Happy to report that my 12 x 1 2 inch woodcut and mixed media work from 2006, “Kosha” graces the cover of a new book “Chaos and Dynamical Systems,” Princeton University Press, by David Feldman, an old friend who now teaches physics and mathematics. https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13469.html
Very happy to have my work illustrate his writing.
Mokuhanga Class at Cabrillo College
January 13-16, 2020
Santa Cruz, California
MASS MoCA talk about my woodcut print The Architecture of Desire at SLOW, a Symposium in Praxis & Theory with artists Mary Hood and Melanie Mowinski…so fun to present a talk about the slow development of one of my woodcut prints at this great museum.
Mokuhanga classes provide an introduction to traditional Japanese woodblock printing, with precise registration, rich color, and a connection to an important chapter in the history of printmaking.
2018 Mokuhanga Classes
Join us in beautiful Barcelona at Art Print Residence
September 10 to 14, 2018. Last year’s class photos are here.
Mokuhanga teacher in Spain
For class schedule updates join AV Contact Mailing List
Upcoming Conferences
Southern Graphics Council International, Las Vegas, Nevada
April 4 to 7, 2018
Altered Landscapes
Participating in Themed Portfolio of woodcuts: Sustained Ingrain from East To West
IMPACT 9, ENCUENTRO in Santander, Spain September 1 to 9, 2018
The International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC2017) took place in Hawaii September 28 to October 1, 2017.
Photos of the conference, which included ninety-nine participants from sixteen countries are here. Planning is underway for 2020.
on view at IPCNY’s New Prints 2017 Winter exhibition
Pests of Public Importance, 2017, edition 126, $100 ($65 pre-publication)
3 x 2.25 inch woodcut and letterpress boustrophedon accordion book
April Vollmer: woodcut
Esther K. Smith: concept, book structure, design
Dikko Faust: letterpress, typesetting
Publisher: Purgatory Pie Press
With an eponymous poem by Georgia Luna Smith Faust
available from Purgatory Pie Press
Dikko Printing on his Vandercook
Also available uncut as a flat print in an edition of 50
For Pests of Public Importance Vollmer worked closely with Esther K. Smith on the idea and structure of a letterpress printed book. The Pests of the title are mosquitoes, carriers of a multitude of diseases beginning with but not ending with zika, yellow fever, dengue and malaria. The importance of these pests has increased exponentially this century because of the combination of transcontinental travel and global warming. There seems to be a mosquito species perfectly evolved for every small ecological niche in the ever more interconnected world. The power of these pests is in their numbers and their power of replication, which is reflected in the woodcut print with its rhythm of insects framed with a repeating classical palmette frieze.
Everything is handmade in this project: the detailed cutting was done with special Japanese tools and a magnifying light; the block was printed with oil-based ink by master letterpress printer Dikko Faust. Georgia Luna Smith Faust’s poem is a perfect compliment to the block print, resulting in a satisfying collaboration that is as elegant as it is disconcerting.
Pests of Public Importance
Wednesday, November 2, 6:00 pm
Japanese Art Society of America at The Marymount School
1026 Fifth Avenue, between 83rd and 84th Streets, New York
Mokuhanga in Translation: Printing, Writing and Teaching: the World of Japanese Woodcuts
Join us for a lecture by April Vollmer, a New York–based artist and printmaker who specializes in mokuhanga, Japanese woodcut printmaking. Ms. Vollmer received an MFA from Hunter College, has exhibited her work internationally and has taught workshops across the U.S. Awards include fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts,and the Nagasawa Art Park program in Japan. Her work has been published in journals including Science, Contemporary Impressions and Art in Print. She was on the board of the First and Second International Mokuhanga Conferences in Japan and her book, Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, was released by Watson-Guptill in 2015. Reservations are required: please visit JASA Calendar of Events.
April Vollmer, Three of Hearts, 12 x 12 inches, mokuhanga and gold leaf
Current holdings:
Breathing In (red) – Mokuhanga with silkscreen, edition ?/12, 21.5” x 21.5”, 2004, $1000
Mixit Print Studio, Boston, Massachusetts
June 20 to 24, 2016
One week class at this open access studio
