Nov 30, 2022
Many mokuhanga printmakers today touch on different mediums when
they create their work. It could be sculpture, bookbinding, or
installation. There is no limit as to what can be accomplished with
mokuhanga.
On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with mokuhanga
printmaker and artist Katie Baldwin. Based in Alabama where she is
an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
Katie has travelled the world, from Poland to Taiwan. She is
involved in several collaborative groups, such as ShiftLab,
wood+paper+box, and The Mokuhanga Sisters.
Katie speaks on her early days of making mokuhanga, her time at
Nagasawa Art Park, the influence of her artist father, studio space
and what it does to her work. We also discuss the concept of
"craft," and her evolution as an artist.
Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own
mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints or
email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com
Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on
the highlighted word or phrase.
Artists works follow
after the note. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise
noted.
Katie Baldwin - website, Instagram
Progress from
the Two Stories Series (2013) - woodblock and
letterpress
Tornado Shelter (Practice Evacuation)
[2021]
Neighbourhood
2 from Things Left Behind
Series (2010)
portion from Multiple
Discovery by Shift-Lab (2022) artists book
Fire Drill (ca. 2020)
Evergreen State College - is a state funded
college located in Olympia, Washington, USA. It covers
environmental justice, history, amongst other subjects. More info
can be found, here.
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.
woodblock printing in Europe - first starting
in and around 1400, woodblock printing in Europe used the medium to
represent Chirstian subjects. Albrecht Dührer (1471-1528) made
detailed devotional works with woodcuts. Another famous style of
woodcutting in Europe was using the chiaroscuro (light and dark)
method of drawing within a woodcut as seen in the work of Louis
Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). More info can be found, here.
The Four Horseman of The Apocalypse
(1496-1498) woodcut
The Werewolf or the Cannibal (date
unknown) woodcut
Nagasawa Art Park (MI Lab) Awaji City -
Nagasawa Art Park was an artist-in-residence program located in
Awaji City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was open for 12 years
before evolving into MI Lab in 2012. More info,
here.
Awaji Island - is located in the Seto Inland
Sea in Japan. It is famous for its Naruto whirlpools, the longest
suspension bridge in the world in the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. It is
also a connection to both Shikoku Island, and the main land of
Honshu. More info can be found,
here.
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.
shina - is a type of Japanese
plywood used in mokuhanga. Not all shina is made equally,
buyer beware.
intaglio printing - is a printing method,
also called etching, using metal plates such as zinc, and copper,
creating “recessed” areas which are printed with ink on the surface
of these "recesses.” More info,
here.
The MET has
info,
here.
codex -
is a type of book binding in the Western method and is a precursor
to the modern book.
Wells
College - is a private college located in Aurora, New
York, USA. The school provides various courses in the social
sciences, science, and environmental studies. More info can be
found, here.
National Taiwan Normal University - was
founded in 1922 and serves many different avenues of study. Their
Department of Fine Arts, holds a Bienniel Print Exhibit, more info
here and
here.
Taoyan International Print Exhibition 2021 -
was a print exhibition showcasing international printmakers in the
town of Taoyan, Taiwan. More info,
here.
aizuri-e - a late Edo Period
(1603-1867) type of printmaking where the woodblock print is
predominantly in blue, or shades of the color blue. The blue colour
was usually a Prussian Blue imported into Japan around 1790.
artelino have a great description of Prussian Blue and aizuri-e,
here.
Fullbright Scholarship - is a scholarship
that covers various types of grants. Beginning in 1946, this
particular scholarship provides grants and exchanges for many
countries and for various students, scholars, and professionals.
More info,
here.
Puli, Nantou, Taiwan (埔里鎮) - is a
township located in the Nantou County, a mountainous and landlocked
portion of Taiwan. Known for its nature, lakes, and national parks.
More info,
here.
sizing paper - at times mokuhanga printmakers
will size their paper. Size is made from water, animal glue
(rabbit, horse), and alum. What the size does is keep the pigments
the artist uses from “bleeding” into the outer edges of the paper.
There are many recipes of size,
here is one
that artist Walter J. Phillips used.
kozo paper - is paper made from mulberry
bark and is commonly used in woodblock printmaking, and
cloth.
Art Taipei - is organized by the Taiwan Art
Gallery Association (TAGA) and is an art fair which takes place
once a year in October. More info can be found,
here.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂) - is
a landmark located in Taipei, Taiwan. It is in memoriam to the
leader of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), who
lived in exile in Taiwan from 1949-1975.
sumi - is a rich black stick, or liquid used
by artists, calligraphers, and traditional Japanese horimono tattoo
artists. It is made from the soot of burnt lamp oil. Used in
key blocks predominantly in traditional mokuhanga, it can also be
used to mix pigments. Pigment Tōkyō conducts a great interview with
their chief of pigments, Kei Iwaizumi, about sumi ink,
here.
Shift-Lab - is an international artists
collective which started in 2013. The collective is made up of
Katie Baldwin, Denise Bookwalter, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick, and
Tricia Treacy. Their works are a blend of bookmaking, sculpture,
mokuhanga, printmaking, and drawing. More info can be found, here.
Below is work from Shift-Lab and each individual artist within the
collective, other than Katie Baldwin, whose work can be found
above. Info regarding the collective can be found,
here. Click on the artists name
for their respective website's.
The pine cone is an object of
veneration (2012) by
Sarah Bryant -
letterpress
Observations on Listening (2012) by
Macy Chadwick -
letterpress, polymer plate
SLOT
(2018) by Tricia Treacy - one
page from the SLOT piece. - risograph, hand binding,
foil-stamping
CODEX Book Fair and
Symposium - is a biennaly held book fair and is hosted by
CODEX, a foundation created in 2005 by Peter Rutledge Koch,
and Susan Filter. Their aim is to promote the book form as
art. The next book fair will take place in 2024. More info can be
found,
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.
website,
Instagram
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.
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.
Cover of Kansas
City Collection
(2014-2015), catalogue
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.
Berry Flower (2020)
The Group of Seven -
were a group of landscape painters from Canada. The artists were,
Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A.Y.
Jackson 1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer
(1885–1969), J.E.H MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick
Varley (1881–1969). Later, A.J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to
join in 1926, Edwin Holdgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930,
and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932. While Tom
Thomspon (1877–1917), and Emily Carr (1871–1945) were not
"official" members it is generally accepted that they were a part
of the group without being "officially" a part of the group because
of the group relationship with the artists. More info can be
found, here.
Collaborative Mokuhanga Groups of the past -
usually associated with the sōsaku hanga movement of the early 20th
century, these collaborative mokuhanga groups shared and
disseminated their work amongst themselves, teaching techniques and
methods, strengthening the creative print movement in Japan. Some
famous print groups were The First Thursday Society as founded by
Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955), and the Yoyogi Group founded by Un’ichi
Hiratsuka (1895-1997). Printmaking during this time was
predominantly male, so we see Japan and that time period through
the eyes of men. There were female printmakers, such as Keiko
Minami (1911-2007), although she lived abroad and not in Japan. In
Japan you had the Joryū Hanga
Kyōkai, the first woman’s printmaking society who held their first
show in Tōkyō. Artists such as Iwami Reika (1927-2020),
and Kobayashi Donge from this group, made mokuhanga
prints.
Moon and Water (ca. 1972) -
by Iwami Reika
Eve In A Circus by
Kobayashi Donge (date unknown) - etching on paper
In Cahoots - is a residency program based in
Petaluma, California, USA. It focuses on letterpress, relief
printmaking, and artists books. It is run by Mary Chadwick. More
info can be found,
here.
Mise-en-Scène
- is an
artists project by wood+paper+box, currently in progress. More
info,
here.
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opening and closing musical credit - Planet
Rock by Afrika Bambaataa (1982)
logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André
Zadorozny
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