Watermarks: Works from the Mokuhanga Project Space Residency
May 2, 2025 - July 13, 2025

This exhibition showcases prints made by artists who have taken part in the Mokuhanga Project Space residencies here in Walla Walla since summer 2023. Mokuhanga is a traditional Japanese woodblock printing method that exemplifies the use of natural materials; wood, water, pigment, and paper.

While mokuhanga has deep roots in history, it’s also a growing international art form. Mokuhanga Project Space provides artists with the time, space, and support to push the boundaries of the medium, encouraging new ideas, deeper exploration, and meaningful connection to materials and place. At its core, mokuhanga uses simple materials, yet is a deceptively complex process that relies on water at every stage, from mixing pigments, dampening paper, wetting the woodblocks, and even the moisture in the air. That deep connection to water makes it especially meaningful today, as artists explore environmental concerns and our changing relationship with the natural world.

Mokuhanga Project Space was created to give artists the time and space to go beyond the basics, to experiment, take risks, and advance the art form in new and thoughtful ways. Watermarks brings together work created during and in response to each artist’s time in residence, reflecting their personal responses to the environment, the materials, and this unique moment in mokuhanga’s ongoing evolution. Through this exhibition we hope to show how this centuries old art form continues to grow through the hands of today’s artists and the flow of water that ties it all together.

Artists Featured:
Vicky Takamori – Seattle, WA
Patty Hudak – Underhill, VT
Mike Lyon - Kansas City, MO
Kathleen Hargrave – Seattle, WA
Julie Strasheim – China and Japan
Florence Neal – Brooklyn, NY
Chihiro Taki – Tokyo, Japan
Charles Spitzack – Seattle, WA
Benjamin Selby – Walla Walla, WA
Ariadna Abadal Lloret – Barcelona, Spain
April Vollmer – New York, NY
Andrew Stone - Florence, Italy