Woven Water

Woven Water translates the fluid, undulating movement of a river or lake surface into a structured visual pattern that evokes textile construction. The title's metaphor positions water as something made rather than found — a surface organized by crossing forces of current, wind, and light. In this mokuhanga print on washi, Norman likely builds the composition through repeated directional marks or interlocking color passages that suggest rhythm and interval, using the grain of the woodblock to generate the textured, directional quality inherent to weaving. The washi substrate reinforces the textile metaphor materially, as handmade Japanese paper is itself a woven or laid fiber structure. The work sits at the intersection of process-based abstraction and observed nature that characterizes Norman's broader practice.