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 and the London College of Bookbinding, 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 100% kozo paper, using numerous individually hand-carved blocks of white Russian birch 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. Prints such as 'Winter Courtyard Shadows' (2021), a multi-block mokuhanga with gold leaf measuring 76 by 56 centimeters, and 'Basho's Winter Garden' (2021), a diptych at 75 by 100 centimeters incorporating woodblock and gold leaf, demonstrate her ability to unite precision and poetry. 'Defining the Edge' (2021), a panoramic multi-block woodcut measuring 48 by 172 centimeters, showcases her ambition to push mokuhanga into monumental scales.

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 conducts summer schools at The Australian Print Workshop in Melbourne. 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 steel or Delrin balls to create even pressure, now distributed internationally through Washi Arts. She received the Keiko Kadota Print Award in 2017 and exhibited at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen.