mokuhanga exhibition

Monday to Friday this week I have some prints on show in the CfSHE gallery in Tokyo. It's an exhibition of prints from all the artists who attended the mokuhanga residency in Kawaguchiko this summer.Let me know know if you'd like to meet up there! Date: From 15 to 19 January 2018 Venue: CfSHE Gallery B109, 6-11-14, Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, 1010021 Tokyo Hour: 13.00/17.00 Admission Free

2017年 MI-LAB アドバンス・プログラム参加アーティスト Artists who participated in 2017 MI-LAB Advanced Program

Kathleen(Kaite) Baldwin ケイティ・ボールドウィン (USA) Kate MacDonagh ケイト・マクドナー (Ireland) Mariko Jesse マリコ・ジェシー (UK) Melissa Schulenberg メリッサ・シューレンバーグ　(USA) Natasha Norman ナターシャ・ノーマン (South Africa) Patty Hudak パティ・フダック (USA) An Gee Chan アン・ジー・チャン (Hong Kong) Brenda Petays ブレンダ・ぺテイス (Canada) Fuko Ito フウコ・イトウ (Japan) Jon Lee ジョン・リー (USA) Sarah Hulsey サラ・ハルシー (USA)

You can see more information here.

London exhibitions

I've been having a wonderful week in London, visiting museums and seeing friends and family. I'd been waiting all year to see the Tove Jansson show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, and it didn't disappoint...Her work has always inspired me (especially the black and white drawings in the Moomin books), and I feel invigorated to work harder now. I also loved the Modigilani show at the Tate Modern. I'd never seen so much of his work all at once, and it was extremely moving.And of course the Winnie-the-Pooh exhibition at the V&A. So adorable, and a wonderful example of author and illustrator producing perfection together...

Hawaii conference

In September, after a short holiday on the Big Island, I went to Oahu with my friends Katie Baldwin and Yoonmi Nam, to attend the 3rd International Mokuhanga Conference at Honolulu University. We installed Into the Fold, an exhibition of our newest collaborative mokuhanga project. It was an extension of our current project (un)fold: we invited three printmakers, Sarah Hulsey, Fuko Ito and Mia O, to collaborate with us, exploring the ideas and acts of folding and unfolding, and the lineage of learning the mokuhanga technique. We also gave a presentation about the project during the conference.Here's a close-up of my piece Into the Garden. It represents an abstract garden, is printed so that it can be viewed from either side of the paper, and has a printed enclosure. It's lovely when it sways slightly in the breeze, and the plants seem to be alive.My Meyer Lemon Curd Recipe was also shown in the juried international group exhibition: Beauty of Mokuhanga: Discipline & Sensibility 木版画の美：修練と感性 I did quite a few sketches in the presentations I attended, and also at the conference opening and closings, of the speakers and committee members...I had never participated in the open portfolio at the previous conferences so I thought I would give it a go this time. I showed a selection of my mokuhanga prints and artists books, and spoke to anyone who was interested...Here you can see my blue Into the Garden piece in an alternative configuration.Katie, Yoonmi and I also showed our previous wood+paper+box print collaborations on a separate table, and everyone was encouraged to open and handle each of our individual prints in the boxes.It was a thoroughly enjoyable conference, where it was great to meet up with old and new friends and colleagues. It encouraged me to spend more time on my printmaking practice and I can't wait to start more prints.

Here's a little sketch I did from the window of our manoa airbnb, of the misty rainy mountains. I loved the area where we stayed; there were more rainbows there than I'd seen in a very long time.

open studios

It's that time again! I'm showing lots of prints, both old and brand new, in my San Francisco Dogpatch workshop. Please come and visit us and buy art direct from the artists.Here's a sneak peak of some of my framed prints up on the wall...

friends that never met

Michael McConnell, at Fayes Bench Gallery in San Francisco, created an art project 'Friends That Never Met' where instagram friends would pair up and create a piece of collaborative art embracing their online friendship; a chance to work on something tangible in the real world together. So I had a good think and asked Melodie Stacey, an artist I follow on instagram and whose work I love, but who I've never met in person, if she'd like to work with me on some artwork. She said yes!

We each started a piece with a character, and posted them to the other to finish. Here is 'How do you do?' featuring my Mr Lizard. I noticed that Melodie often paints in blue, so I decided to do blue too. It's a mokuhanga print with watercolour, while Melodie painted in gouache. The artworks are all small-ish, and look wonderful on the wall in the gallery.

Melodie sent me several blue ladies to work with, so I chose one and decided to add an elaborate hat and avian friend. Here is 'Feather Lady'.I studied Edwardian headwear to get inspiration and added my hat as a collage in blues onto Melodie's painting.Social media is a great platform for artists to interact and inspire each other from all over the globe, and I really enjoyed taking this concept and adding a physical element to it. Melodie is in the UK, I was working in Japan, and the show is in California. I love it!

The show is up for the whole month, with an artists reception this thursday evening, on September 21st. Please do pop in if you're around! All the artwork is for sale.

mokuhanga prints in my shop

I've just put some of my new mokuhanga prints in my online shop. I printed these while I was in Japan and have just completed signing and preparing them. There are two versions of this little imaginary trumpet flower, one in blues and one in red and green...And there are blue and pink peonies too.Hope you'll pop by my shop and consider a purchase for yourself or as a gift!

tokyo

This week I spent a few days in Tokyo, visiting friends, art stores and exhibitions. First stop the Ota Museum in Harajuku, to a ukiyoe exhibition of Edo from the water, and then the Nezu Museum, to a ceramics one. Both were wonderful, and highly recommended!Then on to Pigment, a store with paints and paraphanelia, and more brushes than I've ever seen in my life. So. Many. Brushes. And all of them gorgeous.I love the city, well, cities generally, but in particular Tokyo, and I find the everyday urban views beautiful. Even just the railways at dusk, walking home after an exhausting day.Can't wait to visit again soon!

London week two

This week I spent some time with friends in lovely places, and managed to do a little sketching too: here's a watercolour of a quiet garden inside Regent's Park.I also did a little drawing while I was having a tasty afternoon tea with scones at the Mock Turtle cafe in Brighton,and here's an atmospheric shot of my sketchbook in the window of Kew Palace, the summer home of King George III, inside Kew Gardens, one of my very favourite places in London. I'm loving being here, seeing all the familiar places with new eyes and sketching every day...

shop update

I've just added some peony teacup etching prints into my online shop, hurrah! Some are from my archive: they're small editions and very sweet... and there are two new hand-painted ones too. I love this one with the polka dots!All the funds I raise are going towards my mokuhanga printmaking residency in Japan this summer. Please spread the word if you know anyone who might like to purchase a print, thank you!

my shop!

I've finally launched my own little online shop! I'm going to Japan this summer for a mokuhanga print residency, and to help with funding it I've decided to try and sell some prints. There's a new small cat + jug print, exclusively and for the first time on sale:A new version of my Meyer Lemon print, this time with gold pigment in the lemons:And a selection of my San Francisco Snowdome prints...Please go and take a look and let me know what you think. Happy shopping!

wood paper box website

The collaborative printmaking and book arts project I've been working on with my friends Katie Baldwin and Yoonmi Nam has finally got its own website!It chronicles our two complete projects, the titular 'wood paper box', our most recent endeavour 'alabama california kansas', and our brand new project '(un)fold'.There are links to process blogs for each project,where you can read in depth about each artwork, and see photographs of shows we've put together and the meetings we've held. The chapter illustrations are my very own pen drawings, of our work and our portraits. Hope you'll take the time to visit and let us know what you think!

Caution May Be Hot

I made two pieces for this show of paper cup art in San Francisco. The brief was to turn this ordinary object into a work of art, and artists from all over the US were invited to participate.I tried to create the effect of blue and white china, and used my collection of Chinese ceramics as reference for the design. I made a cup with separate decorated panels first, and then did another based on the famous willow pattern design. It was interesting to work in the round, after working flat for such a long time. https://vimeo.com/192408212

The show was on simultaneously at Long Weekend store in Oakland... and Fayes in the Mission...Today was the last day to see the show at Long Weekend, but Fayes will still be open to visit this week. Hope you can make it!

open studios this weekend

My prints are all framed and up on the wall, and waiting for you to pop by!Several new prints are available, including this mokuhanga print of clouds and rain.and this etching of sewing tools...Here are all the details. Hope to see you today or tomorrow!

open studios 2016

Yes, it's that time again! I'll be showing prints at my workshop in Dogpatch, San Francisco, as part of the City's ArtSpan openstudio weekends. I'll be showing a selection of framed works, ready to hang:...and a variety of new unframed prints, such as these:I'll have some new mokuhanga prints,...and new playing cards:I'll be showing with 7 of my studio-mates over the weekend of 22/23 October. 11-6pm both days. I hope to see you there!

meyer lemon seeds

I recently packaged my mokuhanga lemon print for my collaborative project with Yoomni Nam and Katie Baldwin. I made an etching of a seed packet, and folded up the lemon print to fit inside: a print inside a print.The seed packet design is based on vintage references I found while researching my part of the project, which is about California.More news about this project, called Alabama + California + Kansas soon!

exchange show

My printmaking workshop GAW has done a print exchange with a small gallery in Yokohama, Japan. It's very exciting! The exhibition of both our work and their work will be on show at the GAW gallery from next week 9 September to 1 October on fridays and saturdays, 12-5pm. I'm showing two of my San Francisco snowdome prints. The lighter one will be on show in Yokohama, the darker one in SF. There will be a reception at GAW on saturday 10 September 3-5pm. Hope to see you there!

There will be a reception at Launchpad Gallery, Yokohama, on saturday 17 September 7-10pm, with the show running from 16 - 26 September. Hope you can make it one or the other of the shows.

San Francisco snowdome

I've been working on a new etching this week for an exchange project between my print workshop and a gallery in Japan. The theme is 'my San Francisco' and I decided to go for the ultimate kitschy object, the snowdome. I still feel like a tourist here and I looked for all the things that really appealled to me when I first arrived. I feel like the Bay is San Francisco's heart, so I featured watery icons like the seal, the bridge, and the ferry building. And of course I couldn't leave out the fog, and the sutro tower, that you can see from everywhere...I did several different versions of the print, some with colour/gold/stars and am still deciding which to show. We'll have the exhibition in our gallery in September and also in Japan around the same time. More details to follow!

print exchange

I took part in a print exchange between my own print studio the Graphic Arts Workshop and the Print Club of Rochester which is now on show in the GAW gallery. There was no specific theme, so I decided to do a new playing card in my ongoing series.I sketched all sorts of wading birds and chose sandpipers doing a spot of fishing. The opening reception is this afternoon 3-5pm, please do pop in if you can!

Here's how they look on the walls...

not a lemon

I have a piece in a group show opening next week in San Francisco called Not a Lemon. It features the work of 50 Bay Area artists and there'll be paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures. I had my first real California moment when I made lemon curd from lemons from my very own little lemon tree growing on the balcony, so for this show I created a hand-lettered recipe. I printed a woodcut lemon branch and wrote the recipe in pen and ink. I made 3 different versions, to experiment with type style and spacing, and they'll all be available at the exhibition.The opening reception will be on thursday 7th July 6-9pm. I'll be there, it would be great to see you! Hope you can all make it to see the show while it's up.

HOBBS High Street Kensington part 2

The new HOBBS store in High Street Kensington, London is open! And lots of my specially commissioned illustrations are framed and decorating the walls...I was asked to create illustrations for the stores, in a variety of styles, that reflected their values of quality and British heritage.I also made a special map of the surrounding area showing the wonderful buildings and streets you can explore near the new store. I highlighted some of the HOBBS iconic fashion items...

... and added in elements like local British flowers and animals.Foxgloves and sweetpeas, foxes and a stag...

... and of course a countryside feature, the pheasant!I also did some hand-lettered quotes, some etchings, and included some pages from my sketchbooks.I hope you'll be able to visit and let me know what you think. Happy shopping!

Thanks to Nick Jesse for the store photos.