Laura Boswell ARE – Printmaker

Amateur Night

In 2014 there will be an international conference for artists working in Japanese woodblock. It’ll be in Toyko and I hope perhaps to deliver a paper there on the subject of my students and their response to learning the technique with me in the UK.

I have yet to write an application and, far more important, work out if I can afford the cost and time to get there. In the meantime here’s a few thoughts about those of you who have dipped your toes in the traditions of watercolour woodblock and why you play such an important part in saving this beautiful printing method from going the way of the dodo.

Keiko Kadota is an extraordinary woman: she organises and runs residencies, like this one I am currently attending, to teach Western artists the skills and techniques of traditional Japanese woodblock through the organisation Mi-Lab. In addition she has been battling for years to support the craftspeople responsible for producing cutting tools, printing brushes and paper. She faces an uphill task: traditional Japanese woodblock is seen in Japan through a haze of nostalgia as a largely historic process. Tool makers are veering away from traditional tool forms to Westernised handles and shapes, impractical for the cutting of traditional blocks. Brush makers are finding sales dwindling. Paper makers need a whole blog in themselves – so more on that difficult subject later. On the whole the outlook is not great here and if it weren’t for Keiko and her residencies and conference, it would be so much worse…

That’s where you come in: all those of you who want to learn and at all levels. Every single student from the expert printmakers wanting to add a new skill to their repertoire to the out and out amateur who has never printed before helps to promote the process and create demand.

Laura Teaching
Laura teaching a group in Wolverhampton
If I do get back to Japan and face the esteemed audience of academics and contemporary artists, I’m going to be pushing for the recognition of the Christmas card makers, the recipients of the unexpected class as a birthday surprise, the beginners and the unsure. You may just save the day for us professionals!

Author: Laura

Laura Boswell is a printmaker working exclusively with linocut and traditional Japanese woodblock printing. She has a degree in Art History/Visual Art from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and has been elected to the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers.

4 thoughts on “Amateur Night”

  1. This old crafts are very important to save. These skills have taken many, many years to perfect and are now used by many artists in a contemporary way. Please do not abandon them.

  2. I’m 55 now and I have just started on my woodblock printing journey thanks to Laura and I find it strange to think that there is even a need for a discussion like this; does traditional Japanese theater no longer exist? Have they done away with the sport of Sumo? Do they no longer eat rice? I think the answer to all of these questions is no; there is a definite place for all things traditional in Japan but maybe they just need to be reminded from time to time how rich there heritage is and how well it sits alongside the modern world.
    There are so many youngsters out there that I know love reading manga novels and watching anime films. Where would they be now if it wasn’t for the history and heritage that preceded them. If tradition is lost then there will be no foundation for the development of any art and this would mean that the work of Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Kurosawa would be rendered meaningless.

  3. I see from the Mokuhanga Conference website that you are indeed to present your paper at the conference Laura – how exciting. I’m delighted to have been selected to send an artist’s book for exhibition at the same International Mokuhanga Conference – not woodblock prints but linocuts.
    I very much enjoyed both the days I spent with you learning about woodblock printing. How lovely that two artists from Buckinghamshire will be represented in Tokyo!

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