think tank capitol building washington state wa dc woodcut print by artist charles spitzack woodblock and mokuhanga printmaker Japanese wood block print printmaking washi seattle fine art pnw nw relief prints color contemporary artist seattle print a

A second print engaging civic imagery, depicting a capitol building under the title 'think tank.' The composition isolates governmental architecture as subject, treated through the flat, graphic conventions that mokuhanga's water-based pigments and [baren](/glossary/baren)-printed [washi](/glossary/washi) support. Architectural subjects in Japanese woodblock are most often associated with the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition of famous places—shrines, castles, and bridges treated as both topographic record and aesthetic icon. Spitzack adapts this tradition to American civic landmarks, making the capitol function as a meisho for a different national context. The repeated treatment of capitol architecture across Spitzack's 2025 output suggests an ongoing series engaging American political institutions through Japanese woodblock conventions. As a contemporary American mokuhanga work, the piece extends the medium's subject range while preserving its technical foundations: hand-cut blocks, water-based pigment, and baren-printed washi that retains the fibrous surface differentiating mokuhanga from oil-based Western relief printing.