Japanese Print Party

We had a free day in Tokyo, Japan recently.  On the basis of a recommendation from a Whangarei printmaker at a workshop I attended a month or so ago, I arranged for Catherine and me (and Margaret, her sister) to have a morning shot at Japanese printmaking. This happened at Mokuhankan a print making facility in the Asakusa district within a short walk of the Senso-ji Temple - the oldest temple in Tokyo. The print workshop is run by David Bull, an English-born Canadian, who has lived in Tokyo for over 25 years. The procedure for the event is to pay a fee of $20 and for that you have the opportunity and guidance to make your own prints from existing woodblocks.

I learned a lot from David Bull.  The design, woodblock production and printing are traditionally carried out by separate craftsmen in Japan . Unusually, David does both block cutting and printing. He also has a staff who also assist with both. I was interested in the differences between the Japanese and other printmaking methodologies that I'm used to. For instance the ink is water based, it is applied by brush rather than roller and a baren is used rather than a press. The effects are very pleasing.

Print Bench (red, blue, yellow, black colours) and blocks

Note brushes for applying ink and baren for pressure. (Photo: Margaret Prentice)

Catherine and I both did three prints each and Catherine produced the least flawed print! Margaret took photos!


Back home, I looked at David's videos of his production of his own woodblock and prints of the famous print by Hokusai, "The Great Wave" - a marvellous exposition of attention to detail and craftsmanship. Very well worth looking at the "Wave ..." production here and his work more generally here.

Catherine's Print

Antarctica 2012

This coming summer is the 100th anniversary of the epics of Amunsden and Scott.  Catherine, my brother John and I  thought we'd celebrate these polar events with a little art exhibition at the Selwyn Gallery at Darfield near Christchurch where we had our 2009 exhibition ("Beyond the Road Ends").  Catherine will be painting, I'll exhibit some of my prints and John will concentrate on the northern polar regions with his photos.  It'll be called "Poles Apart".  It will be on for the month of February 2012 with the opening on Saturday 4th Feb.  Catherine and I will also be doing one on Antarctica at Arts Post in Hamilton, as luck would have it, overlapping with the Darfield one.  Not so bad for a printmaker but more work for the painter! Here are images of two of my prints.

Gateway to the South (Embossed Woodcut - BLS)

One Way South (Woodcut Monoprint - BLS)

And, by the way, if you are interested in Art on Antarctica have a look at Meliors Simms' blog where she is charting the construction of her next exhibition (Imagining Antarctica) of textile art to go on Display at Arts Post, Hamilton from the 19th August.  Cool stuff.

http://meliors.blogspot.com/