Roslyn Kean

Roslyn Kean is one of Australia's most respected and internationally recognized mokuhanga practitioners, with nearly four decades of dedication to traditional Japanese watercolor woodblock printing. Born in Sydney in 1950, she studied fine arts at the National Art School and Shillito Design School in Sydney before pursuing postgraduate studies in printmaking at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, building a strong foundation in Western print traditions.

The decisive turn in Kean's career came in 1985, when she was awarded a research scholarship by the Japanese Government to study in the Printmaking Department at the National University of Fine Art in Tokyo. Already in her early thirties, she was, in her own words, 'completely seduced by traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking.' This immersion in mokuhanga became the defining commitment of her artistic life. Now, nearly forty years later, she is revered by her peers as an outstanding print artist, an inspirational teacher, and a sage of the medium.

Kean's prints are complex multi-block works on handmade kozo paper, using numerous individually hand-carved woodblocks that are inked, printed, and layered with exacting registration. Her compositions bring together a passion for geometry and color with the organic qualities of natural materials, producing works of striking visual complexity.

Beyond her studio practice, Kean has made significant contributions to mokuhanga pedagogy and innovation. She is the director of The Stables Print Studio in Galston, New South Wales, where she works and offers studio days to share her skills. She teaches at The Workshop Arts Centre in Willoughby and has conducted master classes at printmaking studios and universities across Australia and in the United Kingdom. Her Mokuhanga DVD Masterclass, published through Washi Arts, has made her teaching accessible internationally. Perhaps her most tangible innovation is the Kean Ball Bearing Baren (KBB Baren), a reinvention of the traditional Japanese hand printing tool that uses precision-engineered ball bearings to create even pressure, now distributed internationally through Washi Arts. She received a Keiko Kadota Award for excellence in mokuhanga at the 2017 International Mokuhanga Conference in Hawaii and exhibited at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen.