An Ode

Printed in 1988, An Ode uses the woodblock medium to create what reads as a tribute or lyrical address, the title borrowing from literary tradition. Shinoda was seventy-five when she made this print, working at a point where her command of sumi ink and woodblock carving had been refined over more than five decades. The forms carry a gravity that balances gestural freedom with considered placement. Each mark holds its position on the paper with the confidence of long practice, the ode expressed not through words but through the cadence and spacing of printed ink.