Biography
Charles Spitzack is an American mokuhanga artist who has distinguished himself through both his creative work and his recognition within the international mokuhanga community. Based in the United States, he received the Kobaien Prize at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen, Japan, placing him among the artists whose work was singled out for recognition at the conference's international juried exhibition.
Spitzack's engagement with mokuhanga situates him within a growing American movement that has embraced Japanese water-based woodblock printing as a serious contemporary medium. Unlike many Western printmakers who encounter mokuhanga through brief workshops or academic introductions, Spitzack has developed a sustained practice that demonstrates deep familiarity with the technique's material demands. Water-based woodblock printing requires an understanding of wood grain behavior, moisture management, pigment preparation, and the nuanced hand pressure applied through the baren -- knowledge that accumulates through years of dedicated practice.
His award at the 2024 IMC in Echizen was particularly meaningful given the conference's location. Echizen, in Fukui Prefecture, is one of Japan's most historically important papermaking regions, where washi has been produced for over 1,500 years. The conference's setting in this landscape of living craft tradition provided a resonant context for the exhibition and award ceremony, connecting contemporary international practitioners with the deep material roots of the medium they have adopted.
The conference's juried exhibition, in which Spitzack's work appeared, showcased the breadth and depth of contemporary mokuhanga practice from around the world, including a substantial contingent of artists from across the Americas. That community has grown considerably since the first International Mokuhanga Conference in 2011, reflecting the establishment of mokuhanga workshops, study groups, and teaching programs across the United States.
Spitzack's work contributes to the ongoing dialogue between Eastern and Western approaches to printmaking that defines contemporary mokuhanga. His prints reflect both the technical precision of the traditional Japanese process and the visual sensibilities of an artist shaped by Western art education and cultural context, creating work that belongs fully to neither tradition alone but to the emerging international language of contemporary woodblock printing.
The recognition he received at the 2024 conference underscores the maturity of the American mokuhanga community, which has progressed from early tentative engagements with the technique to producing work that can stand alongside pieces from Japan and from other countries with longer histories of mokuhanga practice. Spitzack's award represents not only personal achievement but the broader coming of age of water-based woodblock printing in the United States.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇺🇸United States
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 117
Frequently Asked Questions
Charles Spitzack is an American mokuhanga artist who has distinguished himself through both his creative work and his recognition within the international mokuhanga community. Based in the United States, he received the Kobaien Prize at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen, Japan, placing him among the artists whose work was singled out for recognition at the conference's international juried exhibition.
Charles Spitzack's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Charles Spitzack's prints frequently feature trees, birds & flowers, seascapes, boats & ships, moonlight, cats.
Woodblock Prints by Charles Spitzack (117)
A musical note with a rainbow-colored tail and a black circle at the bottom, labeled 'Dead Weight/A.P 2016'.
Colorful illustration of a house with a closed gate in front, surrounded by colorful trees and greenery, with a pathway leading to the house. Handwritten text at the bottom reads 'Restricted' 1/20 2016 Spitzack.
seattle 2020 skycraper spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art
Expanded Egg #2
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
2023 spitzack stay flexible woodcut woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist print printmaking palm tree mountain ocean waves
2024 spitzack barbara dead or alive vitos cat cougar woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack Extraterrestrial dreaming woodcut woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist print printmaking
2024 spitzack nw hiking fantasies train bridge mountain woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack fort worden tree study woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack fort worden tree study madrone madrona Arbutus menziesii woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack fort worden butterfly cosmos flower blooming fly bug woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack satisfaction guaranteed cat fish woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 charles spitzack back to earth rock broken glass woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack walla walla wa wine wheat fields silo woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 charles spitzack merican cheese america the dollar money prayer flag emoji woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack open doors woodcut woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist print printmaking
2024 spitzack fort worden tree study woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino
2024 spitzack port townsend tree study woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack fort a parrot with a proposal flower woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
2024 spitzack dodo bird imposter woodcut woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist print printmaking
2024 charles spitzack the moon liz the moon woodcut print woodblock mokuhanga seattle art artist relief printmaking lino linocut
pondo 2025 ponderosa pine woodcut print woodblock printmaker charles spitzack tree mokuhanga shina plywood seattle art artist fine art contemporary
summer palace 2025 dry dock sailboat sail boat print fine art seattle port townsend charles spitzack pnw artist printmaker woodcut woodblock mokuhanga
