Slow Rise

The title evokes measured upward movement — a vertical structure to which mokuhanga's [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradient is well suited. A graduated transition rising from saturation to clarity is among the technique's resources, produced by wet-on-wet color blending with the [baren](/glossary/baren) on damp [washi](/glossary/washi). Jung's plant-based dyes give such a gradient a depth particular to natural colorants. Over this ground she layers silkscreened and intaglio elements whose harder edges register against the underlying field. The interplay of slow vertical movement in the gradient below with more emphatic graphic marks above is characteristic of her recent cross-medium practice. Slow Rise reflects the orientation of Jung's studio work over the past decade toward mokuhanga and plant-based pigment, alongside her teaching of relief, intaglio, silkscreen, and mokuhanga at the University of Iowa. Her recent prints have been recognized at Japanese international print biennials, where her active engagement with the Japanese woodblock tradition from a U.S. printmaking faculty position places her among a small number of American practitioners.