Untitled

This second untitled print in Pittman's group continues her exploration of the water-based woodblock idiom. The mokuhanga process requires multiple blocks — typically one for each color or tonal area — printed in sequence using kentō registration marks carved into the corners of each block. Each impression is pulled by hand with a [baren](/glossary/baren), the disc-shaped tool wrapped in a bamboo sheath that distributes pressure across the paper. The resulting prints carry a tactile relationship to their making that distinguishes them from mechanical or photomechanical reproduction. Pittman's work, exhibited at the 2024 IMC Americas show in Echizen — a city historically associated with the production of fine [washi](/glossary/washi) — participates in a contemporary movement that has extended mokuhanga beyond its Edo-period roots in [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) while preserving the core technical commitments to water-based pigment, hand-cut blocks, and absorbent paper.