Artists Residency
Hello,
Its been awhile since I wrote a blog post, but I thought this would be the best medium to update you all on what is happening at my end, especially since I haven’t had the time to keep my Instagram updated (does anyone even use Facebook anymore?).
To start off with, I’m definitely not dead, inactive or gone off the rails. I have been here, working from my home studio, making paints for my brand Pigmenta and I have been planning a lot of travel for 2019.
Lets start off with the most exciting bit of news: I’ll be going to Japan in April 2019 for a month long art residency. For those who are unfamiliar, an artists residency is a place (usually a foreign country) where an artist can stay for as long as decided and work on a personal project or body of work. Most residencies have to be applied to, and most residencies ask you to pay for your board and studio facilities. There is usually an exhibition in the end, organised by the residency themselves. Its basically a place for a bunch of artists to live together, create a body of work and travel and explore that country.
The residency I applied to and got selected for is called Mi-Lab Artist-in-Residence in Kawaguchiko, Japan. This residency is super special and unlike any other because this is a residency where I will be taught Japanese Woodblock printing (Mokuhanga) during my stay there. I was selected for the Beginner’s course and I will be there from April to May learning this new (to me) but ancient printing technique.
Why Mokuhanga?
I decided to learn this new technique for a bunch of reasons.
Firstly, it was the first illustrated-anything I ever came across as a child. It was thanks to my grandfathers collection of books on Ukiyo-E prints and a book on Van Gogh, that I got into creating art in the first place. As a kid I would recreate Van Gogh paintings in colored pencil, and paint images of the beautiful Kimono-clad girls from Ukiyo-E prints.Japanese woodblock printing is super special for a bunch of reasons: you can be a print maker without a huge studio or any heavy duty machinery. All prints are made by hand and the materials are fairly simple.
Secondly, the art that can be created through this process can have a very illustrated feel. Traditional Japanese prints can easily be mistaken for modern illustrations because of their beautiful use of outlines and gradients. Using the same techniques, an artist can also incorporate embossing, gold-leaf and other metallic affects on their prints.
Wood carving techniques illustrated in the wonderful book by April Vollmer “Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Art of Mokuhanga”
Thirdly, every block of wood is carved by hand, by the artist. If anyone knows me they know I like struggling with hand-done difficult work and I always wanted to learn wood carving. This would be the perfect blend of art making and wood working.
A ukiyo-e print showing various techniques, including the paper marbling and repeat patterns on the kimono
Fourthly, every print is colored/tinted by hand. The inks used are not the horrible, sticky and smelly oil based inks of Western print making. Instead they use beautiful powdered mineral/earth/plant pigments that are mixed by hand to create watercolours. Yes, prints are made with watercolours. Since I make paints as a business, exploring how the Japanese artists mix and create with their traditional pigments is something I really want to explore.
A print by April Vollmer, showing how any visual style can be made into beautiful woodblock prints
I will write a bigger post dedicated to this form of art soon.
So to conclude this section: I want to explore a traditional art form, which can still go hand in hand with my illustration style and aesthetic. I have always been fascinated by Japan and its traditional culture and its been the biggest inspiration for me growing up (I don’t mean Anime). It would be a dream to learn this technique and explore the country some more. I will be travelling around Japan after my residency and will be back only in June. I have lined up meetings with some of the most important woodblock print (Mokuhanga) artists and a Japanese painting (Nihonga) artist while I am there and I’m exploring options of furthering my knowledge on this technique.
If I have missed out on one thing, it is studying a fine art technique. Graphic design and illustration is a wonderful option for earning an income but, as an artist I long to involve myself with a medium that lets me explore a more personal and artistic side. I plan to use this technique in some sort of mixed media-style and create some blend of illustration, painting, printing and other techniques.
To reach this goal I have been planning and working my butt off since March. I plan on writing a few more blog posts around this topic. I would love to give you an insight into how I have planned for this solo adventure and how I am trying to make this happen.
My next few posts will explore topics on how someone can plan for a residency, some more information about Mokuhanga and maybe some in-depth looks into my trip planning. Once I finish the course, I plan to document it here.
If you are personally interested in Japanese culture/arts/travel you can send me a request to write about anything you would like to know.
I would eventually like to maintain a blog on how I see Japan as an artist. Let me know if that interests you?