mokuhanga show review

There’s a wonderful article in the Seven Days online arts magazine about our Mokuhanga Sisters show at the Southern Vermont Arts Centre. Thank you to Pamela Polston for the thoughtful review!

These are some of my floral prints in the show…

…and these are a few of Gotou san’s amazing abstract works.

This print of his has such a beautifully rich black along the top, and an incredible gold metallic shimmer that needs to be seen in person to appreciate.

The exhibition continues until March 27, I hope you get a chance to visit!

my solo show in Tokyo

I had a solo show! In Tokyo! The one that was cancelled in Spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. I rethought the show, and turned it into a sort of goodbye event, as we were leaving Japan soon afterwards.

The show was held in the adorable Almost Perfect gallery, in the downtown (rapidly becoming hipster) part of Tokyo.

left photo by Lee Basford

The space was perfectly suited to the scale and tone of my work, and I was so happy to show there. The sunlight slanted in in the morning, and the gallery was bright and airy for the rest of the day.

Most of the framed prints were mokuhanga, but there were a few etchings too. I framed a few of the pieces specially for the show, and also experimented with mounting some of them directly onto wood, instead of framing behind glass.

As well as framed prints, I showed a selection of other printed products, such as artists books, handmade sketchbooks, greetings cards and postcards.

I also showed some of my ceramics - the HK willow and HK toile collections, and even a few London toile teacups.

right photo by Lee Basford

I was so happy that people came to see the show to say hello/goodbye. Happier still when everyone bought something to take home with them.

A special thank you to Luis and Yuka for hosting my show, and to everyone who supported me, by showing up, by buying something, and for saying nice things about my work. Thank you.

Sumi-Fusion Mokuhanga exhibition

I’ve just spent the last week in Nara, Japan, attending the 4th International Mokuhanga Conference. There were talks, practical demos, visits, and a wonderful juried exhibition of mokuhanga prints from around the world.

My newest print ‘Summer Blooms’ was selected, and it was great to see it hung amongst so many wonderful pieces.

Our Mokuhanga Sisters collaborative scroll ‘Borderless’ was also on display. Here’s a picture showing both my pieces.

It was truly a gift to be able to attend the conference in person, and I’m sad that no-one from outside Japan could travel in, but the online conference made up for it a little. Hopefully the next one will be in person!

I also participated in the online Open Portfolio, which can be seen here. Hope you enjoy looking at everyone’s amazing work!

Edition Basel residency

I’ve just completed a virtual artists residency with Edition Basel in Switzerland. I was in California, and worked on mokuhanga prints, and then we all got together on zoom every evening from all over the world and discussed what we’d been doing.

We collectively chose the theme of ‘Übergang’ for our residency, a German word meaning transition/change/boundary. I made a series of prints of the view from the balcony, looking at the dusk/sunset/twilight skies. And then made them into accordian-fold artists books, that show a different view depending on which angle you view them from.

This weekend a show is being held at the Basler Papiermuhle in Basel, with everyone’s work, either in person, or on screens for those of us participating from abroad. I managed to send in some of my flat prints, but also showed the finished folded pieces on a screen.

It was lovely to meet so many new printmakers, and take part in some lively conversations over the course of the week.

These are some of the experimental prints I made, using 4 blocks and a variety of colours…

I haven’t really tried to use the whole paper like this for a very long time, and I had fun inking up the blocks in random painterly ways, and not worrying about making exact editions!

I set up a low table for the residency and spent the whole week here, carving, designing, printing, cutting and glueing…

I spent the first day of the residency seeing if I could design, carve and print all in one day - turns out I can! I made this small series of bird prints, that can be viewed from any way up.

One day I hope I’ll be able to visit Basel and the amazing Druckwerk printstudio in person…

Tokyo Summer exhibition

I showed three new mokuhanga prints in the Summer Mokuhanga Fair organised by MI-LAB in 3331 Arts Chiyoda, Tokyo last weekend. I wish I could’ve attended!

Everyone who exhibited was invited to try some new washi papers from Ozu Washi, and one of Holbein paints new seasonal paint palettes. I really enjoyed this part if it, trying materials that were new to me.

I’m hoping to make many new works with these materials and continue exploring the theme of gardens, flowers, and how we see them.

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.

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.

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 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!

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.

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...

photography exhibition

One of my photos has been chosen to be in the annual juried plastic camera show at the prestigious rayko photo center in San Francisco. This is a double-exposure medium format shot I took with my trusty Holga when I was travelling in India. I'm not a photographer, but I do love analogue photography so much. The opening reception is this wednesday evening, March 9th, 6-8pm if you're around! Show continues until April 29th.

last weekend of exhibition

Today and tomorrow are the last days to see my show at GAW in San Francisco. Hope you can make it! You can view these two hand-detailed mokuhanga prints of a jug and a mug...It's a series of four, with pen-drawn lines, but these two just seem to go so nicely together.

exhibition continues

My show opened last weekend in Dogpatch, San Francisco. Here's me hanging my work...Thank you to everyone who came to the opening reception, I am full of love for you all!The show runs from February 5th – 27th on Fridays and Saturdays noon – 5pm, and by appointment at other times. I'll be at the studio most saturdays while the show is up, if you'd like to drop by! Graphic Arts Workshop: 2565 3rd St #305, San Francisco, CA 94107

upcoming exhibition

I'm going to have a solo show in San Francisco, yay! It's in the little gallery at the front of my printmaking workshop in Dogpatch. The reception is on saturday 6 February from 2-5pm, I'd love to see you there!I'll be showing a selection of my ongoing playing card etching series, along with a new collection of mokuhanga woodcuts and etchings about tea. The show runs from February 5th – 27th on Fridays and Saturdays noon – 5pm, and by appointment at other times.

There will be a presentation by Linda Marshall about handmade Japanese washi paper at 1pm, just before the reception, so please do come along to that if  you're interested!

Graphic Arts Workshop: 2565 3rd St #305, San Francisco, CA 94107

London

This week I'm in London, admiring the lights, and loving the Chrismassy-ness of it all. Along with two of my monsters colleagues, Lynn Hatzius and David Humphries, we had a stand at the House of Illustration annual Illustrator's Christmas Fair, held in King's Cross. We sold prints and cards, and I even had some of my London Toile products.I've been admiring the wonderful Christmas windows around town, and my favourites are the glorious Fortnum and Masons...and of course Tiffanys.And the best thing about London is the choice of exhibitions, and these constructed trees by Ai Wei Wei at the Royal Academy were stunning.Can't wait for more London inspiration this week!

open studios in a week

Next weekend: 31 Oct and 1 Nov, I'll be showing my work at the annual San Francisco Open Studios event, in my print studio in Dogpatch. You can find all the info you need about the Graphic Art Workshop here. I'll be showing new work, like this hand-detailed mokuhanga print,and some new playing card prints like these.Of course I'll be showing a wide variety of ceramic etchings, like this popular blue peonies print,which you can also see at the preview show in SOMArts gallery in downtown San Francsico right now.I do hope you can make it to the open studios, I'll be there from 11-6 on saturday and sunday. It's always nice to buy art direct from the artists! Please do come and say hello.

Kansas visit

I've just got back from a wonderful visit to Kansas. I spent a day doing a spot of teaching at Emporia State University and giving a presentation there. Here's a great poster one of the students made for my talk:I went to Lawrence, to set up a collaborative exhibition with my friends Yoonmi Nam and Katie Baldwin at the new Wonder Fair gallery downtown.We had our opening on saturday evening, which was super busy and fun!We showed our project wood + paper + box, along with a special silk-screened poster of our complete box (available to buy from Wonder Fair).We each also had space to show our own individual work. Here's mine, hung salon style.The show will be up until mid November, so please do pop in and take a look if you're nearby!

Tokyo print exhibition

Our collaborative mokuhanga print project wood + paper + box is on show until sunday at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidei). You can read all about it here.This is the installation, which shows a generally chronological view of our 1 year project.Each print was framed in perspex and had its own individual shelf. We showed each artwork as a physical object.This uchiwa fan is my final print. It's double-sided and when the light shines through the white jugs, you can see the reverse print pattern through it. Hope you can make it see the show!

exhibition this weekend

I have a small selection of prints on show this weekend at my new printmaking studio in Dogpatch, San Francisco. If you're around, please do drop in!There are 7 printmakers showing work; all of us are 'new' at the studio.I'm showing some of my playing card prints, it's a chance to see them if you haven't yet! One day I hope to have a whole set...The show will also be open by appointment for the whole of August.