was in 2021, delayed a year because of the pandemic. More information can be found, here. 

Tōhoku Earthquake and Tsunami 2011 - (東北地方太平洋沖地震) was a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami which struck the coast of North East Japan on March, 11, 2011. The earthquake was 9.0 - 9.1 on the Richter scale.

Watson-Guptill - is an American publishing house, starting business in 1937. It is now a part of Ten Speed Press. 

Mina Takahashi - is the editor of Hand Papermaking magazine dedicated to the production and preservation of handmade paper. Was the editor of Dieu Donné in New York City from 1990-2004. She is also a curator.

Printmaking Today - is a magazine published by Cello Press in England, and is published quarterly. The magazine focuses on printmaking themes and artists. More info, here.

Mid-America Print Council - promotes the art of printmaking of all types. It was started in 1990 in Des Moines, Iowa. It publishes an annual journal with essays and articles about printmaking. More information can be found, here.

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) - was a Norwegian artist, who at the time of his death in 1944 had amassed thousands of his own works, including 15,391 prints of all types. Munch loved printmaking, using various mediums. The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. has an excellent exploration of his prints, here. 

Mokuhanga books in English -  Here is a list of books for those interested in studying and understanding mokuhanga, that I am aware of. This list is by no means exhaustive, so if you believe I've missed one please message me. If the book is in print (or even out of print and there are PDF's) you will see the authors name hyper-linked so you can get the books :

April Vollmer - Japanese Woodblock Printshop: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Art of Mokuhanga. (2015) Watson-Guptill Publications

Tuula Moilanen, Kari Laitinen, and Antti Tanttu - The Art and Craft of Woodblock Printmaking. (2013) Aalto Books

Laura Boswell - Making Japanese Woodblock Prints. (2020) The Crowood Press.

Hiroshi Yoshida - Japanese Woodblock Printing. (1939) Sanseido Company, Ltd.

Walter J. Phillips -  The Technique of the Colour Woodcut. (1926) Brown-Robertson, New York.

Rebecca Salter - Japanese Woodblock Printing. (2001) A&C Black.

Tōshi Yoshida & Rei Yuki - Japanese Print Making: A Handbook of Traditional and Modern Techniques. (1966) Tuttle Publishing.

Marilyn Chesterton and Rod Nelson - Making Woodblock Prints. (2015) Crowood Press 

Terry McKenna - Terry has written two excellent woodblock primers for the beginner and the intermediate practitioner. The first is Mokuhanga Fundamentals: Core Skills... & the second book is, Creative Print. Both can be purchased directly from here, and other fine establishments in e-book or physical form. Self Published. 

Fabiola Gil Alares - her book, Mokuhanga: Manual Ilustrado de Xilografía Japonesa, is one of the finest books on the subject of mokuhanga. This book is in Spanish. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Keiko Hara (b.1942) - is a painter, printmaker in mokuhanga, lithograph, and stencil. She is also a sculptor, and collagist. More info can be found, here.

Verse R - Black and White (2017)

floating kentō - is a removable registration system attached to the block when printing. As the kentō isn’t affixed to the block; blotting, and very clean borders are one of the positives of using this method of registration. It is an "L" shape. 

baren - is a Japanese word to describe the flat, round shaped disc which is predominantly used in the creation of Japanese woodblock prints. It is traditionally made of cord of various types, and a bamboo sheath, although baren come in many variations. 

Guerra & Paint Pigment Corp. - is a brick and mortar store located in Brooklyn, New York that sells artists pigments. More info, here. 

Endi Poskovich - is a printmaker and artist who focuses on symbols, and language for his work. More info about his work can be found, here. 

Two (Hälftberg) (2004-2017)

Holbein - is a pigment company with offices in Japan, Canada, and the United States. More info, here

Benjamin Selby - is an artist who works in mokuhanga, as well as touching on serigraphy and installations. More information about Benjamin’s work can be found, here. 

Turbulent Waters (2020)

Auto Mach Reciprocating Wood Carver -  is an automatic chisel that is made in Japan. It is plugged into an outlet. It comes with a variety of bits for carving. It makes carving large areas of hard wood a breeze. More information can be found, here. 

acetate - is a plant based, non-petroleum product. It is made from wood pulp and cotton. It is bendable, and stiff enough to use for getting into your kentō registration if you decide to use it for key block transfer.

Yoshida Family of Artists - The Yoshida’s are one of the most famous family of artists from Japan. Started with painter Yoshida Kasaburō (1861-1894), and made famous by Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) and his work with the shin-hanga movement and woodblock printing. The Yoshida family has helped shape many artists around the world. More info from the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, here.

Generation by April Vollmer (2002)

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing credit - Anyone Can Have a Good Time by OWLS (2001). From their self-titled album, and released on Jade Tree. 

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

Слава Україну

If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

 

 

A brand new venture can bring trepidation, and is never as straight forward as it may seem. That's something that I know all too well. On this episode of The Unfinished Print, I speak with curator, collector, and small business owner David Kutcher about his Japanese woodblock print gallery Moonlit Sea Prints. Located in Easthampton, Massachusetts, David opened his gallery to share his love of Japanese woodblokc prints.

We discuss why he got involved with the Japanese woodblock, the background of the business, his own private collection, the competition, and how history plays a part in his business. 

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

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

Moonlit Sea Prints - website, Instagram. 

Night Fishing by Arai Yoshimune (1873-1935) - Arai Yoshimune was a woodblock print designer who designed for the Hasegawa/Nishinomiya publishing house. “Night Fishing” is one print in a series of popular shin-hanga style woodblock prints published in the early 1900’s by Hasegawa/Nishinomiya of Tōkyō, called "Night Scenes". The series is made up of 21 prints. A fascinating article on this series can be found, here. Below is the "Fishing Boat," print from the this series. 

 

Fuji Arts - is an online Japanese woodblock print store, for collectors and is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company has been in operation since 2000. 

Connie Mack (1862-1956) - was an American professional baseball player and manager, and is the longest serving manager in baseball history.  

Babe Ruth (1895-1948) - is arguably the greatest American baseball player of all time. Made famous for his time with the New York Yankees form 1920-1934. Is said to have hit his first ever home run here in Toronto in 1914 when baseball was played on the island, against the Toronto Maple Leafs (baseball club). 

1934 Japan Baseball Tour - baseballs all stars of the time, including Connie Mack and Babe Ruth, went to Japan in 1934 to play on an “All American All-Stars” team. More information can be found here, with some footage. 

Acidic and non acidic matting - acid is a natural occurring element within paper. Like food, some have more, some have less. For very acid-free paper you would be using paper made from cloth rag and containing a small amount of a chemical compound called “lingnin” which is in all paper. The more lignin, the more acid the paper has. You want to use an acid-free paper to protect your print or piece of art from yellowing and other damage. For a great read on the subject, you can check it out, here . 

Starry Night by Takahashi Shōtei (1871-1945) - is a woodblock print, 6”x15” produced around 1926-1927.  Shōtei  designed woodblock prints for the Okura Shoten publishing house, and later for Maeba Shoten, finally designing some of his most famous prints, such as the one below, with Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962). I have seen this print with the 1926/27 year of production as well as a 1936 date as well. A biography of Shōtei can be found, here.

Tōshi Yoshida (1911-1995) and the Franklin Mint - in the early 1980’s Tōshi Yoshida, the eldest son of Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) embarked on a collaboration with the Franklin Mint. A private mint (a place where currency is made) based in Pennsylvania. The series of prints are considered surimono (privately commissioned prints). The prints are three sets of prints, called The Friendly Garden, Birds of the Seasons, and the calendar prints of birds and flowers. The sizes seems to vary. In muy research i've seen some prints as being 13.5" x 21.5" for the calendar prints and 12" x 20" for Birds of the Seasons. You can see some of these prints here.  

print sizes - Japanese print sizes vary. The following are from the book, “The Printed Image: the Flowering of Japan’s Woodblock Print Culture, (2018).

ōban - 15” x 10”

chūban - 10.4” x 7.5”

ōtanzaku - 15.3” x 7”

chūtanzaku - 15.3” x 5.2”

For a larger and more extensive list you can find that, here, at artelino.com

Japan in the 1950’s - coming out of the second world war, Japan was slowly beginning to recover ecenomically. Starting with the U.S/Japan security alliance, called the San Fransisco Peace Treaty of 1951. By the late 1950’s, and well into the late 1960’s, with the help of the United States, Japan’s GDP began to grow exponentially.

A few economic reasons were for this. First, the US market was opened to Japanese exporters, leading to protectionism by a stregthening Japanese bureaucracy, enabling the Japanese government to control domestic and international production. Second, is what Jeff Kingston calls  “industrial targeting.” This is where the Japanese government would focus on certain sectors deemed to be vital to economic growth, thereby giving private loans which in turn would create strength in Japanese infrastructure like heavy industry, crude-oil and natural gas.

This also enabled the cartel system by creating fixed cliques which as a matter of course, were open to corruption. These cartels (zaibatsu) played a large part in the fascist Japanese war machine, but with their connections with American corporations and being anti-Communist, the American post-war occupying government saw these zaibatsu as an asset to Japanese growth.

Companies that had connections to militarist Japan are, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi to name a few. This growth that began in the 1950’s, continued until the Japanese economic bubble burst in 1989. For more information on Japan’s economic history check out Jeff Kingston’s 2019 book, called Japan: Polity Histories.

Moonlit Sea by Shoda Koho (1871-1946) - Koho was the designer of this famous print. Little seems to be known about this print designer who published his designs with Nishinomiya Yosaku, also known as the Hasegawa Publishing Co. 

Jimbōchō -  is an area in the city of Tōkyō. Located in Chiyoda. It is an area made famous for its bookstores, where you can buy vintage, used, and new books of all genres. Some information can be found, here.

Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) - considered to be the last ukiyo-e designer. Known as an incredible talent and having his own demons, Kunichika studied under Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) and lived and died in Tōkyō. His work is powerful, bombastic, and colourful. His triptychs at times broke from the single panel sheet traditoin of one image per sheet, where one image for Kunichika could take up all three panels. More information can be found, here. The Museums of Liverpool have a new Kunichika exhibition from April 15, 2022 - September 4, 2022. The print below is Onoe Kikugoro V as Akashi no Naruzo (1890)

Yoshikazu Utagawa (dates unknown but active from 1850-1870) - famous for his Yokohama-e prints, prints that focused on the foreigners in Yokohama City in the 19th Century. Yoshikazu also made triptychs of tengu (long nose trickster forest goblins), and other demons. The triptych below is, Yoshitsune on Mount Kurama.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189) - was a leader of the Minamoto clan, associated with the period of warrinhg between the Minamoto and the Taira clans during the Heian Period (794-1185). Yoshitsune’s history, like many individuals of that historical period in Japanese history, is mixed with legend and is difficult to know what is true and what is not. Many woodblock prints were made describing his military prowess, as well as his adventures with his friend Benkei.  Some history of Yoshitsune can be found, here. 

intaglio printmaking - is a style of printmaking, the opposite of relief printmaking, where scratches are made with a burin on the plate (copper, zinc, aluminum) and then dipped in acid. Ink and pigment is rubbed on with a brayer, brushes, etc. More info can be found, here.

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) - a designer of more than six hundred woodblock prints, Kawase Hasui is one of the most famous designers of the shin-hanga movement of the early twentieth century. Hasui began his career with the artist and woodblock designer Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1971), joining several artistic societies along the way early in his career. It wasn’t until he joined the Watanabe atelier in 1918 that he really began to gain recognition. Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962) had Hasui design landscapes of the Japanese country-side, small towns, and everyday life. Hasui also worked closely with the carvers and printers of his prints to reach the level Hasui wanted his prints to be. The print below is Kude Beach, Wakasa (1920)

Tsuchiya Kōitsu (1870 - 1949) - apprenticed under artist and print designer Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), and worked as a lithographer. Kōitsu then joined the Watanabe atelier in 1935. Kōitsu also collaborated with Doi Sadachi publishers, amongst others. Below is Suma Beach (1938)

James Abbott McNeil Whistler (1834-1903) - was an American painter based in Britain. His paintings are generally of landscapes of lonely terrain, as well as of portraits. His most famous painting is of his mother.  His complete works can be found, here. 

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) - born in Edo, Hiroshige is famous for his landscape series of that burgeoning city. The most famous series being, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-1859), and the landcape series, Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833-1834). His work highlights bokashi, and bright colours. More info about his work can be found, here. Below is, Coastal Landscape In Moonlight (1857)

Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) -  was a Viennese born artist who was a part of the art nouveau, and Vienna Secessionist movements.  His subjects were, generally, of women. More information can be found, here.

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) - was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter. He began to collect Japanese woodblock prints around the winter of 1886-1887 from the art dealer Siegfried Bing, to collect and to sell for a profit, although he didn’t sell very many. This collection would go on to influence much of his work. 

Red Fuji - also called “Fine Wind, Clear Morning,” is a woodblock print designed by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and made around 1830-1832. 

The Great Wave off Kanagawa - is a woodblock print designed by Katsushika Hokusai in 1831. It is very famous. 

Hokusai Updated - was an exhibition held at the Mori Art Museum in the Roppongi area of Tōkyō which ran from January, 17th, 2019 to March, 24th, 2019. 

Hokusai manga - first published in 1814 these comical figures, lansdscapes, flowers, and other various images were created by the woodblock designer and artist Katsushika Hokusai. Beginning with Volume 1, “Transmitting the Spirit and Revealing the Form of Things,” the series became impressively popular and was continually produced, in fifteen volumes, until 1878, and in woodblock print form.  More information from the Princeton Library can be found, here. 

Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831-1889) - was a woodblock print designer and painter who focused on dark, devious, ghostly images and even some war prints.  Kyōsai’s work has had a resurgence the passed decade with many people outside of the woodblock print community. More information can be found, here. Below is his triptych, Demon's Out.

The Western influence on the Japanese print market - Western collectors have had a deep affinity for Japanese woodblock prints since the late 19th Century. In 1891, the print curator of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts held a Japanese print exhibition at the Smithsonian and in many ways, helped usher in a love for the Japanese woodblock print in America. As the popularity of Japanese woodblock prints began to grow, with more foreign artists living and working in Japan and abroad, such as Emil Orlik (1870-1932), Bertha Lum (1869-1954), and Helen Hyde (1868-1919) who started making their own woodblock prints. This new awareness of contemporary and vintage Japanese woodblock prints began to foster more collecting. As time has gone on, and with the Japanese woodblock print becoming so famous in the West, prices in Japan have begun to climb steadily, with more collectors in Japan collecting woodblock prints.  

sensō-e - are Japanese woodblock prints which focus on war. They can be single panel, diptych and triptych's. Complicated woodblock techniques were used, which highlighted war, specifically the first  Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). Artists such as Kobayashi Kiyochika designed prints for this war, the beginning of the Japanese Imperialist project. More information can be found, here. Below is Great Victory and Occupation of Jiuliancheng (1894) by Watanabe Nobukazu (1874-1944) 

Shirō Kasamatsu (1898-1991) - was a woodblock print designer who worked with the Watanabe atelier making shin-hanga designs. Below is Mount Wakakusa (ca. 1930) and Mountains Cottage in Spring (ca. 1960's)

Floating World Gallery - is a Chicago-based  brick and mortar / online Japanese woodblock print outlet in operation since 1987.  Focusing on all genres of Japanese woodblock prints. More info, here. 

Crosseyed Gallery - is a Los Angeles based woodblock print online store. More info, here.  

Art Walk: Easthampton, Massachusetts - is a monthly art walk held the first Friday of the month and created by Easthampton City Arts. They arrange arts programming and cultural events. More info, here. 

Pillar prints  - also called hashira-e (柱絵), are prints which have the shape of scrolls but are smaller. They are 4.5” x 28” and were attached to pillars in Japanese homes. Associated with the 18th Century. More info can be fond, here. Below is Cherry and the Moon, by Yoshimoto Gesso (ca. 1910-1930)

Yoshimoto Gesso (1881-1936) - was a shin-hanga print designer who designed many landscapes, birds, and flowers. More info, here. Below is his Blue Bird and Asters (ca.1930's)

surimono (摺物)-  are privately commissioned woodblock prints, usually containing specialty techniques such as mica, and blind embossing. Below is Heron and Iris, (ca. 1770's) by Andō Hiroshige (1797-1858). This print is from David Bull's reproduction of that work. You can find more info about that project, here. 

Ronin Gallery - is a NYC based Japanese woodblock print brick and mortar, online shop, and was established in 1975. More info can be found, here. 

Taoist alchemy -  also called nei-dun, is a type of internal alchemy in Taoism which purports to give the initiate a long life. External alchemy in Taoism is called wai-dan which uses herbs and minerals to promote a long life. More info can be found, here.   

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opening and closing credit sound - I am listening to the CBC's IDEAS podcast and the episode is called "Madame Blavatsky: Intellect, Adventurer, Occultist...Fraud. This can be found on any podcast platform. 

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

Bibliography:

Forrer, Matthi, Michael Scuffil, and Adele Schlombs. The Printed Image: The Flowering of Japan's Woodblock Printing Culture. Köln: Buchhandlung Walther König, 2018.

Marks, Andreas, Chiaki Ajioka, and Elisabeth Sövik. Seven Masters: 20th-Century Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Wells Collection. Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2015.

Martin, Katherine. Highlights of Japanese Printmaking, Part 3: The International Perspective.Scholten Japanese Art, 2008.

Uhlenbeck, Chris, Louis van Tilborgh, Shigeru Oikawa, Lynne Richards, and Diane Webb. Japanese Prints: The Collection of Vincent Van Gogh. London: Thames & Hudson, 2018.

 

One's mokuhanga journey takes many twists and turns. One can begin that journey at any age, at any time. For Andrew Stone that journey began at the age of 40, where in the last  fifteen years or so, Andrew has done a deep dive into the nuances of the art form, from technique, to tools. His exploration into what makes mokuhanga, mokuhanga, is fascinating and important. 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print, I speak with mokuhanga printmaker and baren maker Andrew Stone. We speak about his Florence Baren Project, his own mokuhanga, his life in Italy, his meeting with baren maker Hidehiko Gotō. We discuss his philosophies on mokuhanga and baren making, what it takes to make such a beautiful tool like the baren, and how they function and work.  

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

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

Andrew Stone - Lacrime di Rospo blog

April Vollmer - is a mokuhanga artist based in New York City. She has been working in the medium for over thirty years. Her book, Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, is a classic of the genre and a fantastic instructional book to begin mokuhanga.

Andrew's wine label prints - here is one such print Andrew describes in his interview. 

David Bull/Mokuhankan - David Bull is a Canadian mokuhanga printmaker and business owner based in the city and Prefecture of Tōkyō, Japan.  His company, Mokuhankan, has promoted the making of mokuhanga via the hanmoto or collaboration system of making woodblock prints, where the image begins as a black and white copy, evolving into a multi-layered colour woodblock print through a series of designers, carvers, and printmakers.  

etegami - meaning image letter, etegami is a style of calligraphy which was created by Kokei Kunio in the 1960’s, by writing his own distinct style of calligraphy on New Years postcards.  Although, sending postcards on New Years has been a tradition in Japan since the 700’s. By using watercolours on washi, Kunio creates beautiful postcards which lend a hand to the ephemeral nature of the season and the medium. 

lithography - is a printing process which requires a stone or aluminum plate, and was invented in the 18th Century. More info, here from the Tate. 

Shin hanga - is a style of Japanese woodblock printmaking which began during the end of the Ukiyo-e period of Japanese printmaking, in the early 20th Century. Focusing on the foreign demand for “traditional” Japanese imagery and motifs such as castles, bridges, famous landscapes, bamboo forests, to name just a few.  Shin hanga was born in 1915 by Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962) when he found Austrian artist Frtiz Capelari (1884-1950) and commissioned Capelari to design some prints for Watanabe's feldgling printing house . From there shin-hanga evolved into its own distinct “new” style of Japanese woodblock printing. It lasted as this distinct style until its innevitable decline after the Second World War (1939-1945).

Pop art - is a an art movement generally connected to post war America and commodification. Artists such as Andy Warhol (1928-1987), and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) are well known pop-artists.

Rebecca Salter - is a British artist who focused on mokuhanga early in her career, and painting in later life. She is the President of The Royal Academy of Arts, London. Her book Japanese Woodblock Printing is a classic of the genre. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

International Mokuhanga Conference - is a conference conducted by the International Mokuhanga Association for Japanese woodblock printing. It is held every two years and is themed. More info can be found, here. 

Mara Cozzolino - is a mokuhanga artist, based in Turin, Italy. Mara’s subjects tend to be landcapes and trees. Mara is also the IMC Publicity Advisor. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

Annie Bissett - is a mokuhanga artist and designer based in Rhode Island, USA. Annie’s subjects vary, from landscapes, politics, and even tarot. You can find her interview with the Unfinished Print, here. 

California forest fires - The State of California in the United States, has dry, hot weather. Because of climate change, this has been exacerbated by a higher population, deforestation, and heavy use. Forest fires have become common yearly events.

Impressionism - is a 19th Century art movement where the art is defined by visible brushstrokes, pastel colour, and the depiction of natural light. Artists associated with his movement are, Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Claude Monet (1840-1926). 

Fauvists - a group of artists and an art movement of the early 20th Century who focused on the painterly and lasted only a short time, 1904-1908. It is influenced by the Impressionists and is also considered a break from that. A few artists of this short movement are Henri Matisse (1869-1953), André Derain (1880-1954), Jean Puy (1876-1960), amongst others. 

Secessionists  - is an independent art movement, and historical break of the avante garde from the conservative ideals of European art. This period was from the late 19th to the early 20th Century. Started in Germany (Munich Secession) and then onto Vienna led by Gustav Klimt  (1862-1918). The several secessionist movements of the late 19th century (Munich, Vienna, Berlin) was grouped as one movement in the 1970’s by art scholars. 

hanshita - is a thin sheet of gampi paper that is pasted, reverse side, on a piece of wood. This is a guide, carved onto the block and is generally used for the key block and subsequent colour blocks. Methods such as acetate with water based pigment, can also be used rather than the thin gampi paper, which can cause misregistration if not pasted correctly.

Biomass plants in the EU - biomass is a form of energy which uses trees as energy. Large biomass plants can be found and subsidized by federal governments in Europe. They take in biological materials such as wood residue, energy crops and other agricultural residues and convert these items into energy. There are both pros and cons for this type of energy generation. 

shina - is a type of wood used in mokuhanga. It is part of the linden family of trees. This wood is produced in various parts of the world, such as Japan and Russia. Not all shina is created equal so buyer beware.

basswood - is a type of wood from the linden family of trees, soft and generally grainless. Can be used in mokuhanga.  

Florence, Italy   - the capital of the Tuscany region of Italy. Famous for its renaissance architecture, and culture. Large art galleries, such as the Bargello National Museum, and the Uffizi Gallery, are located here.

fabriano artistico - is a machine made Western watercolour paper, which can be purchased in rolls and sheets.

Guerra Pigment - is a family run pigment store located in Brooklyn, New York.

Holbein -  is a pigment company with offices located in Japan, The United States, and Canada. They offer high end gouache, watercolour, and pigment pastes. 

Paul Furneaux - is a Scottish mokuhanga artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He makes abstract mokuhanga, mixed with wood and other mediums. 

sizing recipe -  sizing is a term used for a recipe, containing animal glue, alum, and water. It is used to coat your paper, dried, and then remoistened and printed with,  to keep your pigments from bleeding in the paper. Sizing, in the short term, keeps your prints bright and colourful, although over time it has been proven that heavy sizing can deteriorate the print. Some recipes can be found, here, and here.

McClains - is an online, and brick and mortar store located in Portland, Oregon, USA. It sells mokuhanga tools, books, and educational items. McClain's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

takenogawa bamboo skin -  is a bamboo skin, made from a bamboo leaf, which covers the coils on your baren. You can wrap them yourself or have them sent to Japan to be wrapped professionally. Be sure to buy more than a few baren skins as you’ll go through a few when wrapping your own baren.

Gotō baren clinic Ginza - called Baren Juku, and located in the Ginza, Tōkyō. It was started in 2012.

tannin - are a class of molecules which are found in amino acids and alkaloids. They are found in tree bark, wood, leaves, fruits, seeds, plants. They protect the tree from bugs and other infections.

Gotō Huidehiko's book on baren - 

Mia-0 - is a mokuhanga artist based in Tōkyō, Japan. Her work can be found, here. 

Terry McKenna - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan. He studied under Kyōto-based mokuhanga artist Richard Steiner. Terry also runs his own mokuhanga school in Karuizawa. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. Richard Steiner's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

John Moss -  is a mokuhanga artist based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. His work focuses on landscape. His work can be found here. His interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

murasaki baren - is a mid-range mokuhanga baren. “murasaki” meaning “purple” , come in two types of weight (medium and heavy), and two types of sizes (10cm and 12cm). They are reasonably priced baren. 

gomazuri - is a mokuhanga technique where slight pressure is used with pigments too make a “spotty” image, what look like sesame seeds. It can add depth to your prints. 

baren suji zuri - is a Mokuhanga technique used with the baren and by the baren to create a circular design and can be layered with various colours. Paul Binnie's Black Storm (2016) is a fine example.

Yuki baren -  is a heavy ball bearing baren made in Japan. It is used to print large flat colours. 

Padua, Italy - is a city in the North of Italy, the Veneto region. It is famous for its frescoes and religious heritage. More info can be found, here. 

bokashi - is a mokuhanga technique, where the pigment fades from a heavy colour to a softer, broad colour. Made famous by prints designed by Hokusai and Hiroshige, this technique is, for me, the most popular technique utilized by  mokuhanga printmakers. There are various types: Ichimoji-bokashi or straight line graduation, used in the above mentioned Hiroshige and Hokusai prints. Ichimoji-mura-bokashi or straight line gradation with uneven edge. Ō-bokashi or wide gradation, Ate-nashi-bokashi or gradation without definition. Futa-iro-bokashi or two tone gradation, and ita-bokashi or softer-edge gradation, where the block is cut in a specific way to achieve this style of gradation. All of these styles of bokashi technique take practice and skill but are very much doable. 

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opening and closing credit music - Rob Swift, A Turntable Experience, from trhe album Soulful Fruit (1997)

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print it is with honour, and great pleasure that I am able to present to you, my interview, with British  artist Rebecca Salter. We speak on her mokuhanga, her own work and work produced together with the Satō woodblock workshop in Kyōto. We discuss where Rebecca believes mokuhanga has gone since writing her book, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), a book which constantly inspires me in my own work. This book helps me to understand, what has felt at times to be such an esoteric and complicated art form, just a little bit more. 

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

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

Rebecca Salter - website, interviews with Royal Academy, 1 and 2.

University of West England - once called Bristol Polytechnic, is a public research University located in Bristol, England.

British Museum - is a public museum, located in London, England, and is focused on human history, arts and culture. It was established in 1753. 

Kyoto City University of Arts - is a public university of the arts located in Kyōto, Japan, and was established in 1880.

lithography - is a printing process which requires a stone or aluminum plate, and was invented in the 18th Century. More info, here from the Tate. 

screen printing - also called, serigraphy, is a method of printing by using stencils and forcing the ink through a screen onto paper, or other fabric. More info, here.

Akira Kurosaki 黒崎彰 (1937-2019) - one of the most influential woodblock print artists of the modern era. His work, while seemingly abstract, moved people with its vibrant colour and powerful composition. He was a teacher and invented the “Disc Baren,” which is a great baren to begin your mokuhanga journey with. At the 2021 Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, Japan there was a tribute exhibit of his life works. Azusa Gallery has a nice selection of his work, here.

intaglio printmaking - is a style of printmaking, the opposite of relief printmaking, where scratches are made with a burin on the plate (copper, zinc, aluminum) and then dipped in acid. Ink and pigment is rubbed on with a brayer, brushes, etc. More info can be found, here.   

scrolls - called kakemono 掛物 or emakimono 絵巻物  in Japanese. These scrolls contain many different types of themes and subjects. More info can be found, here.

monoprint - is a print made from a re-printable block, such as wood, or an etched plate. It is usually a one and done type of printing with only one print being made.

blue and white Japanese ceramics - are ceramics made for the Japanese market. Originally imported into Japan in the 17th Century from China, local Japanese ceramists from northern and southern Japan began locally producing ceramics. As trading with the Dutch escalated more porcelain wares were being imported from Europe into the Japanese port of Imari. Imari became the word to describe these types of blue and white ceramics. 

Genji Monogatari emaki - is an elaborate scroll produced in 12th Century, Japan. It is based on the famous Tale of Genji, a tale written in the 11th Century and is attributed to Murasaki Shikibu (around 973-1014). You can find images of this scroll, here. 

Edo Culture - the Edo Period of Japan (1603-1868) was a period of peace and prosperity for the Japanese military government, or bakufu. Led by the Tokugawa family, Edo period culture flourished in theatre, literature, and the arts. For a fantastic book on the subject please seek out, Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions of Urban Japan by Kazuo Nishiyama (trans. Gerald Groemer) and Edo Kabuki in Transition: From the Worlds of the Samurai to the Vengeful Ghost by Satoko Shimazaki. 

Edo v. Kyōto Kabuki - kabuki theatre is a bombastic and powerful theatre from Japan. In its long history it has been generally attributed to both  Edo (Tōkyō) and Kyōto.  Edo kabuki is called aragoto kabuki and Kyōto kabuki is called wagoto kabuki. Aragoto kabuki is generally very loud and external, whereas Kyōto kabuki is more understated and gentle. 

Satō woodblock workshop - is a traditional Japanese woodblock production house based in Kyōto, Japan. Here is an article from The Journal of Modern Craft with Rebecca Salter regarding this workshop. 

Japanese woodblock of the 1950’s and 1960’s - post-war Japan was growing at an exponential rate, and this was true for the Japanese woodblock print. As the sōsaku-hanga movement began to out last the shin-hanga of the 1920’s in terms of production, where most people could produce prints on their own,  American scholars , Oliver Statler (1915-2000), and James Michener (1907-1997), helped catalogue and document the burgeoning Japanese woodblock print movement through their books, The Floating World (1954), by Michener, and Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn (1956) by Statler, for a Western audience. Along with the Western art scene and the 1951 São Paulo Art Biennial, Japanese woodblock prints began to be respected as a stand alone piece of fine art. 

kozo paper -  is paper made from mulberry bark and is commonly used in woodblock printmaking, and cloth. 

Echizen, Fukui - is a city located tin the prefecture of Fukui. The paper produced from this region is kozo, mitsumata, and gampi.  More information can be found from the website of Echizen Washi Village.

Mosquito net technique - is a technique in ukiyo-e, and can of course be reproduced by the modern mokuhanga practitioner, where very fine lines are carved on two wood blocks and, when printed together, create the image of slight, thin netting. Rebecca Salter details this technique in her book, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001)

 

Yale Center for British Art - located in New Haven, Connecticut, the YCBA is dedicated to British art of all types. 

Louise Caan - is a British architect and teacher based in Oxford where she teaches architecture at the Oxford Brookes School of Architecture. 

urushi zuri - is a technique which is used in traditional Japanese woodblock and mokuhanga, where pigment is mixed with nikawa (animal glue), and printed to enhance the enjoyment of the print. Usually seen in black hair, or garments represented in the print. 

Japanese museums dedicated to Japanese woodblock -  if you are visiting Japan and are interested in the Japanese woodblock print you are spoiled for choice. This list is definitely not complete so I would advise doing some research for local museums which may be open in different parts of Japan you may be visiting. This list is a mix of museums dedicated specifically to the woodblock print, or museums dedicated to woodblock print artisans.  Finally, check online for larger art museums , galleries, and department stores, in the area that you’re visiting to see whether they are having any shows dedicated to woodblock print artists, genres, etc. while you’re there. I’ve added hyper-links.

The Japan Ukiyo-e Museum  - Matsumoto, Nagano

Sumida Hokusai Museum - Ryogoku, Tōkyō

Ōta Memorial Museum of Art -  Harajukiu/Omotesando, Tōkyō

Tokaidō Hiroshige Museum - Shizuoka City, Shizuoka

Hokusai Museum - Obuse, Nagano

Kamigata Ukiyo-e Museum -  Ōsaka CIty, Ōsaka

Nakagawa Batō Hiroshige Museum - Nakagawa, Tōchigi

Kawanabe Kyōsai Museum - Warabi, Saitama

Naoko Matsubara - is a Japanese/Canadian contemporary artist, and sculptor, who lives and works in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.  She has focused much of her artistic life on making mokuhanga and has gained critical acclaim for it. My interview with Naoko Matsubara can be found, here. 

Katsutoshi Yuasa - is a Japanese contemporary artist, and sculptor, who works predominantly in mokuhanga. He has  produced an incredible mount of work. My interview with Katsu can be found, here. 

Brook Andrew - is an Australian contemporary artist who has shown internationally. 

Ukiyo-e Censorship - the military Tokugawa government (bakufu) was not happy about being criticized. Ukiyo-e prints often lampooned authority with their imagery. Other artistic pursuits in Japan at the time, such as kabuki theatre, did the same. In ukiyo-e and Tokugawa history there were “reforms” which the bakufu created in order to stem this type of criticism. The Ehon Taikōki of 1804, which focused on woodblock prints and poetry, and The Tempo Reforms of 1841/42 that focused on actor prints, the manufacturing of woodblock prints,  and their price, to name just a few reasons. 

William Evertson - is an American woodblock printmaker and sculptor based in Connecticut, USA, who’s themes focus on the politics and process of The United States.  

Annie Bissett - is an American mokuhanga printmaker based in Rhode Island, USA. She explores American life, past and present,  sexuality, and the esoteric through her prints. My interview with Annie Bissett can be found, here. 

Paul Binnie - is a Scottish mokuhanga printmaker and painter, based in San Diego, USA. Having lived and worked in Japan in the 1990’s, studying at the Yoshida atelier while there, Paul has successfully continued to make mokuhanga and his paintings. 

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition - is a summer exhibition held at the Royal Academy in London, England. It is an open submission, one which started in 1769, showcasing all types of artistic mediums. 

余韻 - (yoin) - is a Japanese word which means “lingering memory.”

The Lake District - is an area in North West of England which has numerous mountains, lakes, and a National Park. It has been an inspiration for many artists, writers, and actors for years. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing credit music - Cut/Copy - Rendevous from the album, I Thought of Numbers (2001)

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

 

How does one get a job at one of the most sought after positions in the mokuhanga community, Mokuhankan, and go on to be a large part of the success of the company while there?

Cameron Hilker did just that.

We don't make mokuhanga alone. We ask advice, search out tutorials, workshops, and have mokuhanga conversations with each other. But when your business has many moving parts and is expanding everyday,  then things can become a little more complicated. 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with Cameron Hilker, who worked with David Bull at Mokuhankan from 2017-2022, as Business Operations and Social Media Marketing Manager. Cameron's work with David Bull and Mokuhankan was important work for the rise of mokuhanga and the new found interest in the making and production of the Japanese woodblock print. 

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

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

David Bull - is a Canadian woodblock printmaker, and educator who lives and works in Japan. His love of mokuhanga has almost singlehandedly promoted the art form around the world. His company, Mokuhankan, has a brick and mortar store in Asakusa, Tōkyō, and online, here. 

Jed Henry - is an American artist and graphic designer. His work with woodblock prints is as designer. He works with Mokuhankan, as well as various other mokuhanga artists who carve/laser, and print his designs. His work under the Ukiyo-e Heroes banner is very popular. 

Ukiyo-e Heroes - is a series of designs created by Jed Henry, collaborating with the woodblock printing house, Mokuhankan, in Tōkyō. Starting in 2012, Ukiyo-e Heroes has expanded year after year with many different designs. You can find more information, here. 

Provo, Utah - is the fourth largest city in the United States. It has a large Mormon community. It is close to beautiful canyons and nature. 

Brigham Young University  - was founded in 1875, and is associated with the Church of Latter Day Saints. BYU is a liberal arts university located in Provo, Utah. 

Niigata Prefecture, Japan - located in the northern Chūbu region of Japan, Niigata Prefecture is a quiet and beautiful Prefecture. Known for winter sports such as skiing, and agriculture. 

Mokuhankan  - is a brick and mortar woodblock print shop located in Asakusa, Tōkyō. It is a learning and working space, where it sells the works of artist Jed Henry, master carvers of the past, and various print series. All are printed and carved by Mokuhankan printmakers and carvers. Started by printmaker David Bull as a way to sell his own series and reprints of old carvers of the past, Mokuhankan has grown exponentially over the years and is a must visit when coming to Tōkyō. More info, here. 

Tsukuba Express Line - founded in 2005 this train line services two Prefectures (Tōkyō and Ibaraki) within the Kantō Region of Japan. The Kantō Region consists of the following Prefectures: Tōkyō, Saitama, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba and Kanagawa. 

Infestation Print - from the Ukiyo-e Heroes series. Designed by Jed Henry and carved and printed by Mokuhankan, Tōkyō. 

Kickstarter - started in 2009, Kickstarter is an online platform and Public Benefit Corporation used to promote and raise money for independent projects which cannot receive funding by other means. 

ukiyo-e - is a multi colour woodblock print generally associated with the Edo Period (1603-1867) of Japan. What began in the 17th Century as prints of only a few colours, evolved into an elaborate system of production and technique into the Meiji Period (1868-1912). With the advent of photography and other forms of printmaking, ukiyo-e as we know it today, ceased production by the late 19th Century. 

anime - is a term associated with Japanese animation.  Japanese animation first began in 1917, but became famous to the West in the 1950's with Tōei Dōga. Nippon.com has a fine history of anime, here. 

David Bull's Twitch - his stream can be found, here, titled Japanese Printmaking. 

Twitch - was created from its previous platform Justin.tv in 2011. It focuses on gaming. 

Wisconsin, United States - located in the mid-west of the United States and became a U.S state in 1848. It was originally inhabited by the Mississippi and Oneota peoples. 

Early Japanese COVID Protocols - Japan currently is one of the last affluent democratic countries to open their borders to tourism. Early in the pandemic, Japan prevented many Japanese nationals, and foreign citizens, from re-entering the country. This went on for most of 2020, and all of 2021. This also adapted with the different SARS-CoV variants. JNTO has more information, here. 

Don Quijote - also known as DONKI, is a a large discount store founded in 1995, and is located throughout most major cities in Japan and Asia, today. 

Okutama - is a city located near the Okutama Mountains in Western Tōkyō. 

Ōme - is a city located near the Okutama Mountain in Western Tōkyō.

Tsushima Yasue - is a printmaker who works at Mokuhankan and has been with the company since 2011. 

Yoko Ishikawa  - is a printmaker who works at Mokuhankan. 

Ayumi Ohashi - is a printmaker working at Mokuhankan.

Ayumi Shiba - is a printmaker working at Mokuhankan.  

Your First Print: David Bull - this was the first DVD I ever purchased on how to make mokuhanga. This was in 2007. While I look back at that time thinking about why I didn't take it up as seriously as I do now, I sometime wonder, "Where would I be now in my Mokuhanga journey?" I realize that that is a redundant way of thinking. I am where I am now today, and to be happy with just that. You can still find this product on Dave's website. 

Pikachu - is an electric-like  Pokéman first appearing in 1996. 

Mario - is a video game character created by Shigeru Miyamoto. Famous for the Mario Bros. Nintendo video games. The print by Mokuhankan with Mario, called The Rickshaw Cart was the first print in the Ukiyo-e Heroes series. 

Link - is a character from the Nintendo video game series the Legend of Zelda, first seen in 1986. the Mokuhankan woodblock print starring this character is called The Hero Rests. 

The Fourth Wall - is a term in the performing arts which separates us from what we are watching on screen or on the stage. If the actor begins to speak to the audience, they are "breaking the fourth wall" and are bringing us into the story.

woodblock.com - is one of the first websites created by David Bull in order to describe the process of Japanese woodblock printmaking in English. It was and is an asset for those of us continuing the art form today. 

The Japan Times - the oldest newspaper in Japan, and first printed in 1897. 

Yomiuri Shimbun - is a Japanese newspaper founded in 1874 and is considered a conservative newspaper. 

US Time zones - there are nine times zones in the United States. They are as follows - Atlantic Standard Time, Eastern Standard Saving Time, Central Daylight Saving Time, Mountain Standard Time, Pacific Daylight Saving Time, Alaska Daylight Saving Time, Hawaiian Aleutian Standard Time, Samoa Standard Time, and Chamorro Standard Time. 

Yuzawa Town, Niigata  - is a resort town located in the Japanese Alps. Known for its skiing and other winter activities. 

karoshi (過労死) - is the Japanese word for "death by overwork."

Haneda Airport (羽田空港) - is one of two International airports (Narita International in Chiba Prefecture is the other) which supports travel into Japan. First built in 1931 from reclaimed land in Tōkyō, it was the primary International airport to and from Japan form 1978-2010.

Sensō-ji Temple - is the crown jewel of Asakusa in Tōkyō. The oldest temple in Tōkyō, it holds the image of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Mercy. The entire property of Sensō-ji is heavily touristed and has many shops (nakamise) and places to visit. 

Asakusa, Tōkyō - is a famous part of Tōkyō with restaurants, festivals, shops, shopping arcades, places to purchase anything from Buddhist statues, to pots and pans (Kappabashi). You can see kabuki theatre and buy woodblock prints. It is a special place. 

toro (灯籠) - is the name of traditional lanterns. 

kappabashi - is the avenue located near Ueno and is in the Asakusa area of Tōkyō. It is famous for servicing restaurants with their wide array of kitchen utensils like pots, pans, etc.

© Popular Wheat Productions

opening and closing credit music - The Promise Ring - Everywhere In Denver (1996) from the album 30 Degrees Everywhere. 

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

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If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***

 

 

 

 

 

Ralph Kiggell (1960-2022) was an important part of the international mokuhanga community for many years. Ralph took the different elements of mokuhanga, the energy and exploration of an artist, to create some of the most dramatic and ambitious mokuhanga today. Ralph Kiggell passed away in 2022 a few months after this episode was published. 

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with mokuhanga printmaker Ralph Kiggell about his life in Thailand, using locally sourced materials for his mokuhanga from that country; we also speak on his artistic ambitions, his observations on the current state of the mokuhanga community, and what he would like to see as its future. 

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

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

Ralph Kiggell - website, Instagram, interview with Evil. O

Japan and the West - Japan as a country has had an uneasy relationship with the "West." In many cases this relationship has focused solely with the United States. For a fine early description of this particular relationship please read The Making of Modern Japan, by Marius B. Jansen, and Empreror of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912 by Donald Keene. 

ukiyo-e - is a multi colour woodblock print generally associated with the Edo Period (1603-1867) of Japan. What began in the 17th Century as prints of only a few colours, evolved into an elaborate system of production and technique into the Meiji Period (1868-1912). With the advent of photography and other forms of printmaking, ukiyo-e as we know it today, ceased production by the late 19th Century. 

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) - was a Dutch painter, considered to be a part of the Dutch Golden Age of painting. He was notable for his self-portraits, landscape painting, and empathic painting. 

Serigraphy - is another word for the art of silk screen printing. Silk screen printing can be in on various materials, silk, canvas, paper, etc. 

Western Engagement with Mokuhanga -  the connection with woodblock prints and the West, predominantly with the United States and Britain, began when the elite of both countries started collecting ukiyo-e. Collecting ukiyo-e was the fashion for wealthier patrons of the arts who saw the beautiful images from Japan and their “Oriental” aesthetic as worth collecting. By the start of the twentieth century ukiyo-e production had began to wane. It wasn’t until Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962) who worked in the woodblock print business, and who exported prints to the West to a foreign market, saw the benefit of focusing his business for foreign buyers. He established his publishing house in Tōkyō for making woodblock prints with high end techniques (almost lost at that point) and used the traditional hanmoto system of print production to facilitate the demand. This began a fruitful business which created a new generation of woodblock production and Japanese aesthetic. The two important types of woodblock print styles from this period are shin-hanga (new prints), and sōsaku-hanga (creative prints).

shin-hanga - or, new prints, is a style of woodblock print production connected to the early twentieth century in Japan. Attributed to Watanabe Shōzaburō, and were created via the ukiyo-e, hanmoto system. Prints are produced through a hierarchy. This hierarchy is as follows: publisher commissions artist who designs the prints, professional woodblock carvers carve the prints, and professional printers print the prints. This collaboration system helped make shin-hanga into the collectable works we find today. They help to codify a romanticized Japanese aesthetic, for a Western audience. 

sōsaku-hanga - or creative prints, is a style of printmaking which is predominantly, although not exclusively, prints made by one person. It started in the early twentieth century in Japan, in the same period as the shin-hanga movement. The artist designs, carves, and prints their own works. The designs, especially in the early days, may seem rudimentary but the creation of self made prints was a breakthrough for printmakers beginning to move away from where only a select group of carvers, printers and publishers created woodblock prints. 

War prints & Japanese Imperialism - as Japan entered the Pacific Theatre of war (1941-1945) with the United States, the fascist military government had complete power in Japan at the time, and used woodblock prints, as well as other mediums such as lithography and photography, to propagandize their war effort. Printmakers such as Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) even got involved in producing prints that helped the war effort. He designed several war prints during this time period. Prints such as The Red Setting Sun, is a prime example of how the times and aesthetic show a relatively innocuous scene of figures (Japanese soldiers) riding on horses with a setting sun back drop. For more detailed information regarding war time prints I suggest, Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan, ed. Philip K. Hu w/ Rhiannon Paget, and The Politics of Painting by Asato Ikeda. My interview with Rhiannon Paget PhD can be found, here. 

The American Occupation and Woodblock Prints - the occupation of Japan occurred after the end of the Pacific theatre (1941-1945) and World War 2 (1939-1945). The Occupation of Japan was from 1945-1952. During this period of nation rebuilding, the Japanese print market as a post-war souvenir was very popular. The rapid growth of the woodblock print in the immediate post-war is attributed to several factors.

Robert O. Muller (1911-2003) was an American collector who helped establish print connections with Japan and the United States. From owning the Shima Art Co. of New York City, to working with Shōzaburō in Tōkyō after the war, Robert O. Muller's contribution can be considered unprecedented in woodblock print history. 

Kōshirō Onchi (1891-1955) was another factor in the rise of woodblock prints during the Allied Occupation. His First Thursday Society, and with the help of his daughter who worked directly with the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers (SCAP), Onchi was able to spread the word on the creative prints project (sōsaku hanga) by making connections with important collectors in the American military government, as well as recruiting American artists, such as Ernst Hacker (1917-1987). 

For more information regarding the American Occupation of Japan and woodblock prints please read, Japanese Prints during the Allied Occupation 1945-1952, and Troubled Times and Beyond: Japanese Prints 1931-1960, published by Nihon no Hanga, Amsterdam. My interview with Maureen de Vries, curator of Nihon no Hanga, can be found, here. 

Evolving Techniques in Japanese Woodblock Prints - is a book published by Kodansha International in 1977. It was written by Canadian woodblock printer Gaston Petit, and Amadio Arboleda, who currently apprentices as a violin maker in Tōkyō. 

Tama Art University - is an arts university located in various campuses in Tōkyō. It has various departments such as Architecture, Product and Textile Design, and Art Studies. 

入門 - "nyuumon" in the title of the book Ralph speaks about in our interview, where we discuss what the following kanji means. There are a few meanings for this particular kanji, but in regards to the book I believe it to mean, "beginning training."

水生 - "suisei" is a Japanese word meaning, "water based."

刷物 - "surimono" is a Japanese word which means, literally, "printed thing." These were also privately commissioned prints made by wealthier clients for special occasions. These prints usually were extremely extravagant, using high-end techniques and pigments.  I could not in my research find whether or not "surimono" was used more colloquially, rather than "ukiyo-e."

kentō - is the registration system used by printmakers in order to line up the colour woodblocks with your key block, or outline block, carved first.  

Wood Like Matsumura - is an online and brick and mortar store, for woodblock printmaking, located in Nerima City, Tōkyō. website.

Will Francis - is a British mokuhanga printmaker who works predominantly for American graphic designer Jed Henry, and Mokuhankan. 

shina - is a type of Japanese plywood used in mokuhanga.

jigsaw cutting - Ralph uses various methods when making his mokuhanga. One such method is jigsaw cutting, where the blocks are cut and those cuts are used to make prints. In this video, Ralph explains his process on making his prints.

Akira Kurosaki 黒崎彰 (1937-2019) - one of the most influential woodblock print artists of the modern era. His work, while seemingly abstract, moved people with its vibrant colour and powerful composition. He was a teacher and invented the “Disc Baren,” which is a great baren to begin your mokuhanga journey with. At the 2021 Mokuhanga Conference in Nara, Japan there was a tribute exhibit of his life works. Azusa Gallery has a nice selection of his work, here.

Munakata Shikō 志功棟方 (1903-1975) arguably one of the most famous modern printmakers, Shiko is famous for his prints of women, animals, the supernatural, and Buddhist deities. He made his prints with an esoteric fervour where his philosophies about mokuhanga were just as interesting as his print work.

flâneur - is a French word, meaning idler, walker of streets, a way to see a city, to understand it. The freedom to walk a city is a type of freedom that allows someone to truly understand where they are.  While almost always written in French literature [(Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)], for men there has been a question about why women haven't been associated with the word. Lauren Elkin, an American writer in Paris, tries to understand why women aren't associated with the term. The CBC podcast, IDEAS, interviewed her and it was a great way to understand what makes a flâneur, or flâneuse. You can find it, here. 

Alex Kerr and Lost Japan  - Alex Kerr is an American Japanologist who lives and works in Japan. He has written many books on Japan, but is famous for Lost Japan, published in 1993. It describes the modernity of Japan, and what is destroyed when searching for that modernity. 

Meiji-jingu (明治神宮) - is a large parkland area near the Harajuku neighbouhood of Tōkyō. It is dedicated to Emperor Meiji (Prince Mutsuhito - [1867-1912]). It is open 365 days of the year and is especially busy during the New Years celebrations. 

Black Ships - are associated with the American naval commodore, Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858). The United States wanted to open trading with Japan, who had been in self-imposed isolation with the West since 1635. Matthew C. Perry essentially bullied his way into the conversation of trade with Japan and these "Black Ships" he arrived on, became a symbol of this moment. 

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Imperial Hotel - (1867-1959) FLW was an American architect who designed many different buildings in Japan since his first visit in 1905. The Imperial Hotel was located in Tōkyō in the Hibiya district. It was moved to, and reconstructed in 1968 at the Meiji-mura Museum Village in Aichi Prefecture. It was built in the Mayan Revival style. I got a chance to visit it in Aichi and it's pretty spectacular, and smaller than I thought it would be. The Imperial Hotel still exists today. 

Kozo paper - is a long fibered mulberry paper used for mokuhanga and cloth making. It is produced in Japan, Thailand, and South America. 

Lampang, Thailand -  located in Northern Thailand and is a trading city with tourism, and farming.

Yoshida Family of Artists - The Yoshida’s are one of the most famous family of artists from Japan. Begun with painter Yoshida Kasaburō (1861-1894), made famous by Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) and his work with woodblock printing. The Yoshida family has helped shape many artists around the world. More info from the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, here.

Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) - a watercolorist, oil painter, and woodblock printmaker. Is associated with the resurgence of the woodblock print in Japan, and in the West. It was his early relationship with Watanabe Shōzaburō, having his first seven prints printed by the Shōzaburō atelier, that made Hiroshi believe that he could hire his own carvers and printers and produce woodblock prints, which he did in 1925. 

Yoshida Tōshi (1911-1995) - eldest son of Hiroshi Yoshida. Having been affected by polio, and the pressure of continuing his fathers legacy, Tōshi Yoshida made prints and paintings which gradually became expressive, avant garde and abstract. Later in life he focused on birds and mammals.

Yoshida Hodaka (1926-1995) - the second son of Hiroshi Yoshida, Hodaka Yoshida seemed to be a bit of the black sheep of the Yoshida family. His desire to become an artist was against his fathers wishes, and his work was an extreme departure from what his father had produced as well as his older brother. Inspired by western artists such as Henri Matisse (1869-1954), and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Hodaka began to move away from painting to woodblock prints in the 1950’s. Hodaka travelled (the Yoshida family were constant travellers) and was constantly inspired by the world. This was reflected in his woodblock prints and woodblock/photo etching prints. 

Yoshida Tsukasa (b.1949) - is the son of Tōshi Yoshida. He is a woodblock printmaker focusing on themes of nature and especially the moon.

Bangkok Art Biennale - is an art biennale located in Bangkok, Thailand. It was founded in 2018, and was created for visitors to immerse themselves in Thai culture through various arts installations and shows. The 2022/23 biennale will be from October 22, 2022 - February 23, 2023. (IG)

Province of Manitoba, Canada - joined Confederation in 1870, and is known for its natural beauty and vast landscapes. The capital is Winnipeg. 

Province of Saskatchewan, Canada - joined Confederation in 1905, and is known for its vast fields and flat land. Its capital is Regina. 

April Vollmer - is an established artist who works predominantly in mokuhanga. Her book Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop is one of the authoritative books on the subject and has influenced many up and coming mokuhanga artists. 

Natasha Norman - is an artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Here mediums are mokuhanga, mokulito, monotype, and paintings. My interview with Natasha Norman can be found, here. 

MDF - Medium-density fibreboard is a board made of discarded wood fibres and bonded together by wax and resin, which makes it bad for you if you carve it. 

opening and closing credit music - Spadina Sounds as told by the walkway which had a moving sidewalk. 

Here are some of the sources used for the above notes:

LIPSHULTZ, SANDRA LAWALL. A Japanese Legacy Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists. Laura W. Allen, Kendall H. Brown, Eugene M. Skibbe, Matthew Welch, Yasunaga Koichi. Held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts from FEBR. 2 to April 14, 2002. Chicago, Ill: Art Media Resources, 2002.

MARTIN, KATHERINE. Highlights of Japanese Printmaking: Part Two - Shin Hanga. Scholten Japanese Art, 2006.

DE VRIES, MAUREEN, Chris Uhlenbeck, and Elise Wessels. Troubled Times and Beyond: Japanese Prints 1931-1960. Nihon no Hanga, 2013. 

© Popular Wheat Productions

logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny 

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 :)

Слава Україну

If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know.

***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***