IMC 2024 Echizen submission

This print was prepared for the 2024 International Mokuhanga Conference (IMC), held in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture — a region synonymous with the production of high-grade washi used in traditional mokuhanga. Conference submission prints typically respond to a host-region theme and are exhibited collectively, with each artist working within agreed parameters of paper, format, and edition size. Without a descriptive title beyond the conference reference, the image most likely engages with Echizen itself: its papermaking heritage, the surrounding Hokuriku landscape, or motifs drawn from the kozo and gampi fibres that underpin the medium. Technically, an IMC submission of this kind would be printed on Echizen washi using water-based pigments and the baren, with registration through traditional kento marks. McKenna's contribution sits within his broader practice as director of the Karuizawa Mokuhanga School, where he trains residents in the same hand-printing techniques the IMC exists to sustain. The work reflects the conference's role as a meeting point between Japanese tradition and the international mokuhanga community that has grown around figures such as McKenna and his teacher Richard Steiner.