Tag: color woodblock

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Art and Writing During the Pandemic: Celebrating the Write Around Portland Partnership

It has been more than one year since Write Around Portland and the Portland Art Museum began collaborating on weekly, art-inspired writing prompts to sustain our souls and our sense of connection during the pandemic. Write Around Portland staff and writing workshop facilitators have created over 60 writing prompts inspired by works in the Portland…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Derrick Adams

Boy on Swan Float, Derrick Adams, 31 x 45 inches, woodblock and screen print with fabric collage on Rives BFK paper. A young boy with brown skin and black hair sits in a large inflatable swan against a blue background, seen from the side. The large swan is shown in whites and gray, each tone a separate shape placed to depict the inflatable’s contours. The swan has a black mask around the eyes and the bright, orange beak. The boy sits between the swan’s wings facing left. He is depicted in the same manner as the swan with brown, tan, and grey shapes making up his figure. A triangle of bright green and white polka dots suggests the boy’s swimsuit. His toes peep out from the end of the float at left. The background is a flat sky blue.

As warmer weather approaches, we are all dreaming of lazy summer days. This recent acquisition by Derrick Adams captures the pleasures and poignancy of timeless summer afternoons. Using 68 puzzle-cut woodblocks, seven runs of screenprint, and fabric collage, Adams depicts a young boy resting on a gigantic inflatable swan in an expanse of blue water.…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Kitao Shigemasa

The First Month: New Year Visits, The Seven Herbs Ceremony, 9 12/16 x 7 ½ inches, color woodblock on paper. A vertical rectangular print divided into two scenes diagonally by a zigzagged line. The top half is further divided into a left half and a right half. The left shows a female figure dressed in a mauve and red kimono with her black hair pulled back in an elaborate hairstyle. She stands on a veranda looking through a doorway to an interior. Behind her are white gift boxes stacked on green tatami flooring. At right, a young man in a mauve and green patterned kimono writes on a sheaf of paper that is tied to a small pine tree. Behind him, another man, carries gifts while looking off to the right. This man is bald on top and wears a green kimono with a sword tucked under his arm. At top right, a rectangle contains Japanese writing. The lower half of the print is separated from the top by a zigzagged diagonal line that starts above center left and continues to below center right. The scene below shows a man at left seated in front of a low table while chopping vegetables. He is bald and wears a mauve patterned kimono and holds a chopping tool in his hand while gesturing to a guest that has arrived. Next to him are a pile of vegetables on one side and on the other, a candle in a tall stand. The guest, at right, is an older woman wearing a green kimono and holds a daikon radish. She is approaching a set of steps that leads to the area with green tatami flooring the man sits upon. Behind the man are two female figures, one kneeling and gesturing towards the visitor, the other standing. They both wear kimono and are positioned near an open doorway. Beyond the doorway a blossoming tree can be seen against a black night sky.

This print is one of 12 split-screen compositions that represent each month of the year. Much like writing resolutions or eating black-eyed peas, The First Month shows activities associated with New Year celebrations. At the top, a handsome young man writes New Year greetings on a sheaf of paper tied to the decorative pine. A…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Keisai Eisen

1. Ox figurine and writing desk, Keisai Eisen, 1 9/16 x 6 11/16 inches, color woodblock print with metallic pigments and embossing on paper. A vertical rectangular print featuring a black ox figurine resting on top of small futon mats atop a writing box near a writing table and other objects. The vignette is situated in the lower two thirds of the print. The sleeping ox figurine sits on three small multi-colored futon mats which in turn rests on a black and gold patterned writing box. In front of the box is a pale peach writing desk with short legs showing a fan shaped cut out on the sides. Folded fans lay near the desk and a blooming flower in a blue and white pot sits on the edge of the desk. Poems written in Japanese climb from the center left of the print to the upper center. 2. The print is seen in axial light showing the gold and silver details on the objects. The black ox now appears to be charcoal in color and outlined in black. 3. Detail of the ox figurine and futon mats. The ox’s legs, tail, skin folds and facial features are outlined in black. It has ivory-colored horns on either side of a gold disc on its forehead and gold eyes. The futon mats are each have a different pattern and color: silver on beige, gold on rust and silver on teal.

In 2021, the Year of the Ox begins. 1829 was also an ox year. Poets in Mino province commissioned the artist Keisai Eisen to design this special print to commemorate the new year. Privately commissioned prints like these are called surimono and feature expensive materials and techniques. This small ox figurine, sitting on layered futon…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Shima Tamami

Tori B (Birds B), from James A. Michener, The Modern Japanese Print: An Appreciation, Shima Tamami, 15 1/16 x 10 9/16 inches, color woodblock print with embossing on torinoko paper. A vertical, rectangular print depicting three simple, stylized birds with long necks. A bird in the foreground is positioned so that its body, neck and head create a “J” shape that occupies much of the print. The upturned tail aligns with the left edge of the print, its body swoops down to touch the bottom edge and the neck and head with open beak rise up to the upper portion of the print at the right edge. This bird’s body is mostly a solid black with a gray and black-striped tail. Its eye and open beak are highlighted in white. Behind this bird are two more, both with the elongated necks and beaks of the first. They stand with bodies in the center of the print and heads and beaks at the top. The bird on the left is shown in profile with its beak facing left. It has a black body and a small striped tail. The bird at right overlaps its companion with its open beak and head facing right. Its body and wings are depicted in contrasting textures in black and very pale blue. All three birds overlap a background that is divided into three parts. The upper half and a wide strip of the lower part of the print have a medium gray wood grain texture. The section in the middle is a lighter gray with vertical, reed-like markings.

Oregonians have been asked to pause social gatherings to help curb the spike in COVID-19 cases across our state over the next two weeks. How can we step outside in our imaginations instead? Both the beauty found in this piece by Shima Tamami and the honking of geese and flitting of birds outside our windows…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Yoshida Fujio

Nasturtium, Yoshida Fujio, 14 ¾ x 9 5/8, color woodblock print on paper. A vertical, rectangular print depicting an abstract, closeup view of a nasturtium flower’s petals. Undulating swirls of reds, rusts, yellows and green over a white background fill the print. Starting at top, a large petal folds over itself from the left towards the center. The petal is composed of stripes of yellows, peach, and rust that meet at a point toward the center leaving a large white teardrop shape and a crescent shape in white. At right, a large petal bows towards the center of the print in deep peach and red hues. Its shape is mirrored at left with another petal meeting the other at center in similar colors. Another large teardrop shape is positioned at bottom center. The overall effect is one of swirling, organic shapes and colors

As young children we are often asked what our favorite color is. Colors are some of the first words we learn and they help us describe the world around us. And while we may no longer commit to a “favorite” color, we recognize when we’re drawn to hues and how they make us feel. Colors…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Iwami Reika

“Iwami Reika passed away earlier this year, at the age of 93. I’ve been reflecting on her body of work for several months, and with rain pouring down in Portland today, the memory of wildfire smoke still fresh, her ‘Song of Water’ feels like an appropriate celebration of the drips and sloshes and susurrations. Iwami…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Utagawa Hiroshige

Fukagawa Susaki and Jūmantsubo, No. 107 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Utagawa Hiroshige, 13 3/16 in x 8 3/4 inches, color woodblock print on paper. A vertical, rectangular print showing a large bird of prey in flight with its head down and wings spread wide as flies over the land below. The bird fills the upper third of the print and is rendered in black and gray feathers with long plumage on the head. The wing on the right dips down to the lower part of the print and its talons can be seen at upper left under the bird. Below are a mountain range with two peaks and a forested landscape that meets a calm blue sea. Simple tree shapes and small hills are depicted in black on creamy, white ground with pale blue used for shading. The sea is also pale blue that gradually deepens at the bottom of the print. Simple black lines show shallow waves. “Fukagawa Susaki and one hundred thousand tsubo” in Japanese is printed in black ink in a green square cartouche with cloud-pattern ground at upper right. One hundred thousand tsubos is about 33 hectares. To the right of this is a red rectangular cartouche that reads “one hundred views of famous places of Edo” in Japanese and is printed in black ink. The artist’s signature appears at far left center in a red rectangular cartouche and reads “picture (by) Hiroshige.

Writing allows us the chance to gain new perspective to write about our own experiences, or to step into someone else’s. This week, we invite you to spend some time with this piece by Utagawa Hiroshige and see what new perspectives it might offer you. Before or after you write, take some time to learn…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Katsushika Hokusai

A vertical rectangular portrait of two male figures shown from the waist up wearing 18th century fashions. The figure on the right is seen mostly from the side and seems to be in the act of turning to face the viewer. His hands are outstretched holding a coral bead necklace up to the other figure. He is light skinned with short brown cropped hair under a blue turban-like headdress that is skewed to the left. He is smiling with lips parted and teeth showing and has soft, youthful features. He wears an open neck, collarless white shirt with a reddish-pink coat and a blue shawl draped over his arms and shoulders. White full, gathered sleeves and shirt cuffs extend past his jacket at his wrists. The figure on the left faces the viewer wearing a white ruffled edged mob cap with a pink bow on top, a mustard yellow dress with a pink stomacher and lacing, with a white ruffle seen at the neckline. This figure is light skinned, has short dark hair, heavy brows and an upturned nose. His forehead and face are lined and his mouth is partially open showing he is missing a tooth. His neck is muscular and he has a goiter.

“Last summer I hiked to Ramona Falls in Mt. Hood National Forest for the first time—and immediately thought of this print. Water cascades down the rocks, forking into powerful branches before spilling out in a fine, ethereal spray. Below, pilgrims on their way to nearby shrines at Nikkō stand transfixed. At right, two figures climb…  Read more