Mia O - Printmaker: I Just Want To Make

 Mia O is one of the most interesting and creative mokuhanga printmakers working in the medium, today. Her work moves outside the traditional formats of mokuhanga, through shape, collage, colour, and even the folds of washi.  Join me on this episode of The Unfinished Print where I speak with Mia O about how mokuhanga has been such an important part of her life. We discuss specific pieces of hers and how they were made, her life in Japan and how her environment inspires her.  Mia also delves into her collaboration with The Mokuhanga Sisters Collective, and her time at Nagasawa Art Park. Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints Twitter @unfinishedprint, or email me at [email protected]  Artists works follow after the note about them. 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. Mia O - website, Instagram Brooklyn Museum - is a museum located in New York City in the Borough of Brooklyn.  With a history which stretches from 1823, the current museum was founded in 1898. It contains predominantly American works of art. More info, here.   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.    Keiko Kadota - (d. 2017) was a director of MI Lab and of Nagasawa Art Park, previously. She was a mentor to many mokuhanga practitioners and helped to promote mokuhanga around the world.   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.    CfSHE Gallery - is a gallery located in Chiyoda, Tōkyō. It is associated with MI Lab. More info, here. Their Instagram can be found, here.   hanmoto system - is the Edo Period (1603-1868) collaboration system of making woodblock prints in Japan. The system was about using, carvers, printers, and craftsmen, by various print publishers in order to produce woodblock prints. The system consisted of the following professions; publisher, artist, carver, and printer. kentō - is the registration system used by printmakers in order to line up the colour woodblocks with your key block, or outline block, carved first.   shina - is a type of Japanese plywood used in mokuhanga. Not all shina is made equally, buyer beware.  powdered pigments - have been used in mokuhanga since the Edo Period (1602-1868). Mineral pigments can still be used but are generally hurtful and toxic. More information can be found on grinding and the types of powdered pigmetns used today from John Amoss of Tanuki Prints, here.    Mino, Gifu, Japan - is a city located in the Japanese Prefecture of Gifu. It is famous for its ceramics and for the washi that Mia speaks about in her interview. Mino, also has a festival which uses their locally produced washi for some portable shrines. More info can be found here, about Mino tourism, and here, for the Mino festival.    floating kentō - is a removable registration system attached to the block when printing. As the kentō isn't affixed to the block; blotting, and very clean borders are one of the positives of using this method of registration. It is an "L" shape.    Mia O pieces discussed in her interview -    Bamboo Green Landscape (2016)   Yellow Ochre Landscape (2016)   Orange Landscape (2016)   PW Octagon (2017)   B+W Holes (2021)   The World  Beteween The Block and the Paper - was a mokuhanga centered show held at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont from December, 11, 2021 to March, 27, 2022. It was hosted and presented by SVAC and the Mokuhanga Sisters, a mokuhanga collective of mokuhanga artists and teachers from around the world. More info, 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. Instagram   MI Lab - Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory is located in Tōkyō. It is a place set up for learning mokuhanga. The artist-in-residence program, having been held since 2011 on Lake Kawaguchi near Mt. Fuji, is an application based program hosting international mokuhanga practitioners who are looking to move their work forward. More information can be found, here.   Patty Hudak - is an American artist who splits her time between Vermont and NYC, who works in installation, and mokuhanga. She has travelled the world, and is a part of three artist collectives. Patty's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.     Patterning   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.   Winter Walk - lithograph and monotype (2016)   Kate MacDonagh - is an Irish mokuhanga printmaker based in Dublin, Ireland. Kanreki was an exhibition curated by Kate MacDonagh at The Model, Sligo. Kate's website.   Dark Light II (2020)   International Mokuhanga Conference - is a bi-yearly conference dedicated to mokuhanga which started in 2011 by the International Mokuhanga Association. Each conference is themed. The latest conference was in 2021, delayed a year because of the pandemic. More information can be found, here.     © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing musical credit - Fall Line by Jack Johnson form the album On And On (2003)  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.***