IMC 2024 Echizen submission

Pittman's submission to the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference Americas exhibition in Echizen represents her contribution to a juried showcase of contemporary practitioners working in the traditional water-based Japanese woodblock technique. Mokuhanga, distinguished from Western relief printing by its use of water-soluble pigments, washi paper, and the baren for hand-burnishing, has been adopted by a generation of North American printmakers who train through residencies and workshops connected to the Mokuhanga Conference network. Echizen, the host site, is itself one of the principal washi-producing regions of Japan, and works selected for IMC exhibitions typically engage with the material qualities specific to the medium: the absorbency of kozo-fiber paper, the layered transparency achievable with multiple impressions, and the soft tonal gradations produced by bokashi inking. Pittman's inclusion situates her within a global conversation about the contemporary application of an Edo-period craft tradition, where practitioners frequently use the technique to address subjects far removed from the ukiyo-e canon while preserving its physical processes.