mokuhanga woodblock prints by April Vollmer
Newark Public Library, Newark, New Jersey
Saturday, May 21, from 2:00 to 4:00 Lecture and Hands-on Demonstration, part of the exhibition Impressions of the Natural World, Japanese Prints from the Special Collections Division
Morgan Art of Papermanking Conservatory and Educational Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
Friday, August 28, 2016, in conjunction with a two day class
November 7 – December 14, 2014
NEW YORK MOKUHANGA
Water-based Woodblock Prints
Curator: Florence Neal
Photos of the exhibition and printing demonstration are here.
Artists: Takuji Hamanaka, Ursula Schneider, Yasu Shibata, April Vollmer
Past Exhibitions:
February 19 to April 18, 2014
Abstract American Mokuhanga, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
co-curated by Keiko Hara & Akira Takemoto
May 20 to August 16, 2014
Artists’ reception: Saturday, May 10 2:00 to 4:00 pm
Ste(a)m: Art, Science and Technology, at Arts Westchester, White Plains, NY
curated by Patricia Miranda
BENEFIT EXHIBITIONS
Across the Generations: A Benefit Auction for the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation
Kentler International Drawing Center: 100 Works on Paper Benefit
LECTURE and DEMONSTRATION
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sakura Matsuri, Cherry Blossom Festival
Sunday, April 27 from 1:30 to 2:15 Main Auditorium
Welcome spring at the Botanic Garden, enjoy the spring flowers, the Japanese arts and crafts, and listen to a lecture about Japanese woodblock.
Since 1998 these yearly demonstrations have been an opportunity for the public to gain an understanding of the technical skill that goes into traditional Japanese printing, mokuhanga. It is a water-based woodblock method printed by hand, moku means wood, and hanga can be roughly translated as printmaking. It is the technique that was used to make the famous ukiy0-e “prints of the floating world.” Developed during the Edo period (1603-1868), this woodblock technique was used to print everything from books to advertisements, including the prints of Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro. The artists supplied the drawings and a group of expert craftsmen, organized by a publisher, cut the blocks and printed the color blocks one at a time to create these wonderful Japanese prints.
For more information visit the Garden’s website here.
Delirious Birds and Bees, 2007, 26 x 26 inches mokuhanga woodblock
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2011-04-30-SakuraBBG |
GLIMPSE Printmaking Exhibition, with Debra Pearlman
Friday, March 8, 2013 through Thursday, April 25, 2013
Western Wyoming Community College Art Gallery
2500 College Drive
Rock Springs, Wyoming
Southern Graphics Council International Conference
March 20-23, 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hosted by: Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) and Peck School of the Arts (PSOA)
Portfolio Exhibition:
Material Muse: Japanese paper inspiring print
organized by Sigrid Blohm, the Japanese Paper Place
The twelve artists included in this portfolio each work differently, but all have decided to use Japanese paper because its unique characteristics enhance their own prints in some way. In choosing to print on washi – paper made by many caring hands – each artist’s work becomes a merging of creative processes, those of printmaker and papermaker, and the results are richer for it.
Elizabeth D’Agostino, Brian Curling, Catherine Farish, Karen Kunc, Kristen Martincic, Emma Nishimura, Deb Oden, Loree Ovens, Liz Parkinson, Julia Prime, April Vollmer, Erik Waterkotte
Grabado y Edición is a bi-lingual Spanish/English review of new ideas in printmaking. This month’s edition includes my article on the history of mokuhanga, Japanese woodblock printing. It begins with an historical overview of the use of the technique from ukioyo-e prints of the 18th Century through the sosaku individualist printmakers of the early 20th Century and ends with a discussion of the wide range of international contemporary artists who recognize the technique for its flexibility. It is illustrated with woodblock prints by Katie Baldwin, Mike Lyon, Michael Schneider, and myself.
For a pdf of this seven page article: Renaissance
To subscribe to this excellent journal visit: Subscribe to Grabado y Edición
My article, Mokuhanga International, has been published in Art in Print. 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.
A PDF of the article can be seen here: ArtinPrintVol2MokuhangaInternationalArticle
The updated version is on line at: Art In Print Mokuhanga International on line
Please support this informative journal of the print world by subscribing, on line or in print, at: Art In Print on line Subscription
The International Art Assembly in Visegrad, Republika Srpska, is distinctive for including a group of international printmakers. The residency, held each August, is one of main cultural events for the Visegrad region. A group of established printmakers from around the world are invited for this program to work in a variety of techniques and to demonstrate their approaches to one another and the general public. This printmaking workshop has become a wide-reaching opportunity to exchange ideas and to has grown into a significant contribution to the artistic, cultural and educational stimulation of the region, as it popularizes media and ideas that are new to this part of the world. Local television stations and newspapers record the process through film and interviews that are intended to heighten public awareness. The efforts of the printmakers are deeply appreciated by the people of the region.
In addition to the workshop events, an exhibition of works made during the Assembly is presented in October in the City Gallery, Visegrad, along with a full-color catalogue of participants, their work, and a critical essay. Additional efforts have included traveling exhibitions in galleries in towns throughout Republika Serbska and Serbia and Montenegro.
I am grateful to the organizers for their invitation to Repubika Serpska, Bosnia, which faces such difficult environmental, political and religious issues after the ethnic wars of the 1990s. It was a thought provoking visit, made significant for me by the strong connections I made with my fellow printmakers.
Printmaking Participants
Belgium: Dragana Franssen Bojić
Denmark: Inger Lise Rasmussen, Ann-Dorte Nielsen, Bodil Sohn
Serbia: Biljana Vukovic, Ivana Stankovic
USA: April Vollmer, Susan Provost-Dubois
Japan Print Association
Prints Tokyo 2012
International Print Exhibition Tokyo 2012
Cupola digital and woodblock print on washi
80th Anniversary Exhibition
at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum
nominated by Yoshie Uchida
October 15 to 19, 2012
UNCOVERED: Prints
Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles
CURATOR: Sallie Mize
ARTISTS:
Tomie Arai, Barbara Bondy, Hedwig Brouckaert, Ken Buhler
Andrea Callard, Beth Caspar, Philip Chen, Aaron Drew, Georg Ettl
Jessie Nebraska Gifford, Charles Hancock, John Himmelfarb, Leslie Kerby
Jiri Kornatovsky, Karen Kunc, Simon Lewandowski, Luce, Stephen Maine
Karen Helga Maurstig, Florence Neal, Debra Pearlman, Andra Samelson
Susan Schwalb, Robert Sestok, Kiki Smith, Christine Staehelin
Mary Ting, April Vollmer, Ruth Wetzel
June 8 – July 22, 2012
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, June 8, 6-8pm
March 14 to 17, 2012
New Orleans Conference
Southern Graphics Council International took place in New Orleans this year. I had work in “The Print Booked” exhibition, a show that included an amazing variety of artist books curated by artist Maddy Rosenberg from gallery artists who show at her gallery Central Booking in Brooklyn, NY.
I also had a woodblock print in John Dreisback’s Tangled Portfolio.
Tangled Portfolio, organized by Johntimothy Pizzuto and John Driesbach
Prints are all 15 x 15 inches, bleed edged
The theme of the conference is “Navigating Currents” this portfolio interprets the theme as navigating life.”
Website: sginternational.org
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2012-SGC New Orleans Photos |
Website: galleryonetwentyeight.org
Torso #5, 2011, 24 x 16, digital and silkscreen on washi mounted on wood panel
exhibition photos:
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Onetwentyeight AV |
International Focus: The First International Mokuhanga Conference, Kyoto, by April Vollmer, was published in the Fall 2011 edition of Graphic Impressions, the Newsletter of Southern Graphics Council International. The article reviews the various demonstrations, exhibitions and banquets at the conference, which took place in Kyoto and then at Tadao Ando’s Westin Conference Center on Awaji Island.
Photo is from the Jarfo exhibition of IMC Board Members at the conference.
Migration, digital and woodblock on washi, 32 x 26 inches
Link to article:
Graphic Impressions Fall 2011
Idaho State University
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“Inhale” Exhibition at Transition Gallery, Idaho State University |
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Studio
June 7 to 12, 2011
The First International Mokuhanga Conference took place in Japan, June 7-12, 2011 in Kyoto and Awaji. The conference was a unique opportunity to meet artists from Japan and around the world who work with Japanese woodblock. This event was designed to generate a renewed interest in mokuhanga, preserving technical skills and bringing them into contemporary use. The conference brought together professional print artists, art educators and scholars in the field of woodblock printmaking to exchange current research information and experiences with Japanese traditional craftspeople including printmakers, tool makers, papermakers and other suppliers.
In addition to talks and demonstrations, the Mokuhanga Conference included an exhibition of the Board Members, an international mokuhanga exhibition, an artist’s print book exhibition, and a portfolio show. Other related events and woodblock print exhibitions in Kyoto during the conference are listed on the conference website.
More details of the conference are available at www.mokuhanga.jp
Illustration: Protector, 2005, 24 x 24 inch mokuhanga woodblock, created at the Nagasawa Art Park, Japan, exhibited at the Nagasawa Art Park exhibition at the Kyoto Art Center.
This is a link to my photographs documenting the conference exhibitions, demonstrations, talks and banquets.
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2011-06 International Mokuhanga Conference |
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2011-06-29-Papermaking |
Since February I have been at a residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado. This has been a wonderful opportunity to create new work in a beautiful place. The Ranch sponsors 14 artists ten-week residencies each winter, in ceramics, woodworking, digital art, painting and printmaking. I am sharing the generous printmaking studio with artist Johanna Mueller. I have had the opportunity to work in the digital media studio, where I have made new digital prints on Gozen Japanese washi to print with woodblock. I have also taken advantage of their woodworking shop to create new work on panels. Photos of my work at the Ranch are posted here:
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Anderson Ranch Residency |
Photos of my first weeks at Anderson ranch are also documented in the Anderson Ranch Arts Center blog: Anderson Ranch Blog
Guanajuato 2010: woodblock prints by Carol Summers, Hugo Anaya, Karen Kunc and more from the Boston Printmakers collaborative workshop in Mexico
December 3, 2010, we will open our final group show, which will hang till the middle of January. We have been honored to hang work by these and many other artists over the years. Please come and join us in celebrating the work and the friendship that we have shared. The reception will be from 6:00 – 8:00.
Artists:
Coco Bruner, Dick Cruger, Robert Edwards, Sara Frank, Tracy Gallup, Susan Gold, Carole Harris, Ann Hjelle, Bob Jacobson, Barrett Klein, Karen Klein, Karin Klue, Kip Kowalski, Ed Meese, Robert Mirek, Maceo Mitchell, Guillio Palone, Megan Parry, Catherine Peet, Elaine Redmond, Lynn Shaler, A.G. Smith, Nelson Smith, Dennis Summers, Donella Vogel, April Vollmer, Pat Wynne
The final event before we close will be on Valentine’s day, February 14, 2011, which is our 40th anniversary. On that evening we will have a special show. There will be valentines and refreshments. Please come and say a final farewell to the gallery.
NEW PRINTS 2010/Autumn, International Print Center New York
508 West 26th Street, Room 5A, NYC
October 21 to November 20, 2010
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 21, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
IPCNY Autumn Press Release
Opening Reception: October 21, 2010, 6 – 8 pm
On View: October 21 – November 20, 2010
Curatorial Essay (PDF)
Illustrated Checklist available here.
A 10th ANNIVERSARY EVENT!
International Print Center New York presents New Prints 2010/Autumn in its gallery at 508 West 26th Street, Room 5A, between 10th and 11th Avenues in Chelsea. On view from October 21 – November 20, the show consists of forty-three pieces by forty-three emerging to established artists, selected from a pool of some 1,500 submissions. A reception with the artists will be held at IPCNY on Thursday, October 21, from 6-8 pm.
Please note that IPCNY has relocated to Room 5-A, 508 West 26th Street in Chelsea.
The Selections Committee for New Print 2010/Autumn included Jennifer McGregor, curator, Wave Hill; Katie Michel, The Grenfell Press, printer and collector;John Newman, artist; and Martina Yamin, paper conservator.
New Prints 2010/Autumn is the thirty-seventh presentation of IPCNY’s New Prints Program, a series ofjuried exhibitions organized by IPCNY four times each year, featuring prints made within the past twelve months by artists at all stages of their careers. The Exhibition represents a cross-section of some of the most exceptional printmaking today while continuing IPCNY’s commitment to provide an ongoing exhibition venue for contemporary prints and a major source of information about artists working in the medium.
The complete artists’ list is as follows: Jebah Baum, Joell Baxter, Jarrod Beck, Anne Beresford, Håkan Berg, Derek Boshier, Lisa Bulawsky, Victoria Burge, Walter Buttrick, Onyedika Chuke, Ann Conner, Michael Dal Cerro, Bruce Davenport, Jr., Donna Diamond, Sara Eichner, Sara Farrell Okamura, Gary Groves, Kevin Haas, Takuji Hamanaka, Mary Hood, Anita S. Hunt, Isaiah King, Michael Loderstedt, Nichole Maury, Frederick Mershimer, Mitch Mitchell, Carol Montgomery, Sean P. Morrissey, James Mustin III, Lisa Nankivil, Alice O’Neill, Ryan Parker, Sarah Plimpton, William Powhida, Ross Racine, Jimena NoemíRamos García, Scott Reeds, John-Mark Schlink, Shino Soma, Fulvio Tomasi, April Vollmer, Carolyn Webb, and Judy Youngblood.
Highlights of New Prints 2010/Autumn include: Jebah Baum’s Prime I / Blue Orb, a bold woodblock of graphic, circular forms in an overlapping pattern; Frederick Mershimer’s Moonlight, a masterful mezzotint that depicts the reflections of the moon over the ocean; Brewster, a nine-color reduction linoleum cut of a staring, blue-eyed creature, by Walter Buttrick; Bruce Davenport, Jr.’s Crusaders, a lithograph of a New Orleans junior high school marching band in formation; and an intricate mapping of constellations in Montana Night, made with photopolymer intaglio by Victoria Burge.
In addition to the many independent artists included in this show, the presses, publishers and printshops represented are: Flowers Gallery, London; The Grenfell Press; Groveland Editions; Lower East Side Printshop; Print (vb.n.), London; Protophorm Press; Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop; and Streetside Editions.
An illustrated brochure with a curatorial essay by Katie Michel will accompany the Exhibition.
Printopolis Conference at Open Studio, Toronto
Mokuhanga, Beyond the Basics Exhibition and Demonstration
Presenters: Elizabeth Forrest and April Vollmer
Demonstration – Mokuhanga: Beyond the Basics
This demonstration goes beyond the basics of mokuhanga and offers the unique perspectives of two experienced practitioners. Vollmer will demonstrate the use of kento registration notches cut directly in the block and how to repeatedly print multiple blocks to illustrate the process of creating an image that is larger and more complex than can be made from straightforward printing from a single set of blocks. Forrest will demonstrate pigment layering and bokashi—the blending of colours and values—recommending various approaches to overcome printing challenges, such as accurate registration and use of binders to permit crisp, separated colour superimposition. This demo is relevant to printmakers with some previous knowledge of mokuhanga.
Exhibition – Mokuhanga and Beyond
This is an exhibition of contemporary Mokuhanga, Japanese water-base woodblock printing, curated by Elizabeth Forrest and April Vollmer. The show features nine artists from Canada, the USA and Europe who use the technique to create personal prints. All have been profoundly influenced by the woodblock tradition of Japan, and many have studied there. Each artist incorporates essential elements of the technique, the precise cutting and registration, control of color, and printing on handmade Japanese washi, in the creation of new work. The show focuses on the way each artist uses the technique to further an individual vision, giving the tradition of Japanese woodblock printmaking new vitality by creating challenging contemporary art that could be made in no other way.
The artists included are:
Jacomijn den Engelsen, Holland
Elizabeth Forrest, Canada
Daniel Heyman, USA
Dariuz Kaca, Poland
Mike Lyon, USA
Tuula Moilanen, Finland/Japan
Eva Pietzcker, Germany
April Vollmer, USA
Barbara Wybou, Canada
September 8 to October 9, 2010
Kosha Series #2, woodblock, mixed media on panel, 12 x 12 x 2
Working with mandala forms composed of overlapping circular shapes within a square, April Vollmer explores the nature of sacred spaces and the impulse of people to create these structures. Vollmer’s Kosha Series of woodblock and mixed media panels was inspired by her recent visit to India’s early Buddhist sites. Beginning with radial forms created from Indian temple floor plans and temple sculptures of the lotus, Vollmer expands to include images from a growing library of her drawings, photographs and hand-carved wood blocks of flora, birds, and insects. She combines traditional Japanese woodblock technique printed on washi (Japanese kozo fiber paper) with offset, digital printing and fro!age, collaged together in translucent layers on wood panels. Choosing a limited pale!e of blues and grays, rather than the bright colors associated with India, Vollmer’s images become universal and timeless with references to all cultures
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July 11 to 15, 2011
SUMMER Weeklong Intensive a Great Success!
Frogman’s Press & Gallery sponsored workshop at
Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts at the University of South Dakota
Vermillion, South Dakota
Frogmans Print and Paper Workshops
MOKU HANGA, JAPANESE WOODCUT
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APRIL VOLLMER
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This class is an introduction to traditional Japanese woodblock printing for contemporary artists. Hanga woodcut is the water-based woodcut technique that evolved in Japan during the Edo period. Moku means wood and hanga can be translated as printmaking. The technique offers precise registration, bright, lightfast color, and requires no press or solvents. This workshop includes an historical overview of Japanese woodblock, and focuses on ways this technique can be useful to artists by helping them design, cut and print an edition of their own. The workshop includes the use and maintenance of Japanese cutting tools, the kento registration system, printing with a baren, the use of water-based pigments, and a discussion of washi, handmade Japanese paper. |
April Vollmer earned her MFA in printmaking from Hunter College in 1983, and learned Japanese woodblock after she established her own studio in lower Manhattan. She traveled to Japan in the fall of 2004 to work with the Nagasawa Art Park woodcut program and she has taught workshops at Japan Society, the Lower East Side Printshop, Pyramid Atlantic, the Women’s Studio Workshop, Dieu Donne Papermill and many other locations. Each year Vollmer demonstrates Japanese woodblock at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Cherry Blossom Festival. In 2007 she had a major exhibition at the Steinhardt Gallery there. In 2008 she traveled to Belgrade, Serbia, for an exhibition of her woodcuts at the Faculty of Fine Arts. Her work has been published in journals including Science, Printmaking Today and Contemporary Impressions. For more information please visit www.aprilvollmer.com. |
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Frogman Workshop 2011 |
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2011-07-13-Frogman bowling |
Work can also be seen at:
Kentler International Drawing Space Flat File
353 Van Brunt Street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
718-875-2098
Open Thu-Sun 12pm-5pm
Kentler International Drawing Space
Arnold Klein Gallery
32782 N. Woodward Avenue
Royal Oak, MI 48073
e-mail: kak@tir.com
Arnold Klein Gallery
The Sirens’ Song Gallery
516 Main Street, Greenport, NY 11944
631-477-1021
Caroline Waloski, Director: cwaloski@earthlink.net
Sirens Song Gallery
Past Exhibition Photos:
Square One Gallery, Voyage to Italy, 2008: www.aprilvollmer.com/voyage/
Faculty of Fine Arts, Belgrade, 2008: www.aprilvollmer.com/belgrade2008/
Cheryl McGinnis Gallery Microspace, 2007: www.aprilvollmer.com/microspace/
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2007: www.aprilvollmer.com/bbg07/
Farleigh Dickinson College Bites and Kisses Show, 2006: www.aprilvollmer.com/fdu/
Green Dog, Belfast, Ireland, 2006: www.aprilvollmer.com/greendog/
Union College, Schenectady, NY, 2005: www.aprilvollmer.com/union/
Crossroads Cafe Holiday Celebration, 2005: www.aprilvollmer.com/crossroads/
Western Wyoming Community College, 2004: www.aprilvollmer.com/bodyvirtual/
Jugalbandi at Gallery Onetwentyeight, 2004 www.aprilvollmer.com/jugalbandi/
Transmutations at Westchester Gallery, 2003: www.aprilvollmer.com/westchester/
Nagasawa Exhibition at 55 Mercer, NYC, 2003 www.aprilvollmer.com/nagasawa/
Iteration at Square One Gallery, 2002: www.aprilvollmer.com/webwalk0502/
Iteration at Square One Reception. 2002 www.aprilvollmer.com/opening/