Zea Mays is a great environment for a class. The studio is in an old factory building with large windows and sunlight streaming in. We had a big table for demonstrations:
And each student got their own table to work on:
Front to back: Martye, Kim, Adele
Most of the participants came with a lot of art experience, and many had done other forms of printmaking. There was a lot to learn all around.
Kim Rosen, another Northampton illustrator
Leslie Moore, an artist who does animal and pet portraits in ink and black and white woodcut, came down from Maine.
It was great to see the group start to bond and I was particularly touched when I noticed Fran Kidder, a local painter, helping Dayna Talbot, a painter from eastern MA, with her kento.
I spent most of the weekend just wandering from table to table, troubleshooting problems when needed and just enjoying watching these 9 women discover the intricacies of moku hanga.
Puzzling with Kristen over her first block.
Dayna carving an intricate keyblock.
Adrienne discovers finger printing! Sarah, seated behind Adrienne, carved just two simple blocks but experimented with them so that no two prints were quite the same.
Leslie wielding a baren.
Unfortunately I couldn't concentrate on photographing, so I didn't get a picture of each person's print. If any of you who participated read this post and want to send me a photo of your print to add, please do -- I'd love to have it. Missing are Martye's print (an ocean scene with a very interesting overlay pattern), Fran's (very loose and expressionist, like her paintings), Dayna's (mountain scene), and Kim's (woman with flowing hair). Here are a few shots I was able to get:
Kristen
Adele
Adrienne used a simple keyblock image with color fills.
Sarah
Leslie
A carved keyblock by Kim.
Thanks to you nine wonderful women who came to the workshop and thank you to Zea Mays studio for hosting us so well.
9 comments:
Thank you Annie! You are a wonderful teacher and it was a fantastic learning experience! -Kim
Looks like a great weekend!
I had a blast at your workshop, Annie, and my head is just swimming with Moku Hanga ideas. In fact, I must have spent half the night combining colors and woodblocks in my dreams. You've given me so much to work towards. Thank you for sharing your expertisse!
This looks like great fun. I love it. 8-]
Thanks. We did have a blast.
I'm highly amused by our "puzzling" poses... glasses, check, hand to face, check. haha! I had a great time and can't wait to do it again. Thanks Annie!
Annie....Thank you so much for a great class....I finally have had time to process everything! I had never done woodblock carving before and found this method so interesting!
You gave us so much info in so little time....you are inspiring!
Many Thanks...
Dayna
The workshop looks like great fun. Some day I would like to try this medium - perhaps I'll take a workshop from you some day! In the late '60's and early '70s, my parents collected the woodblock prints of Hiroyuki Tajima. My sibs and I now each have one or two of these prints on our walls. In case you are not familiar with his work, here's a link to a print and a bio:
http://www.ohmigallery.com/Sales/Bin/Tajima-01.htm
He also studied dyeing, and apparently would brush intensely colored dyes over areas in the rich, dark prints. This may explain the luminosity of the holes and dots that are part of his visual language.
Kit, thanks so much for the link to Hiroyuki Tajima. Beautiful work. I had heard of Japanese printmakers using dyes but never saw examples of it. Looks like he's also doing collagraphs, where the plate is built up with applications of substances like plaster or various objects. Always something new to try :)
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