Untitled

An untitled mokuhanga work produced within Townsend's contemporary woodblock practice. Untitled prints in the mokuhanga tradition often allow the artist to foreground formal concerns—color relationships, layered transparencies, the registration of multiple blocks ([kento](/glossary/kento))—without directing the viewer toward a specific narrative reading. The technique involves carving images into wood blocks, typically cherry or shina, inking them with water-based pigments mixed with nori, and pressing them onto dampened [washi](/glossary/washi) using a [baren](/glossary/baren). The water-based approach yields softer saturation than oil-based Western relief printing, with characteristic transparency where overlapping impressions build compound hues, and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations achieved by brushing pigment unevenly across the block before printing. As a member of the IMA artist network and an IMC 2024 exhibitor, Townsend's untitled works contribute to the contemporary dialogue around mokuhanga as both heritage craft and current studio medium, particularly within the expanding circle of practitioners based in the United States.