Author: adminapril

April Vollmer is a New York artist who studied mokuhanga after receiving her Master of Fine Arts in printmaking at Hunter College. Her work has been shown widely and she teaches Japanese woodblock regularly at the Lower East Side Printshop. She has participated in many residencies including the Nagasawa Art Park in Japan, and was on the board of the first and second International Mokuhanga Conferences. Her book "Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop" was released in 2015 by Watson-Guptill.

Mokuhanga Resources

Vollmer actively promotes cultural exchange through a study of mokuhanga, Japanese waterbased woodcut. She has taught many classes and given lectures on contemporary mokuhanga. She is on the advisory board of the International Mokuhanga Association.

International Mokuhanga Association meeting Hawaii 2017

The Fifth International Mokuhanga Conference will take place in the papermaking area of Echizen, Japan, from April 4 – 6, 2024
International Mokuhanga Association
International Mokuhanga Conference Youtube Channel

MOKUHANGA SUPPLIES
McClain’s Printmaking Supplies
Hiromi Paper International, Culver City, CA
Japanese Paper Place, Toronto, Canada
Paper Connection International, Providence, RI

MOKUHANGA BOOKS
Laitinen, Kari, Tuula Moilanen, & Antti Tanttu. The Art and Craft of Woodblock Printmaking, Woodblock Printmaking with Oil-based Inks and the Japanese Watercolor Woodcut, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, 1999. (can be purchased at McClain’s)
Salter, Rebecca. Japanese Woodblock Printing. Printmaking Handbooks, London, 2001.
Salter, Rebecca. Japanese Popular Prints. A&C Black, London, 2006.
Yoshida, Toshi and Yuki, Rei. Japanese Print-Making, A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques, Charles Tuttle Co., 1966. (out of print)
Vollmer, April. Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, Watson-Guptill, 2015

MOKUHANGA IMAGE SEARCH by John Resig
ukiyo-e.org

MOKUHANGA CLASSES (selected independent workshops)
-In Japan
MI LAB Artist in Residence Program
Karuizawa Mokuhanga School
– In the US
Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Frogman’s Print Workshops
Zia Mays Printmaking
-More resources and information
McClain’s Printmaking Supplies Resource Index
Mokuhanga Sisters Collaborative

Salon Zürcher: 11 Women of Spirit, Part 7, 28th edition, New York

Salon Zürcher offers visitors an intimate alternative to the large-scale, superstore style fairs during the The Armory Show and Frieze in New York City and FIAC in Paris. Zürcher Gallery is located in New York’s NoHo / East Village neighborhood, in walking distance from the the New Museum, Lower East Side and TriBeCa art scenes. Since 2011, we have hosted 22 mini-art fairs between our two galleries, which have been major successes for all the exhibitors. The Salon has been covered in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Artnet News, Hyperallergic, Art Fag City, ArtNews GalleristNY, The Art Newspaper, Fine Art Magazine blog, Zingrecs, NewYork.com Readartny.com, Nyartbeat, Hamptonsarthub.com, Arthaps, and more.

Press Release

Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop Book Publication

Three years in the writing, a lifetime in the making, Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop, A Modern Guide to an Ancient Art, by April Vollmer, was released by Watson-Guptill August 4, 2015. A comprehensive handbook of materials, techniques and resources the book is intended to make this waterbased technique accessible to contemporary artists.

Press Release
Penguin Random House Book Information
Book Review by Ralph Kiggell: Printmaking Today, Vol 25, 2016 Autumn Issue

Birds on the Edge: Collaboration and Change by April Vollmer

The California Printmaker: The Journal of the California Society of Printmakers
2023 Changing Gears Edition
Birds on the Edge: Collaboration and Change by April Vollmer
This article describes new collaborative projects developed during the pandemic while caregiving away from home.

Courtesy of California Society of Printmakers
Magazine available from the California Society of Printmakers

A Continenal Divide, My Quarantine Year in Santa Cruz

A Continenal Divide, My Quarantine Year in Santa Cruz is a book about a year spent in pandemic isolation in Santa Cruz, photographing the birds and thinking about art history. Available from Blurb Books.

2015 Connecting Through Printmaking: Mokuhanga and Japan by April Vollmer

Crossing, 2008, mokuhanga on washi, 26 x 26 inches

The Mid America Print Council Volume 23, Numbers 1 & 2, 2015
The Global Print: practice, platform, and international springboard
Connecting through Printmaking: Mokuhanga and Japan
article by April Vollmer

2013 Grabado y Edición – Mokuhanga Renaissance by April Vollmer

Migrating Gyre #6, 2008, mokuhanga woodcut on washi, 26 x 26 inches

Grabado y Edición is a bi-lingual Spanish/English review of new ideas in printmaking. My article on the history of mokuhanga begins with an historical overview from ukioyo-e prints to the individualist sosaku printmakers, ending with a discussion of international contemporary artists who use the technique for its flexibility. Illustrated with woodblock prints by Katie Baldwin, Mike Lyon, Michael Schneider, and myself.

Article: GrabadoMokuhangaRenaissance
Subscription: Subscribe to Grabado y Edición

2012 Art in Print: Mokuhanga International

Mokuhanga International was published in Art in Print, Volume 2, Number 2, 2012. The article is a review of the current state of mokuhanga, Japanese woodblock technique, in contemporary art outside Japan. It includes a brief overview of the history starting with the famous Edo period ukiy0-e prints, through the eclipse of the technique during the 20th century, and then the current renewal of interest in the technique for creative artists.

Article: ArtinPrintVol2MokuhangaInternationalArticle

Please support this informative journal of the print world by subscribing, on line or in print, at: Art In Print on line Subscription

2011 International Focus: Fist International Mokuhanga Conference

meeting at the gallery, Karen, Florence, April and Susan

International Focus: First International Mokuhanga Conference in Kyoto and Awaji, An overview of the First International Mokuhanga Conference in Kyoto and Awaji, Japan, June 2011 in Graphic Impressions, the Newsletter of Southern Graphics Council International, Elizabeth Klimek editor, Fall 2011, page 15, 16

Additional Publications

Floating Worlds, Review of Takuji Hamanaka mokuhanga. Ralph Kiggell, guest editor, Printmaking Today, Vol 26, 2017 Spring Issue.

The Age of the Artist: A Practical Guide for Making a Career Out of Making Art in the 21st Century. (chapter), book edited by Margaret Peot, North Light Books, 2010.

Mokuhanga – Japanese Woodblock Printing. Central Booking Magazine, Maddy Rosenberg editor, November, 2010.

Bridges, New York to Belgrade and Beyond. Contemporary Impressions, Journal of the American Print Alliance, Carol Pulin editor, Spring/Summer 2009, p 24-27.

Intersections of East and West, Contemporary Printmakers in Japan, Contemporary Impressions, Journal of the American Print Alliance, Carol Pulin editor, Spring 2005.

Printmaking as Alchemy: Etching, woodcut and digital printing as tools of transformation. Contemporary Impressions, Journal of the American Print Alliance, Carol Pulin editor, Spring 2003.

Cover: SCIENCE – J. Amer. Assn. for the Advancement of Science, Vol.297, No.5585, 23 Aug 2002 .

COVER Fugu rubripes, the poisonous but delicious Japanese pufferfish. The DNA sequence of the Fugu genome is especially useful because it lacks the “junk” sequences (which do not code for proteins) found in abundance in human DNA. [Woodcut print by April Vollmer]

Roman Fugu DNA Edition: hanga woodcut, 1997

Into Digital, Printmaking Today, Winter 2001, Vol. 10, No. 4

Hanga Woodcut Prints, illustrated. OIA Newsletter, Summer 2000

Digital Printing on Kozo Paper. World of Washi, Summer 2000, Vol. 6, No. 3

Moku Hanga: Traditional Japanese Woodcut. Printmaking Today, Winter 1998, Vol. 7, No. 4