#woodcuts printmaking

[xylographica]

Becoming Animal

This was the main part of my thesis from last year, an exploration of my experience growing up being encouraged to leave behind the connection to nature I had as a kid, and now my journey into reforming that connection.

[nobrashfestivity]

Yoshida Toshi Mendocino, Sunrise

with reverse

[walzerjahrhundert]

Edvard Munch

Two Women on the Shore

1898

[fuckyeahanarchistposters]

"No Borders, No Nations"

Print by xJaviFuegox

[rayleeschobel]

“Banjo” and “Cookie”

Woodcut prints with watercolor

2024

Portraits of one of my friend’s budgies done as a wedding gift

[pallanophblargh]

Another desperate strike at the art block and a tribute of sorts: super rusty linocut to reinitiate me into the world of printmaking. It’s not as attuned to my working style as intaglio was, but this is fun, tactile, and enough of a departure from my way of thinking that is super welcome.

It’s nothing special and definitely technically lacking (over-inked block and such) but it’s something, which is a big deal lately. Also it’s my favorite species of fish and we all know Kuhli loaches deserve all the tributes we can give.

[printersoundspress]

Turkey vulture study referencing the picture by Charles Sharp on Wikipedia, woodblock on paper - 2024

[toadlett]

Fuckin about with woodblocks and Beastes

[wolteer]

A warrior

[itscolossal]

A Series of Meticulously Carved Panels Combine Layers of Color to Make Tugboat Printshop’s ‘River’ Woodcut

[skf-fineart]

Monogrammist MH (engraver)

Owl dressed as a pilgrim, c. 1500-1550

Woodcut, hand colored in orange-brown, yellow, green, purple and grey. 15.5 in x 10.4 in.

[xylographica]

you've got a lot to learn

[nobrashfestivity]

Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825) Onoe Matsusuke as the Ghost of the Murdered Wife Oiwa, in "A Tale of Horror from the Yotsuya Station on the Tokaido Road" 1812 Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

[sellieaa]

some relief prints from class i feel like sharing :)

linoleum !

this is NOT trigun fanart disguised as a piece about arizona I SWEAR (it’s trigun fanart)

woodcut !

<3

[narsh-poptarts]

The Hex

woodcut of my MoTW character !!!!! really happy with how this came out ^^

some struggling process under the cut

EDIT: had to revamp this whole thing, hopefully it shows up now

[uwmspeccoll]

Staff Pick of the Week

My staff pick this week is the trade edition of The Tale of the Shining Princess by Japanese-born writer Hisako Matsubara (b.1935) and Japanese-Canadian artist-printmaker Naoko Matsubara (b.1937), published by Kodansha International LTD. Tokyo, Japan in 1966. 

As a artist-printmaker and bookmaker who makes woodcuts, I am greatly inspired by Naoko’s prints. Naoko Matsubara’s work carries on traditions of Japanese printmaking while having its own contemporary flavor. Her woodcuts are ecstatic, they are vibrating with movement. Her use of bold shapes and the white line of the the carving tool makes the most of what woodcut has to offer. In the book form, the active images carry the reader’s eyes through the book space. Her use of negative space activates the page. Additionally, her woodcuts have translated beautifully to commercial printing. 

The Matsubara sisters are daughters of a senior Shinto priest, and were raised in Kyoto. Both studied, lived, and worked in the United States. Hisako received her Master of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State College, moving to Germany where she continued her studies and became a prominent writer, publishing her work in Japanese, English, and German. In the 1980s she moved back to the United States, this time to California where she worked at Stanford University. 

Naoko received her Master of Fine Arts from Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, now Carnegie Mellon University. After her studies she traveled across Europe and Asia. She returned to the United States and became the personal assistant to the artist and wood engraver Fritz Eichenberg, an artist who has been featured many times on our blog. Naoko taught at Pratt University in New York and at the University of Rohde Island. She also lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a time. Naoko is currently living and working in Canada in Oakville, Ontario, where she continues to work and exhibit nationally. 

The work of both Hisako and Naoko have had great influence inside the United States and around the world. So lets celebrate their accomplishments! 

This book has end sheets of mulberry paper with inclusions of Bamboo leaves, the cover is a red textured paper with a gold stamped design by Naoko. 

View some of our other AAPI selections for this month.

View our other Staff Picks.

- Teddy, Special Collections Graduate Intern