A mokuhanga print on sized Torinoko-sangou washi from the Iwano Heizaburou washi mill in Echizen, Japan. The print was created using two blocks and two colours of pigment including watercolour and gouache, and 5 passes of colour. This one of several prints created whilst on the artist in residency basic training programme at MI-LAB, Echizen in November 2024.
Edition size: 6 no. plus 1 no. artist’s proof
Image size: 170 x 255 mm
Paper size: 295 x 210 mm approx
Price: £80
This print is an abstract based on the Teshima Art Museum, designed by artist Rei Naito and architect Ryue Nishizawa. We had visited Teshima before I arrived in Echizen and was impressed by the simplicity of the concept – a massive shallow curved concrete shell structure punctured by two elliptical holes, exposed to the weather and, on the occasion we visited, let in pools of sunlight that created a stark contrast with the greys of the concrete floor and shell roof structure. There were many people inside but all you could here was the sound of water trickling through minute holes in the floor. I had initially set out to create a print giving a literal translation of the internal space using the bokashi technique to define the space. However I wasn’t happy with how the print was taking shape and so decided to take some of the carved blocks and abstract the form of one of the elliptical cut outs in the roof and repeat this form using the bokashi technique by offsetting the kento registration marks. I took the same approach with the pool of light – represented by an ellipse printed in orange with an offset in dark blue.
Two prints of the edition have been donated to MI_LAB for their archive and will be shown at an exhibition at the Udatsu Museum in December 2024, along with 27 students who attended residencies in this first year in Echizen.
Kay A Brown 