This class will introduce mokuhanga techniques using gouache as the medium for printing. We will be using Holbein’s set of gouache, Traditional Colors of Japan: Fall, as inspiration for our prints, celebrating the arrival of Fall.

Originating in China, then refined in the Edo Period in Japan, mokuhanga (Japanese water-based woodblock printing) is experiencing a contemporary revival as a nature-based art form.

Trained in Japan, Patty Hudak will guide participants in the immersive techniques of carving and printing, using handmade brushes, Japanese paper, rice glue, gouache, and a handheld baren to carve and print mokuhanga prints. We will cover the history of color in Japanese prints, and the potential of mokuhanga as a medium for contemporary printmakers.

Day 1 (over Zoom): Introduction
History and meaning of the evolution of color in Japanese prints, as well as traditional symbols of Fall. Examples of Japanese woodblock printing using layered color. Thoughts on color and design, exploring the uses for contemporary artists. Planning and preparing your image.

Day 2 (in person): Transfer our design/image to the block
Demo, kento registration
Carve block
Hangito, lines, and clearing the block

Day 3 (in person): Printing
Dampening paper
Setting up your workspace, placement of materials
Using starch glue with gouache for printing
Application with brushes
Using a baren for printing, varying pressure with your hand
Specialty techniques, bokashi, gomazuri

What is supplied:
Two 8” x 10” Shina plywood blocks
10 sheets of Japanese paper
Tracing paper
Carbon paper
Newsprint
Carving tools (classroom use)
Gouache
Nori (starch glue)
Freezer paper
Floating kento (classroom use)
Brushes for applying gouache

What to bring:
Sketchbook
Prepared design
Carving tools (if you have any)
Apron

Patty Hudak is an artist living in Underhill VT. She has practiced mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock printing) since 2016. She studied at the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory in Yamanashi, Japan, as well as in the studio of Motoharu Asaka in Tokyo. In 2020, her solo exhibition, Indigo and Ink, was exhibited at SVAC, along with her installation, There, Through the Broken Branches, Go. She was a co-organizer, with Mokuhanga Sisters, in SVAC’s 2021-2022 exhibition of contemporary mokuhanga prints, The World Between the Block and the Paper. Hudak is a recipient of the Vermont Arts Council’s 2018-2019 Creation Grant, Vermont Artists to Watch in 2020, and the International Mokuhanga Conference 2021 Awagami Paper Award. https://www.pattyhudak.com/