![]() Although she had studied Japanese painting before, one of the draws of taking part in this workshop was the opportunity to learn from Moilanen. After breakfast, the participants would get hands-on instruction from Moilanen and spend the day working on their print.įor many of the 15 workshop participants this was their first time trying mokuhanga, like Emily Clanton, a painter and mixed media artist from South Carolina. and Pennsylvania, and as close as Walla Walla and Seattle.Įach morning of the June workshop began in the Chikurakken tea room. Participants for the 2018 workshop came from as far away as North Carolina, Washington, D.C. But you can see how all the work in the gallery echo each other in terms of ideas, in terms of techniques, and that’s what I’m interested in.” “It’s just a window into Japanese culture, Japanese aesthetics,” Takemoto said. The exhibit also included work created during the 20 mokuhanga workshops. As part of the workshop, Hara and Takemoto curated the exhibit “Hooves on the Move” in the Sheehan Gallery, which featured Moilanen’s prints along with work by participants of previous workshops, and prints by Yoshida Hiroshi that were gifted to Whitman College in 1960 by Alice Tompkins Fee. She moved back to her native Finland in 2012. Moilanen lived in Kyoto, Japan, for over 20 years and is known around the world as an expert in mokuhanga. Mokuhanga artist Tuula Moilanen came to Walla Walla to introduce basic woodblock print skills to the 2018 summer work-shop participants. The process is repeated several times in order to create the print. The artist uses a flat hand-held tool called a baren, which is traditionally constructed from bamboo leaves, to press the paper and inked wood block creating an impression. Then the washi is glued to the wood carving using a bamboo glue. The artist then paints the wood carving with the first layer of colored ink. The image is drawn onto washi, a type of Japanese paper. Using a set of carving tools, the image is meticulously etched into the wood block. With mokuhanga, passion and patience becomes an art form in itself. The weeklong 2018 workshop attracted artists and enthusiasts to Whitman and Walla Walla from across the country. In 2016, they invited master carver Shōichi Kitamura from Kyoto to teach an advanced workshop in carving and printing techniques. With the grant, Hara and Takemoto organized Whitman’s first Mokuhanga work-shop in the summer of 2015, taught by Yasu Shibata, a master printer at Pace Graphic Center in New York. ![]() The Abstract American Mokuhanga exhibit received positive reviews around the world and caught the attention of the Ministry of Education in Japan, which granted Takemoto funds to develop a woodblock center at Whitman College. “What we wanted to say was ‘Yes, the woodblock images presented the aesthetics and the sensual pleasures of the Edo period, but mokuhanga didn’t stop there.’” “Normally when people hear the word ‘woodblock print,’ they remember the pictures of the floating world - ukiyo-e - that appeared in the Edo period,” Takemoto said. Takemoto and Professor of Art Emerita Keiko Hara curated a mokuhanga exhibit in the Sheehan Gallery in 2014 to highlight how traditional Japanese woodblock prints influenced and inspired American printmakers. The method continued to be used for art even as moveable type and other forms of printmaking became more prominent. Mokuhanga was a way to print sutra texts and secular books, but also to produce art. It was a period of economic growth for Japan, known for its strict social order, an absence of war, and a zeal for arts and culture. ![]() Mokuhanga is an ancient art of woodblock printing used for centuries in China and brought to Japan during the Edo period, between 16. Now after 35 years at Whitman, Takemoto wants to introduce another aspect of Japanese art and culture: Mokuhanga. In 2009, he collaborated with architect James Stenkamp to build the Chikurakken tea room on the Whitman campus. He began learning the art of serving tea, or chanoyu, in 1978 and trained at the residence of the Grand Master of the Yabunouchi tradition of tea in Kyoto, where he received utensils and certification in 1981. Takemoto has been sharing that passion with Whitman College students and the Walla Walla community since 1983. ![]() Takemoto, his ikigai is learning about and sharing Japanese literature, art and aesthetics with his 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.įor Assistant Professor Akira R. ![]()
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