IMC 2024 Echizen submission

The International Mokuhanga Conference holds a juried exhibition each triennial cycle, and the 2024 edition in Echizen — a region historically tied to [washi](/glossary/washi) papermaking — featured regional sections including the Americas exhibition where Guetschow's work was shown. Submissions to the IMC juried show are typically modest in scale, often oban or smaller, and demonstrate proficiency in the traditional water-based woodblock process: hand-rubbed impressions pulled with a [baren](/glossary/baren), pigments suspended in nori paste and mixed directly on the block, and registration via [kento](/glossary/kento) marks carved into each plate. Contemporary mokuhanga selected for the IMC tends toward abstraction or personal subject matter rather than the historical [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) genres, though many practitioners incorporate [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations and multi-block layered impressions that reference the technical vocabulary of Edo and Meiji period printmaking. Guetschow's selection placed her work alongside other North American practitioners in a venue that anchors the contemporary international mokuhanga community to its Japanese geographic origins, and situates her within the United States contingent of artists sustaining the medium outside its country of origin.