Mokuhanga Conference 5 - Demos & Shows

Just so you get an idea of how jam-packed the conference was, I'm still telling you about events from the first day! I checked in at a couple more demonstrations that first afternoon.


Italian printmaker Niccolo Barbagli demonstrated how he depicts water using both western and Japanese woodblock techniques.

Hidehiko Goto, who is among the last living specialized baren craftsmen, demonstrated the construction of a hon baren.


Artist Eva Pietzcker (left) got a bird's eye view of Goto san's work.

Goto san has just published a book about his work called Baren: hon baren seiho to tsukaikata (Baren: the construction and use of a hon baren). It's available only in Japanese, but is chock full of photos so there's a lot to glean even if you can't read the Japanese.



I'll also note that Hidehiko Goto is a mokuhanga printmaker in his own right. Unfortunately he didn't show any of his own work, but above is an example. You can see more at the Verne Collection web site.

At this point in the day I couldn't take in any more information, so I took a walk around the neighborhood to see a few of the print shows that were happening around Kyoto for the conference.

First I went to "Mokuhanga Innovative," a show of 7 woodblock artists: Akira Kurosaki, Tetsuya Noda and Seiichiro Miida from Japan, Karen Kunc and April Vollmer from the U.S., and Kari Laitinen and Tuula Moilanen from Finland.


'Garden of Disasters' by Karen Kunc


Two works by Akira Kurosaki

Next I visited the large "Mokuhanga: Dialogue and Dialect" exhibition, which included 55 woodblock prints from all over the world. Here are just a few of them:


By Rick Finn, whose work I've been admiring online for a while now. Great to see it in person.


By Ray Heus of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who makes lovely small works in the shin hanga style. I also saw work by Ray last week at Gail Browne Gallery while I was vacationing in Provincetown.


By Elspeth Lamb of Scotland, who is putting together a mokuhanga exhibition in Glasgow for later this summer.


A spectacular piece by Margot Rocklen of Connecticut USA

There was also a wonderful book show called "Hanga Ehon" in a very cool Japanese antique bookstore called Kyoto Paradise. Unfortunately I didn't get any photographs of that show.