The Lake Kawaguchi Artist-in-Residence, 2016
I was delighted when I was awarded a Professional Development bursary to help me attend The Lake Kawaguchi Artist-in-Residence. I had been wanting to explore Japanese water based woodblock (mokuhanga) for some time, for many reasons – my attraction to the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi, my interest in japan and it’s close ties with nature and traditional and enduring use of natural materials, the low tech qualities of this art form, to name a few. As a stained glass artist (but also a qualified medical herbalist with a passion for nature), as much as I loved stained glass, I had been feeling increasingly uncomfortable using so many toxic substances and using so much industrial ‘kit’. I became drawn to mokuhanga, liking the practice of immersing oneself in something to really learn it, combined with the inability to get a rigorous training in the uk, I applied and was awarded a place on the basic training course in autumn 2016. So, I committed to a 5 week residency in rural Japan! I blogged about my time there.
