Oct 27, 2022
Mia O is one of the most interesting and creative
mokuhanga printmakers working in the medium, today. Her work moves
outside the traditional formats of mokuhanga, through shape,
collage, colour, and even the folds of washi.
Join me on this episode of The Unfinished Print where I speak
with Mia O about how mokuhanga has been such an important part of
her life. We discuss specific pieces of hers and how they were
made, her life in Japan and how her environment inspires her.
Mia also delves into her collaboration with The Mokuhanga
Sisters Collective, and her time at Nagasawa Art Park.
Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own
mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints Twitter
@unfinishedprint, or email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com
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. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise
noted.
Mia O - website, Instagram
Brooklyn Museum - is a museum located in New
York City in the Borough of Brooklyn. With a history
which stretches from 1823, the current museum was founded in 1898.
It contains predominantly American works of art. More info,
here.
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.
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.
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.
CfSHE Gallery - is a gallery located in
Chiyoda, Tōkyō. It is associated with MI Lab. More
info,
here. Their
Instagram can be found,
here.
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.
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.
shina - is a type of Japanese
plywood used in mokuhanga. Not all shina is made equally,
buyer beware.
powdered pigments - have been used in
mokuhanga since the Edo Period (1602-1868). Mineral pigments can
still be used but are generally hurtful and toxic. More information
can be found on grinding and the types of powdered pigmetns used
today from John Amoss of Tanuki Prints,
here.
Mino, Gifu, Japan - is a city located in the
Japanese Prefecture of Gifu. It is famous for its ceramics and for
the washi that Mia speaks about in her interview. Mino, also has a
festival which uses their locally produced washi for some portable
shrines. More info can be found
here, about
Mino tourism, and
here, for the
Mino festival.
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.
Mia O pieces discussed in
her interview -
Bamboo Green Landscape (2016)
Yellow Ochre Landscape (2016)
Orange Landscape (2016)
PW Octagon (2017)
B+W Holes (2021)
The World Beteween The
Block and the Paper - was a mokuhanga centered show held
at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont from
December, 11, 2021 to March, 27, 2022. It was hosted and presented
by SVAC and the Mokuhanga Sisters, a mokuhanga collective of
mokuhanga artists and teachers from around the world. More info,
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
MI Lab - Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory
is located in Tōkyō. It is a place set up for learning mokuhanga.
The artist-in-residence program, having been held since 2011 on
Lake Kawaguchi near Mt. Fuji, is an application based program
hosting international mokuhanga practitioners who are looking to
move their work forward. More information can be
found,
here.
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.
Patterning
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.
Winter Walk - lithograph and
monotype (2016)
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.
Dark Light II (2020)
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.
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opening and closing musical credit - Fall Line by Jack
Johnson form the album On And On (2003)
logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André
Zadorozny
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***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print
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