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I began making woodblock prints using the traditional Japanese hanga method in 1993. Hanga is color woodblock printing with multiple blocks, water, pigments, and rice paste. It was the technique used to make the ukiyo-e and shin hanga prints of Japan. My imagery is mostly of New England, the lakes and mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. I also pursue imagery inspired by trips to the coast of Maine, to New York City, to the mountains of Colorado and Utah. I have worked copy prints from the work of other artists, I have made imagery from family when my boys were small. |
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I'm fascinated by how two-dimensional art can change the way we see our world. I am fascinated by how this work of color woodblock printing, the Japanese hanga method, emphasizes qualities of pictorial structure and color relationship. Built on the simple materials of wood and of water, making a color woodblock print is a process of separating a thing into parts and putting it back together, of tackling a puzzle with an eye to letting the blocks and colors play their parts.
I love the look of these prints: the clean carved edges juxtaposed with a soft watercolor look of the colors. I love the fact that though the artist makes the blocks, it is the blocks that make the print. Highest quality artist pigments, rice paste, and acid-free cotton rag paper are my printing materials. Brushes and a hand-held baren are my printing tools. Each print is hand-rubbed, often from 10 or more separate carved blocks.
Using my baren to print