Fusako Yoshikawa - Japanese Woodblock Prints - Northern Print

Northern Print is pleased to present new works by Japanese artist Fusako Yoshikawa.

Fusako has worked with Northern Print since 1999, when she took part in a print exchange with other artists from Nagoya Print Works in Japan and artists from Northern Print, which was then based on Fish Quay in North Shields. Following on from this project, in the Summer of 2001, Fusako completed a residency at Northern Print, on Fish Quay, alongside two other artists from Japan – Eriko Maki and Chikako Yamamoto. In a series of printmaking master classes given by the artists during their residency, they shared their skills, experiences and ideas with artists and the public in the North. The work created during the residency was shown in a touring exhibition in the North of England.

In 2010, Northern Print invited Fusako to undertake another residency in its new home in Ouseburn, where she gave another inspirational masterclass in Japanese Woodblock printing and showed new prints in the gallery.

After 20 years in Ouseburn, Northern Print is thrilled that Fusako is visiting again and showing many of her beautiful prints in the exhibition alongside works by two other Japanese artists - Satoko Saito and Mariko Sugito.

Fusako Yoshikawa was born in 1941 in Nagoya and continues to live and work there, having studied at Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka Senior High School in the city. Her early career was as a designer for Tokai Television Broadcasting Company which she left to focus on raising her family.

In 1980, Fusako began making woodblock prints under the tuition of KanjI Suzuki and Koji Narita, members of Kokugakai Art Group founded in Kyoto in 1926 with the principle that every artist should have complete freedom of expression.

Fusako has continued to develop her work using traditional Japanese materials, tools and skills to make her prints. Each one is carefully cut by hand from a woodblock or in many cases multiple blocks. The translucent water-based inks are then brushed onto the block and printed using a handheld bamboo baren. 

It is only the pressure of her hand that transfers the ink onto the paper, and for each coloured shape a separate block is cut and printed – building up her rich images. Most of the prints in the exhibition are printed in very small editions – perhaps only five copies being printed.