79th Exhibition of Japan Print Association

One of my new lithographs will be shown at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art from Aug. 10 - 14 as part of the 79th Exhibition of Japan Print Association show.

今年作った一点のリトグラフは日本版画協会第７９回版画展に入選されました。

展覧会は８月１０日から１４日まで京都市美術館で開かれます。

More info can be found on the Japan Print Association website (only in japanese)

It is finally spring.

The sakura hanami season is over and temperatures are rising in Tokyo.

A month has passed since the big earthquake, and although there are still many aftershocks things are feeling a little more settled.

I have just started a Master's of Fine Arts in lithography at Tokyo University of the arts, scheduled to graduate in March 2013. Tomorrow, April 18th, there will be a show and party to start off the year in the print department. I have spent my day baking banana bread and brownies for the event.

In other news, I am currently showing 2 prints, Mother and Ceilidh, at the Estevan Art Museum in Estevan, Saskatchewan. They are being displayed from April 5th to June 25th. I am hoping many people get to see them, and looking forward to any feedback.

New Year

It is 2011. It's hard to believe but I have now been in Japan for 9 months.

I have been very busy with school, working on ball-grain plate lithography. Despite all the time I have spent in the studio I am only working on my third print since October. I am not sure if it is because I have just become slower with age, or now have higher standards for printing.

I am currently working with images of food and eating, and also enjoying learning about japanese food along the way.

Here is an image (unfortunately poor quality taken from my phone) of a finished drawing on the plate and the finished print which is a total of 6 colours

Last week at University, we had a demo from the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints. They print with the traditional edo ukiyo-e techniques, materials and even make a point of always working on tatami.

Here you can see the process of traditional japanese woodblock printing.

The colours are mixed from pigments and water, and for the finishing touch they coated the non-printed area in lacquer.

On October 5th I started my term as a research student at Tokyo University of the Arts. It feels great to be back in the studio after a 6 month hiatus, but it's taking a bit of time to get used to the role of full-time student again. I am currently experimenting with ball ground plates, and just started test printing last week.

The studio at the university is not spacious, however, everyone is very good at sharing the space there is.

Here are a few images of to get an idea. I have a personal desk, there is one offset press, 9 direct presses and some stones that generally remain untouched due to lack of space.

This year, I have been participating in a few print biennales.

I won one of the purchase prizes for the Ottawa School of Art's Third Bi-annual International Miniature Print Exhibition for the linocut Spaghetti. It was held back in April/May and you can see all the works here

Next up is the 9th Lessedra World print Annual (so not really a biennale) in Bulgaria from June 9th until August 28th. If you check out this page from the website you can read the artists' bio/cv and see some of the works. You can also see that i wasn't expecting the photograph used in the application to be displayed on the internet :)

Lastly is Bimpe 6, The Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition, Vancouver. The show will be starting in September with further information posted on the website

This past Thursday I met my future printmaking professor and got a tour of the University.

Tokyo University of the Arts is located in Ueno Park, a great location considering the park is home to 5 art museums, a science and nature museum and a zoo. I couldn't ask for anything better.

The printmaking facilities a

re relatively spacious. There are lots of litho stones available, but it sounds like most students work with ball-grain plates (there is not much space for drawing on the stones in the studio). I will definitely take the opportunity to learn about working with ball-grain plates.

There is also a copper intaglio studio, a woodcut studio and a silkscreen studio.

I expressed my interest in trying out traditonal Japanese water-based woodcut, and it sounds like there will be a 2 week course offered when I arrive in October.

I am feeling much more excited after visiting the school as much of my time recently has been sucked up by japanese textbooks and not with art which is what initially I came for.

from the previous visit to ueno, Tokyo National Museum