Having worked with copper and linoleum to produce etchings and relief prints, I am familiar with the acids, chemicals, and oil-based inks that can be messy and necessitate a large studio with a press to produce such prints. I’m attracted as well to the simplicity of the technique used to create these images, the simplicicity of the materials and also the demanding nature of the hand-skills necessary. These prints became a popular means for common people to collect views of beautiful places that they had visited. I am drawn particularily to the work of giants Hokusai and Hiroshige because these two men popularized nature, animals, flowers, plants, and the landscape as a subject. I’m drawn to this message of taking pleasure in the moments of the free, beautiful, and impermanent things around us. “… Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating … refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world…” I love this quote from novelist Asai Ryoi explaining Ukiyo-e: These prints focused on picturing landscapes and natures, city life, actors, wrestlers, courtesans other popular subjects. The “Floating World” refers to the idea of impermenance or fleeting beauty. Hokusai was an artist in the middle of the Ukiyo-e or “Pictures of the Floating World” period of printmaking in Japan that lasted from the Early 1600’s until about 1900. By that I mean that it is a handmade form of art that is very affordable and accessible to many. What is the allure of making prints in this way? I like the graphic nature of Japanese design and print, I appreciate the history of the technique and its (sometime) focus on landscape and nature, and I love the accessibility of printmaking. I picked it back up this last fall, 2012, and have made six new prints since then. The technique of Moku (Wood) Hanga (Print) has stuck with me since then, a humble beginner with this artform, but addicted to the technique and learning quickly. In 2011 I took a short 6-week course in Moku Hanga from Seattle Artist Francesca Lohmann at the (now unfortunately closed) Sev Shoon Studio. It’s a classic of Japanese art, and deservedly so, having both a powerful composition and narrative. Most people recognize Housiki’s “Great Wave of Kanagawa” from his series Thirty Six Views of Mt.
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