3/5/2023 0 Comments Moku hanga abstractFollowing her presentation, the budding Mokuhanga artists broke off into smaller groups as Moilanen traveled room to room giving each participant personalized attention and mentorship. Each morning Moilanen provided a presentation on a different technique. The lessons were broken up into morning and afternoon sessions. The workshop ran from June 10-17, 2018, and participants traveled from Seattle, North Carolina, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, and even Walla Walla to receive Moilanen’s knowledge and create woodblock prints. Moilanen is known as an expert in Mokuhanga and lived in Kyoto, Japan for over 20 years before returning home to Finland in 2012 where she currently lives and works. Takemoto welcomed famed Mokuhanga artist Tuula Moilanen to instruct this year’s eager participants. Mokuhanga is no paint by numbers as this process is repeated several times in order to create the print. A baren, a flat hand-held tool traditionally constructed from bamboo leaves, is pressed against the paper and the inked wood block creating an impression. Colors are then painted on the wood using brushes. The image is drawn onto a washi, Japanese paper, then glued face-down using bamboo paste. Using a set of carving tools, an image is meticulously etched into the wood block. The technique of mokuhanga creates a world in which passion and patience becomes an artform if one is to achieve their final goal. Now in its third year, the mokuhanga workshop has gained traction attracting visitors to Whitman and Walla Walla from across the country. Takemoto and Hara used part of those funds to create a mokuhanga workshop in Olin Hall. The exhibit also caught the attention of the Ministry of Education in Japan who granted Takemoto funds to develop a woodblock center. The Abstract American Mokuhanga exhibit received positive reviews from art press in NYC, Japan and Europe. “And what we wanted to do is say ‘Yes, that’s what happened in the Edo period, but it didn’t stop.’” “We thought normally when people hear the word woodblock print, all they think about is the pictures of the floating world that come out of the Edo period,” he said. In 2014, Takemoto and Keiko Hara, professor of art emerita, produced Whitman’s first ever Mokuhanga exhibit in the Sheehan Gallery. “You can’t cut out woodblock prints from this entire history of Japanese aesthetics,” Takemoto said, “Japanese aesthetics is layered so there is so many ideas that are coming along, but you can see how they are connected.” Although used as a medium to print sutra texts and then secular books, Mokuhanga was also used to produce art. Before that woodblock printing was used for centuries in China. Mokuhanga was first brought to Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868). He earned his tea serving teaching certificate in 1982 and designed the Chikurakken tea room at Whitman in 2009.Īfter 30 years at Whitman, Takemoto discovered another way to share his knowledge of Japanese culture. His zeal led him to study the art of chanoyu (tea serving) in 1975. Takemoto has framed his life around this principle, sharing his passion for Japanese literature, art and aesthetics with students and anyone interested in understanding more about Japanese culture. Ikigai, 生き甲斐, is the Japanese term for a reason to get up in the morning – a passion, a purpose, something one lives for.Īssociate professor Akira R.
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