Junko Ishikawa

Junko Ishikawa (born 1961, Saitama Prefecture) is a Japanese printmaker working principally in lithography, with a sustained practice based in Saitama. Her selection in the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025 with 'life-III,' a substantial 96 × 70 cm lithograph, places her within the established cohort of mid-career to senior Japanese lithographic artists circulating through the principal Tokyo-area juried exhibition channels in the mid-2020s.

Ishikawa trained at Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College and Musashino Art University Correspondence Education Course. Joshibi (officially Joshibi University of Art and Design) is the principal Japanese women's art university, founded in 1900 and a major training ground for Japanese women printmakers across the twentieth century. The Musashino correspondence track is a distinct continuing-education pathway that allows working artists to pursue printmaking education while maintaining other commitments — a particularly common track for women in Japanese print whose careers are frequently interrupted by family responsibilities.

Ishikawa's teachers include Matsushima Junko and Komori Takuki, two senior figures in the Japanese printmaking education system. The Matsushima Junko lineage in particular runs through several of Ishikawa's contemporaries in the CWAJ-circulating women's print cohort, suggesting that her technical formation followed a recognizable Joshibi/Musashino-printmaking pathway.

Ishikawa is a member of the Haruyokai (春陽会), one of Japan's principal independent art associations and a long-running organizational alternative to the official Nitten salon system. The Haruyokai was founded in 1922 by Kishida Ryusei and other secessionist artists from the Nika-kai, and its annual exhibitions have been an important showcase for both painting and printmaking across more than a century. Membership is competitive and Ishikawa's affiliation with the group confirms her status as an established working artist within the independent-association track.

The substantial 96 × 70 cm sheet size of 'life-III' is at the upper end of lithographic practice — a large stone or aluminum plate requiring substantial press capacity. The 'life' series numbering (life-III implies at least two prior installments) suggests a sustained thematic project rather than a one-off composition. The CWAJ catalog placed 'life-III' in the 68th edition's 2025 selection.

Further biographical detail beyond the CWAJ Print Show entry — Ishikawa's broader exhibition history, Haruyokai exhibition record, museum holdings, and earlier installments of the 'life' series — is not currently surfaced through the public-facing English-language channels. The Haruyokai member directory and Saitama-area exhibition records would be the principal next-step research targets for extending this bio.