Linda J. Beeman - Printmaker: Sacred Places

In this world of mokuhanga, there are artists whose passion and dedication to the art form comes not only from their work, but from how they see the medium itself. Linda J Beeman is a Michigan based mokuhanga printmaker who desires to explore nature, its conservation, its power through colour, its meaning, and aesthetic. Linda's work takes the viewer to an existing place, which when allowed in, soothes and calms, enveloped by the sacred.

On this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak with Linda J. Beeman about her world, natural and artistic, how she got involved with mokuhanga, how she views her audience, her style. We discuss her time at MI Lab, and her love of artist-in-residence programs in the United States. Linda also speak on her process, her tools, and why mokuhanga is such a big part of her life. 

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.

Linda J. Beeman - website, Instagram, Facebook. 

Aurora Borealis (2022)

Dundas Valley School of Art - is a multi disciplinary art school located in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, which is a suburb of Hamilton. Founded in 1964 by Marion Farnan and Emily Dutton, the DVSA has evolved into a modern, and chic art space, providing accessible and affordable art education for all.

 

Tuula Moilanen - is a Finnish mokuhanga printmaker and painter based in Finland. She lived and studied in Kyōto from 1989-2012,  where she learned her printmaking at Kyōto Seika University and from printmaker Akira Kurosaki (1937-2019). Her work can be found, here.

Urban Holiday (2016)

 

David Bull's “Baren Forum”  - was an early mokuhanga forum for printmakers which can still be found, here. It’s chock full of information for printmakers of all levels.

 

Mary Brodbeck - is a mokuhanga printmaker, based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She has been producing mokuhanga for nearly 25 years. Her work refelcts nature, and the power it contains. 

Remnants

 

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.  

 

hanshita - is a thin sheet of gampi paper that is pasted, reverse side, on a piece of wood. This is a guide, carved onto the block and is generally used for the key block and subsequent colour blocks. Methods such as acetate with water based pigment, can also be used rather than the thin gampi paper, which can cause misregistration if not pasted correctly.

 

Petrified Forest National Park - is a national park located in northeastern Arizona, on what is called the Colorado Plateau. The Plateau connects the American States of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. Petrified Forest National Park is famous for early traces of human civilization through archeology and fossils, as well as an abundance of nature and natural formations. More info can be found, here, and here. 

 

The Great Lakes -  are a series of lakes which are connecte to one another. They are located in North America. The lakes are; Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. The lakes connect to the Atlantic Ocean, and through various rivers and other tributaries. 

 

MI Lab - is a mokuhanga residency located in Kawaguchi-ko, near Mount Fuji. More info can be found, here. 

 

Keiko Kadota (1942-2017) - was the director of Nagasawa Art Park at Awaji City from 1997-2011, and then of MI Lab at Lake Kawaguchi from 2011 until her passing.

 

shin hanga - is a style of Japanese woodblock printmaking which began during the end of the Ukiyo-e period of Japanese printmaking, in the early 20th Century. Focusing on the foreign demand for “traditional” Japanese imagery and motifs such as castles, bridges, famous landscapes, bamboo forests, to name just a few.  Shin hanga was born in 1915 by Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962) when he found Austrian artist Frtiz Capelari (1884-1950) and commissioned Capelari to design some prints for Watanabe's feldgling printing house . From there shin-hanga evolved into its own distinct “new” style of Japanese woodblock printing. It lasted as this distinct style until its innevitable decline after the Second World War (1939-1945).

 

sōsaku-hanga - or creative prints, is a style of printmaking which is predominantly, although not exclusively, prints made by one person. It started in the early twentieth century in Japan, in the same period as the shin-hanga movement. The artist designs, carves, and prints their own works. The designs, especially in the early days, may seem rudimentary but the creation of self made prints was a breakthrough for printmakers beginning to move away from where only a select group of carvers, printers and publishers created woodblock prints. 

 

Watanabe Shōzaburō [渡辺 庄三郎] (1885-1962) - was the catalyst of the new print movement (shin-hanga) in the Japan of the early 20th Century. He assembled printers, designers, and carvers to re-create the now dead,  ukiyo-e style, of woodblock prints in Japan. Watanabe also welcomed "foreign" artists to design prints, such as Charles Bartlett (1860-1940). His relationship with many of Japan's future woodblock stars, such as Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950), and Hasui Kawase (1883-1957) established a mokuhanga style that has been emulated ever since.

 

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park - found in Ontanagan, Michigan, USA. This state park has 35,000 acres of old growth forest, watefalls and abundant nature, on Lake Superior. The artist in residence perogram information can be found, here. 

 

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park -is an active volcano site, and a UNESCO Heirtage Site. With public tours, a rugged landscape made up of lava rock, as well as incredible biodiversity, the HLNPH is a wonderful way to visit Hawai’i. Their artist in residence program can be found, here.

 

American National Parks -  are a series of public parks that are federally run. Since 1916, the National Park Service has overseen the national parks in the United States. 

 

National Parks Art Foundation - is a foundatoin that offers artist in residence programs as well as other artist focused programs within the National Parks Service, heritage sites, and National monuments. More info can be found, here. 

 

petroglyphs - are a type of rock art where the rock is marked by abrasion, carving, or picking. Generally associated with humans living 10,000-12,000 years ago, and are found all over the planet except in Antarctica.

 

Rebecca Salter - is the President of The Royal Academy of Arts, in London, England. She is also an artist who has written two books about Japanese woodblock printing, Japanese Woodblock Printing (2001), and Japanese Popular Prints (2006). She worked with the Satō Woodblock Print Workshop, documenting their process. Her interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here. 

 

Aurora 1 (2014)

 

Satō woodblock workshop - is a traditional Japanese woodblock production house based in Kyōto, Japan. Here is an article from The Journal of Modern Craft with Rebecca Salter regarding this workshop. 

 

Michigan Artist and Culture Grants - are grants that are given to the citizens of Michigan who want to promote the arts within their communities. There are many avenues for application, so please look into your area of Michigan, perhaps there will be a grant program for you. Here is a link for the Michigan Arts and Council Grants, to get you started. 

 

Winsor & Newton - is a British artist supply company, started in 1832,  which sells artist materials such as pigments, brushes, paper, etc. More info can be found, here. 

 

Paul Furneaux - is a Scottish mokuhanga artist based in Edinburgh, Scotland. He makes abstract mokuhanga, mixed with wood and other mediums. 

 

Lukas water colours - Lukas is an artist supply company founded in 1862, in Düsseldorf, Germany. They produce the Aquarell 1862 Water-colour which Linda describes in her interview. More info can be found, here.

 

Jerry’s Artarama - originally founded in 1968 Long Island, New York, and now based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jerry’s Artarama sells various art supplies at reasonable princes. More info, here. 

Dick Blick Art Supplies - is an art supply store with various brick and mortar stores throughout the United States, as well as online. Founded in 1911 by Dick Blick in Galesburg, Illinois, BLICK, as it’s more commonly known, sells various types of art supplies, much like Jerry’s Artarama. More info, here.

shina - is a type of wood used in mokuhanga. It is part of the linden family of trees. This wood is produced in various parts of the world, such as Japan and Russia. Not all shina is created equal so buyer beware.

Center for Contemporary Printmaking - founded by Grace and William Shanly in 1995. Orginally called The Connecticut Graphic Arts Center, it is a non-profit which, as its aim, is to increase the publics knowledge of orignal printmaking. 

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. 

* Production  note  - Linda says “last summer,” when discussing her last workshop. That “summer” was the summer of 2021. 

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***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***