In Platemark s3e29, host Ann Shafer speaks with April Vollmer, an artist working in mokuhanga (Japanese color woodblock printing) who also wrote the indispensable guide to that form: Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop (Berkeley: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2015).
What's mokuhanga, you ask? It's a method developed in Japan that was used to print images that are probably familiar to you, like Hokusai's Great Wave. It allows artists to work with water-based inks (more environmentally friendly) on multiple blocks to build up images, which are printed by hand using a flat paddle called a baren. Each color is carried on a separately carved block and is layered during printing. It means a lot of carving, but it also means one doesn't need a press, chemicals, or a ton of equipment. In other words, it can be done at home in your kitchen.
The range of work made possible in mokuhanga is impressive. Once used for ukiyo-e prints (pictures of the floating world) in the Edo period, now contemporary artists from the world over are experimenting with its possibilities. Including April Vollmer.
