Hello everyone. I have arrived in Japan for the IMHC in Kyoto. My first time to Japan. I had the great fortune to be sitting across the isle from April Vollmer all the way from Seattle to Osaka. Also with us was Susan Rostow, the inventor of Akua Kolor!
Japan is gorgeous and you should all come! I am in a ryokan (bead and breakfast type inn) in the hills of Kyoto surrounded by a bamboo forest above and Maruyama Park below. I have a futon I lay out on the floor to sleep which for me is rather like how we camp anyway. And I have wi-fi! Yeah!
At breakfast I met a family who were in town from Kochi, Shikoku. He is a paper maker and was here to learn how to make his tools - the screens. He said that it is a dying art and harder to find so he has to learn it. He is not a generational family of paper makers. When I asked him why he decided to make paper then, he said he saw it made he felt inside that he must make paper. I understand that feeling - it is why I do moku hanga.
Yesterday I met Annie Bissett for the first time. She and her friend from Tokyo came and met me for a tour of several temples. We walked on the famous "nightingale" floors which really do sound like birds singing! It was amazing.
It is very humid and hot - reminded me of our Michigan summer.
I will post pictures later.
Self Portrait
reduction woodblock
Artist Statement
- Linda
- I am an environmental artist working exclusively in the water-based Japanese art of moku hanga – woodblock print. The spiritual connection that I find in the creation of the print is extremely important to me. The process is quiet, calming and meditative. Carving individual wood blocks for each color in the print, isolated profiles are separated and then joined again. This exploration of forms within a space creates a deeper, intimate encounter with nature. The emotional, physical and spiritual energy I use to create a print somehow becomes imbedded within it to reveal the heart and spirit of a location. Primarily showing wilderness landscapes and waterscapes and having the four seasons of imagery at my disposal, it is a joy to showcase the beauty, diverse ecology, geography and healing value of our world through my prints. I take you to a secret place that you can experience and will want to know personally. Creating a sense of stillness and peace and shelter……the journey awakens you to the vulnerability of our natural spaces. The significance of protection is stimulated. The rarely noticed or hidden becomes elevated to the sacred.
1 comment:
Yes, pictures! 8-]
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