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](/glossary/washi) paper, and the [baren](/glossary/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](/glossary/kozo)-fiber paper, the layered transparency achievable with multiple impressions, and the soft tonal gradations produced by [bokashi](/glossary/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](/glossary/ukiyo-e) canon while preserving its physical processes.