Biography
Kate MacDonagh is an Irish abstract artist born in Sligo and currently living and working in Dublin, whose practice in mokuhanga and watercolor painting explores dualities of light and dark, scale and ephemerality, stillness and movement, the spectral and the material. Her ethereal mokuhanga prints, working through color and shape to create abstract compositions that engage and attract, have established her as one of Ireland's most accomplished practitioners of Japanese woodblock printing.
MacDonagh studied at the Limerick School of Art and Design, Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid, the Bob Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York, and at MI-LAB, the Fujikawaguchiko Studio in Japan. This international training -- spanning Irish, Spanish, American, and Japanese traditions -- has given her a uniquely cosmopolitan perspective on printmaking, with mokuhanga becoming her primary focus after spending extended time in Japan over several years.
Her work is characterized by a refined minimalism in which subtle gradations of color and tone create atmospheric fields that suggest natural phenomena -- light filtering through water, the shift between day and night, the quality of air at different times. Series such as "Vert," "Blue," "Echoes," "Cadence," "Indigo Moon," and "Dark Light" demonstrate her exploration of color as a vehicle for emotional and perceptual experience. Her "Moving Still" series captures the paradox of frozen movement, while "Borderless" -- a 252-centimeter mokuhanga emakimono scroll on Pansion paper -- extends the format of the traditional Japanese handscroll into contemporary abstract territory.
MacDonagh is a member of the Graphic Studio Dublin, where she has served on the Board of Directors since 2019. She is also a member of the Mokuhanga Sisters collective. Her work is held in public and private collections across Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, the United States, and Japan. She has received numerous artist residencies including The Model Art Centre in Sligo, MI-Lab in Japan, Colony of Painters in Islake, Slovenia, and Cill Rialaig Artists' Retreat in Kerry, Ireland. She teaches mokuhanga workshops at Graphic Studio Dublin and The Model in Sligo, and has exhibited at the International Mokuhanga Conference in Nara (2021) and the IMC 2024 Europe exhibition.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1964
- Nationality
- 🇮🇪Ireland
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 12
Frequently Asked Questions
Kate MacDonagh is an Irish abstract artist born in Sligo and currently living and working in Dublin, whose practice in mokuhanga and watercolor painting explores dualities of light and dark, scale and ephemerality, stillness and movement, the spectral and the material. Her ethereal mokuhanga prints, working through color and shape to create abstract compositions that engage and attract, have established her as one of Ireland's most accomplished practitioners of Japanese woodblock printing.
Kate MacDonagh was active born in 1964. They were associated with the Contemporary Mokuhanga movement.
Kate MacDonagh'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.
Kate MacDonagh's prints frequently feature abstract, washi.
Kate MacDonagh is a contemporary printmaker working in the mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock) tradition. Their work contributes to the living tradition of Japanese woodblock printing. Prices for contemporary mokuhanga prints range from $100 for smaller works to $1,500 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $180–$600 range. The global mokuhanga community has been growing, with increasing exhibition opportunities and collector interest. Contemporary mokuhanga represents an affordable entry point for collectors.
