this is the way spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art

The title This Is the Way suggests a print organized around a path, road, or directional element — a compositional convention with deep roots in Japanese landscape printmaking, where roads structured many meisho-e series including Hiroshige's Tōkaidō. Whether Spitzack engages this lineage directly or treats the title more philosophically, the work belongs to a contemporary American mokuhanga vocabulary that draws on Japanese formal language while addressing different subjects. The mokuhanga technique allows for the soft atmospheric effects that distinguish Japanese landscape printing from Western lithography or etching: gradient skies achieved through bokashi, color fields whose registration shows the slight imperfections of hand-burnishing with a baren. The print is part of the body of work that earned Spitzack recognition at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference in Echizen, where his sustained engagement with the medium was acknowledged among hundreds of international submissions.