Lynita Shimizu

Lynita Shimizu is an American mokuhanga artist who has been creating woodcuts using traditional Japanese techniques since the mid-1970s. Born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, she graduated with a Fine Arts major from Westminster College in 1974. During her senior year she became captivated by Asian art, which led her to spend a year at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Drawn to the artistry of Japanese woodblock prints, Shimizu moved to Japan to study mokuhanga. She began in the Kyoto atelier of the traditional master Tomikichiro Tokuriki and later worked in Tokyo with the contemporary printmaker Yoshisuke Funasaka, with whom she has remained in contact. During her years in Japan she married, and she and her husband later moved to the United States, where they raised three sons.

Shimizu is a nature enthusiast who often finds inspiration during extensive hikes, translating her experiences of the natural world into woodblock prints. Her interpretation of nature does not aim for literal realism but rather seeks to capture the essence and spirit of the landscapes she encounters. She lives in Pomfret, Connecticut, where in addition to printmaking she enjoys gardening, hiking, and playing piano.

Her work is held in the Lyon Collection, a major reference collection of Japanese woodblock prints, and she has taken part in the International Mokuhanga Conferences held in Nara (2021) and Echizen (2024).