Benjamin Selby

Benjamin Selby is an American artist working in mokuhanga, serigraphy, and installation, based in Walla Walla, Washington. His innovative approach to Japanese woodblock printing — using laser engraving rather than traditional hand carving — places him at the intersection of digital fabrication and centuries-old printmaking tradition.

Selby grew up in Texas and earned a BFA in studio art from West Texas A&M University before completing an MFA in printmaking at Arizona State University. As an undergraduate in 2018, he made a three-month trip to Japan — studying at Richard Steiner's Kyoto International Mokuhanga School — that proved pivotal, inspiring him to learn mokuhanga. The technique became central to his artistic practice, though his method is distinctly contemporary. During a period of creative block, Selby was inspired by a wooden cabinet he had designed using a laser engraver, leading him to develop a technique in which he creates his woodblocks through laser engraving rather than the traditional method of hand carving with gouges. This approach allows him to achieve a level of detail and precision that would be difficult to produce by hand, while still employing the traditional water-based printing methods that define mokuhanga.

Selby is embedded in the mokuhanga community through his role as an Advisory Board Member at the Mokuhanga Project Space in Walla Walla, a center for international exchange in Japanese woodblock printing anchored by the artist Keiko Hara. He took part in the Space's 2024 summer residency alongside artists such as Mike Lyon and Vicky Takamori. His work has been shown at the International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara (2021) and at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference exhibition in Echizen, Japan, and he is listed on the Mokuhanga Magic Mokumap directory.