2019 Workshops Upcoming
AUGUST
Gerrard Art Space Summer School
1475 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
August 12 - 16, 2019. Register at
Gerrard Art Space, 1475 Gerrard St E, Toronto
or (416)778-0923
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER
KITCHENER WATERLOO FALL WORKSHOP
Button Factory Arts
Mokuhanga workshop
Thursdays, October 3rd -November 21, 2019
Please contact Ali Brenner at the Button Factory
for registration information.
History of mokuhanga
Waterbased woodblock printing originated in China but was adpated for spreading Buddhist images in Japan. In 18th, 19th century Japan the artform became secular and artists who may also have worked as kimono designers designed images for publication on paper. These became known as ukiyo e, or "pictures of the floating world". With graceful line, beautifully designed figurative images, artists such as Utamaro or Kunisada depicted actors and courtesans who inhabited the fragile underbelly of society. Later, artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai also created wonderful landscapes often depicting notable travel locations in Japan.
In the 1980's there was increasing interest in the medium still being practiced by artisans and a few artists in Japan. International artists travelled to Japan to learn from these practitioners and the medium has gained in popularity in the printmaking world. Today after first grasping and practicing the basics of the medium, the print artist can run with it. Mokuhanga still employs Japanese tools such as the baren (disk for applying pressure) the printing brushes (marubake), as well as making use of beautiful hanga washi papers from Japan.
For more information go to Contemporary mokuhanga.
Last update October 21, 2016