Open Portfolio

The following artists will be presenting their work online in the Open Portfolio during the conference, and the portfolios will also be available for viewing online after the conference. We still have spaces available, if you wish to make an application.

Katie Baldwin, Linda Beeman, Annie Bissett, Marina Borodina, Laura Bortolon, Laura Boswell, Cheong Hoi I, Mara Cozzolino, Bob Douglas, William Evertson, Yvonne Hering, George Jarvis, Mariko Jesse, Roslyn Kean, Irena Keckes, Keiko Kobayashi, Karen Kunc, Mike Lyon, Kate MacDonagh, Jennifer Mack, Shahida Mansoor, Karen Helga Maurstig, Terry McKenna, Kaoru Morita, Minako Murata, Yoonmi Nam, Natasha Norman, Mia O, Hellory Maria Nella Ponte, Patricia Rougeau, Sybille Schlumbom, Lucy May Schofield, Andrew Stone, Faith Stone, Elisabet Strand, Julie Strasheim, Asuka Tsutsumi, Benoit Varaillon, April Vollmer, Carol Wilhide Justin, Yang Jie, Katsutoshi Yuasa

Submitting papers for paper presenters

The revised deadline for submission of your full paper is 30 September, 2021. The paper should be 2000 words or under.

Details on how to prepare and record your paper with images and the format for its online presentation will be sent to presenters soon. The deadline for your recorded paper will be for a date in November to be announced.

Note: Once a submission has been accepted, presenters will be required to pay the conference fee and register in order to present their paper or illustrated talk at the conference.

Artists in the Juried International Exhibition IMC2021

We are pleased to announce that prints by the following artists will feature in the Sumi-Fusion Juried International Exhibition, which will be held in Nara, and also available to see online

Ariadna Abadal Lloret, Christine Adame, John Amoss, Cameron Bailey, Katie Baldwin, Linda Beeman, Annie Bissett, Laura Bortoloni, Israel Campos, Hoi I Cheong, I.inking, Mara Cozzolino, Leah Crews, Judith Elisabeth de Haan, Manfred Egger, William Evertson, Jolanta Ewart, Zach Fields, Elizabeth Forrest, Eriko Fujita, Jane Fulton Suri, Paul Furneaux, Matthew Garcia, Michiko Hamada, Henrik Hey, Daryl Howard, Patty Hudak, Hisae Isogami, Ken Januski, George Jarvis, Mariko Jesse, Dariusz Kaca, Tomasz Kawelczyk, Ann Kavanagh, Sayaka Kawamura, Roslyn Kean, Irena Keckes, Ralph Kiggell, Jere Kilpinen, Kitayama Yamazaki, Keiko Kobayashi, Yuta Konno, Justin Larkin, Michele LeTourneur, Wai Yan Leung, Kate MacDonagh, Jacek Machowski, Jennifer Mack-Watkins, Joanne Madeley, Neil Malone, Masahiro Masuda, Karen Maurstig, Terry McKenna, Deborah Metz, Ed Miliano, Hiroyuki Mita, Ninomiya Miyuki, Shunwen Mo, Tuula Moilanen, Muntsa Molina, Kaoru Morita, Minako Murata, Yuzuru Muto, Yoonmi Nam, Florence Neal, Mia O, Walt Padgett, Nel Pak, Marilla Price, Tongji Philip Qian, Taina Rantala, Harina Räinä, Michael Reed, Chris Robertson, Pat Rougeau, Susan Rushforth, Sybille Schlumbom, Lucy May Schofield, Melissa Schulenberg, Benjamin Selby, Lynita Shimizu, Tatiana Simonova, Charles Spitzack, Richard Steiner, Faith Stone, Elisabet Alsos Strand, Julie Strasheim, Eriko Suzuki, Svetlana Swinimier, Yohei Takada, Chihiro Taki, Misa Tsuchiya, Asuka Tsutsumi, Kay Watanabe, Carol Wilhide Justin, Stephen Winiecki, Ho Ching Wong, Aleksander Woźniak, Nobuko Yamazaki, Jie Yang, Trish Yates, Katsutoshi Yuasa

Awards to the following artists

We are very pleased to announce the artists who have received awards in the 2021 Juried Exhibition, Sumi-Fusion International Mokuhanga Exhibition

  • Morita Kaoru, Japan: Washi Arts Award
  • Yoonmi Nam, USA: Keiko Kadota Award for the Advancement of Mokuhanga
  • Kawamura Sayaka, Japan: Constellation Studios Award
  • Patty Hudak, USA: Awagami Paper Award
  • Tomasz Kawelczyk, Poland: MI-LAB AIR Program Award

Revised Dates and Format for the Conference

Thank you for your patience. The IMC Conference will take place from Wednesday December 1 to Friday December 3. It will be both a live conference, and a virtual one. The schedule will be posted soon. The conference will include approximately 30 papers, presented by academics and artists around the world, and will be available over three time zones using an easily accessible virtual platform with breakout rooms for live discussions. There will also be demonstrations, open portfolios, and satellite exhibitions, as well as informative films about Nara, the history of sumi, and its varied applications. The fees for the conference will be revised and posted here in the next few days.

The Sumi-Fusion International Mokuhanga Exhibition will open on Tuesday November 30 and will continue to Saturday December 4, without change.

August Update, Virtual Conference format, etc.

We will post news soon about a virtual format for the 2021 conference.

It is unlikely that travel to Japan will get easier before 2022. Those of you already in Japan will be able to attend the physical conference. Those of you who might be able to get to Japan and quarantine, can also attend. We hope for those of you who will not be able to get to Japan, that you will join us virtually. We will soon have updates on how to apply to attend the virtual conference, how to give a presentation, a demonstration etc.

We thank you for your patience, and apologise for any delays in news to you.

List of Paper Presenters IMC 2021

  1. Marina Borodina, Nataliya Grebennikova & Alexander Litvinov. Mokuhanga in Russian
  2. Claire Cuccio. Passage through Asia. The Cultural Diversity of Mokuhanga in Nepal
  3. Julianne Dao, Lari Gibbons, Kazuko Goto. Mokuhanga Journey: Creating intersections through collaboration and education
  4. Tomomi Furukawa. 古川朋弥. 西会津の伝統行事「虫送り」のリサーチとそれに係る作品制作 Research on the traditional event ’Seeing off bugs’ in Nishiaizu and production of related Mokuhanga works
  5. Jennifer Giaccai. Identifying different types of sumi using Raman spectroscopy
  6. Paola Beatriz Gonzalez Farias. Japanese Woodcut: the View from Chile
  7. Keiko Hara, Akira Ron Takemoto. Water Dreams: Mokuhanga in Walla Walla
  8. Wuon-Gean Ho. Making colour bounce, blend and break: a macroscopic and microscopic examination of mokuhanga techniques
  9. Irena Keckes. Contemporary Mokuhanga and Print Installation
  10. Ralph Kiggell. Itō Jakuchū and the Pleasure of Ink
  11. Shoichi Kitamura. 北村昇一. Donald Groscostさんのドローイングを木版画にするためのプロセス The Process of Turning Donald Groscost’s Drawings into Woodblock Prints
  12. Yuta Konno. 海外における水性木版画ワークショップ活動による技法普及への貢献とその報告ー次の世代へContributing to the Spread of Water-Based woodblock Techniques through Overseas Workshops
  13. Marco Leona. A timeline for the introduction of synthetic dyestuffs in Japan during the late Edo and Meiji periods
  14. Xiaoqiao Li. Image Decaying: exploring materials, surfaces and time within printmaking and moving image editing
  15. Jennifer Mack-Watkins. The Influence of Political and Social Issues Using the Practice of Mokuhanga as a Change Agent
  16. Shahida Mansoor. Self-Expression in the Art of Mokuhanga
  17. Tuula Moilanen. Sumi Ink and the Woodblock Printed News Bulletins during the Edo-Meiji Period
  18. Yoonmi Nam. Arranged Flowers & Four Seasons: Prints Inspired by East Asian Still Life Traditions
  19. Hellory Maria Nella Ponte. Beyond Sumi Black and Color: the Light between ‘No Ink’ Karazuri and Tsuyazumi
  20. Endi Poskovic. Craft Inside and Outside Japan: Teaching Mokuhanga
  21. Harriina Raïnä. The Other as Matter – Animal Matter in Mokuhanga
  22. Lucy May Schofield. Borderless – A collaboration across continents
  23. Faith Stone. Buddha woodblocks: A Dying Artform
  24. Elisabet Alsos Strand. My Practice
  25. Asuka Tsutsumi. Fusion of classical and contemporary techniques: woodcut rubbing print and inkjet
  26. April Vollmer. Coda: Creative Mokuhanga since 2015
  27. Carol Wilhide Justin. Mokuhanga and the Sense of Touch
  28. Helena Wright. Exploring the 1889 Tokunō Gift to the Smithsonian. Japanese woodblocks, prints, tools, and pigments on view in the West.
  29. Katsutoshi Yuasa. 克俊湯浅.「版画は風のなかを飛ぶ種子 ファンタジーは可能か?」. ‘Prints are seeds that fly in the wind. Is fantasy possible?’

Deadline Extended for Juried International Show

Please note that the deadline for the Juried International Show has now been extended until July 31 (midnight Japan time). Results will be given on August 15. Also note that there are several awards for outstanding mokuhanga work.