Untitled

This untitled print belongs to Karen Pittman's mokuhanga practice and is produced using the Japanese water-based woodblock technique. The method begins with carved blocks — historically of yamazakura (mountain cherry), now often shina plywood — to which pigment thinned with water and rice paste is applied with a hake brush before being transferred to dampened [washi](/glossary/washi) by hand pressure with a [baren](/glossary/baren). The technique permits effects unavailable in oil-based relief printing, including [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) (graduated tonal shifts produced by wiping pigment across the block before printing), [gomazuri](/glossary/gomazuri) (a speckled, partially inked surface), and kira-zuri (mica embellishment). Without a title indicating a specific subject, the image invites reading as a study of these technical possibilities. Pittman's inclusion in the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference Americas exhibition reflects the ongoing institutional support for non-Japanese practitioners of the medium, organized around the triennial conferences first held in Kyoto and Awaji in 2011.