alarm spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

"Alarm" extends Spitzack's mokuhanga practice into contemporary subject matter, the title suggesting either a depicted alarm—a clock, a siren, a warning device—or a more figurative state of alertness. Contemporary American mokuhanga artists have frequently used the medium, with its associations of meditative slowness and traditional craft, to address urgent or anxious modern themes, creating productive tension between the physical pace of production and the immediacy of subject. Spitzack works in his Seattle studio with the traditional water-based process: hand-cut blocks, pigment mixed with nori paste, [washi](/glossary/washi) dampened to receptive moisture, [baren](/glossary/baren)-burnished impressions registered through [kento](/glossary/kento) marks. His recognition at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen confirmed his standing within the international community of practitioners. "Alarm" sits within his wider body of work that uses the centuries-old technique to address present-tense concerns, demonstrating that mokuhanga remains a viable medium for new image-making rather than a heritage craft.