Katie Baldwin: Printmaker - It's An Exchange Amongst Friends

Many mokuhanga printmakers today touch on different mediums when they create their work. It could be sculpture, bookbinding, or installation. There is no limit as to what can be accomplished with mokuhanga.  On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with mokuhanga printmaker and artist Katie Baldwin. Based in Alabama where she is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. Katie has travelled the world, from Poland to Taiwan. She is involved in several collaborative groups, such as ShiftLab, wood+paper+box, and The Mokuhanga Sisters.  Katie speaks on her early days of making mokuhanga, her time at Nagasawa Art Park, the influence of her artist father, studio space and what it does to her work. We also discuss the concept of "craft," and her evolution as an artist.  Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints or email me at [email protected]  Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Artists works follow after the note. Pieces are mokuhanga unless otherwise noted. Katie Baldwin - website, Instagram   Progress from the Two Stories Series (2013) - woodblock and letterpress  Tornado Shelter (Practice Evacuation) [2021]  Neighbourhood 2 from Things Left Behind Series (2010)  portion from Multiple Discovery by Shift-Lab (2022) artists book Fire Drill (ca. 2020) Evergreen State College - is a state funded college located in Olympia, Washington, USA. It covers environmental justice, history, amongst other subjects. More info can be found, here.  letterpress - is a type of relief printing by using a printing press. It was popular during Industrialization and the modernity of the West. By the mid twentieth century, letterpress began to become more of an art form, with artists using the medium for books, stationary, and greeting cards. woodblock printing in Europe - first starting in and around 1400, woodblock printing in Europe used the medium to represent Chirstian subjects. Albrecht Dührer (1471-1528) made detailed devotional works with woodcuts. Another famous style of woodcutting in Europe was using the chiaroscuro (light and dark) method of drawing within a woodcut as seen in the work of Louis Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). More info can be found, here.  The Four Horseman of The Apocalypse (1496-1498) woodcut The Werewolf or the Cannibal (date unknown) woodcut Nagasawa Art Park (MI Lab) Awaji City - Nagasawa Art Park was an artist-in-residence program located in Awaji City, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was open for 12 years before evolving into MI Lab in 2012. More info, here.    Awaji Island - is located in the Seto Inland Sea in Japan. It is famous for its Naruto whirlpools, the longest suspension bridge in the world in the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. It is also a connection to both Shikoku Island, and the main land of Honshu. More info can be found, here.    Vandercook Press - is a proof printing press manufactured by Vandercook & Sons, beginning in 1909. They made different types of presses, such as letterpress and offset. They are now a part of NA Graphics.    shina - is a type of Japanese plywood used in mokuhanga. Not all shina is made equally, buyer beware.    intaglio printing - is a printing method, also called etching, using metal plates such as zinc, and copper, creating "recessed" areas which are printed with ink on the surface of these "recesses." More info, here. The MET has info, here.    codex - is a type of book binding in the Western method and is a precursor to the modern book.    Wells College - is a private college located in Aurora, New York, USA. The school provides various courses in the social sciences, science, and environmental studies. More info can be found, here.    National Taiwan Normal University -  was founded in 1922 and serves many different avenues of study. Their Department of Fine Arts, holds a Bienniel Print Exhibit, more info here  and here.   Taoyan International Print Exhibition 2021 - was a print exhibition showcasing international printmakers in the town of Taoyan, Taiwan. More info, here.    aizuri-e - a late Edo Period (1603-1867) type of printmaking where the woodblock print is predominantly in blue, or shades of the color blue. The blue colour was usually a Prussian Blue imported into Japan around 1790. artelino have a great description of Prussian Blue and aizuri-e, here.   Fullbright Scholarship - is a scholarship that covers various types of grants. Beginning in 1946, this particular scholarship provides grants and exchanges for many countries and for various students, scholars, and professionals. More info, here.    Puli, Nantou, Taiwan (埔里鎮) - is a township located in the Nantou County, a mountainous and landlocked portion of Taiwan. Known for its nature, lakes, and national parks. More info, here.    sizing paper - at times mokuhanga printmakers will size their paper. Size is made from water, animal glue (rabbit, horse), and alum. What the size does is keep the pigments the artist uses from "bleeding" into the outer edges of the paper. There are many recipes of size, here is one that artist Walter J. Phillips used.   kozo paper -  is paper made from mulberry bark and is commonly used in woodblock printmaking, and cloth.    Art Taipei - is organized by the Taiwan Art Gallery Association (TAGA) and is an art fair which takes place once a year in October. More info can be found, here.    Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂) - is a landmark located in Taipei, Taiwan. It is in memoriam to the leader of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), who lived in exile in Taiwan from 1949-1975.    sumi - is a rich black stick, or liquid used by artists, calligraphers, and traditional Japanese horimono tattoo artists.  It is made from the soot of burnt lamp oil. Used in key blocks predominantly in traditional mokuhanga, it can also be used to mix pigments. Pigment Tōkyō conducts a great interview with their chief of pigments, Kei Iwaizumi, about sumi ink, here.   Shift-Lab  - is an international artists collective which started in 2013. The collective is made up of Katie Baldwin, Denise Bookwalter, Sarah Bryant, Macy Chadwick, and Tricia Treacy. Their works are a blend of bookmaking, sculpture, mokuhanga, printmaking, and drawing. More info can be found, here. Below is work from Shift-Lab and each individual artist within the collective, other than Katie Baldwin, whose work can be found above. Info regarding the collective can be found, here. Click on the artists name for their respective website's.    Tetrahedron (2011) by Denise Bookwalter - digital/dimensional print    The pine cone is an object of veneration (2012) by Sarah Bryant - letterpress   Observations on Listening (2012) by Macy Chadwick - letterpress, polymer plate   SLOT (2018) by Tricia Treacy - one page from the SLOT piece. - risograph, hand binding, foil-stamping    CODEX Book Fair and Symposium - is a biennaly held book fair and is hosted by CODEX, a foundation created in 2005 by Peter Rutledge Koch, and Susan Filter. Their aim is to promote the book form as art. The next book fair will take place in 2024. More info can be found, here.    The Mokuhanga Sisters - are a mokuhanga collective consisting of Yoonmi Nam, Mariko Jesse, Lucy May Schofield, Melissa Schulenberg, Kate MacDonagh, Katie Baldwin, Mia-O, Patty Hudak, and Natasha Norman. website,  Instagram   wood+paper+box - is a collaborative art group made up of Katie Baldwin, Mariko Jesse, and Yoonmi Nam. It is based on their experiences at Nagasawa Art Park, the precursor of MI Lab.    Yoonmi Nam (b. 1974) - is a contemporary mokuhanga printmaker, lithographer, sculptor, and teacher, based in Lawrence, Kansas. Her work can be found, here. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.   Cover of Kansas City Collection (2014-2015), catalogue   Mariko Jesse - is an illustrator, and mokuhanga printmaker based in Tōkyō, London, and California. Her work can be found, here. Mariko is also a part of the collective, wood+paper+box, which can be found, here.  Berry Flower (2020) The Group of Seven - were a group of landscape painters from Canada. The artists were, Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A.Y. Jackson  1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer  (1885–1969), J.E.H MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Later, A.J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926, Edwin Holdgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930, and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932. While Tom Thomspon (1877–1917), and Emily Carr (1871–1945) were not "official" members it is generally accepted that they were a part of the group without being "officially" a part of the group because of the group relationship with the artists. More info can be found, here.    Collaborative Mokuhanga Groups of the past - usually associated with the sōsaku hanga movement of the early 20th century, these collaborative mokuhanga groups shared and disseminated their work amongst themselves, teaching techniques and methods, strengthening the creative print movement in Japan. Some famous print groups were The First Thursday Society as founded by Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955), and the Yoyogi Group founded by Un'ichi Hiratsuka (1895-1997). Printmaking during this time was predominantly male, so we see Japan and that time period through the eyes of men. There were female printmakers, such as Keiko Minami (1911-2007), although she lived abroad and not in Japan. In Japan you had the Joryū Hanga Kyōkai, the first woman's printmaking society who held their first show in Tōkyō. Artists such as Iwami Reika (1927-2020), and Kobayashi Donge from this group, made mokuhanga prints.    Moon and Water (ca. 1972) - by Iwami Reika    Eve In A Circus by Kobayashi Donge (date unknown) - etching on paper   In Cahoots - is a residency program based in Petaluma, California, USA. It focuses on letterpress, relief printmaking, and artists books. It is run by Mary Chadwick. More info can be found, here.    Mise-en-Scène  - is an artists project by wood+paper+box, currently in progress. More info, here.      © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing musical credit - Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa (1982) logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny  Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) Слава Україну If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. ***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***