IMC 2024 Echizen submission

This print was selected for the Oceania regional exhibition at the Fifth International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC 2024) held in Echizen, Japan. Echizen, in Fukui Prefecture, is one of the historic centers of Japanese [washi](/glossary/washi) production, and the conference foregrounded the relationship between paper, pigment, and carved block that defines mokuhanga as a medium. As a juried submission, the work would have been produced using the core mokuhanga toolkit: hand-carved cherry or shina blocks, water-based pigments mixed with nori paste, and impressions taken with a [baren](/glossary/baren) onto dampened washi. Contemporary mokuhanga submissions to IMC exhibitions typically emphasize the technical possibilities of [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradients, layered transparent registrations using the [kento](/glossary/kento) system, and the tactile surface that hand-printing yields rather than the flat color fields associated with mechanical reproduction. Schlumbom's selection here followed her earlier inclusion in the IMC 2021 Nara juried exhibition, marking sustained engagement with the international mokuhanga community across multiple conference cycles and situating her practice within the growing Oceanian network connected through the International Mokuhanga Association.