Untitled

This untitled woodblock print by Karen Pittman is executed in mokuhanga, the Japanese water-based relief technique that distinguishes itself from Western printmaking through its use of pigments bound with rice paste (nori) and water rather than oil inks. Printed by hand with a [baren](/glossary/baren) — a coiled bamboo-sheath disc pressed against the verso of dampened washi — the medium produces characteristically soft pigment edges and absorbed color that sits within the paper fiber rather than on its surface. Without an assigned title, the work directs attention to qualities native to the process: subtle pressure variations from the printer's hand, the matte surface of unsized or lightly sized washi, and the registration of multiple blocks against carved [kento](/glossary/kento) marks. As part of Pittman's broader practice presented at the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference Americas exhibition in Echizen, it situates her among North American printmakers maintaining the technical lineage of the Edo-period workshop tradition while applying its methods outside the historical genres of [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga), [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e), or [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e).