Below are some previously showcased works using Japanese paper we are pleased to be able to share with you. Roll your mouse over each image to see it enlarged.

• Inuit prints from the Cape Dorset Printmaking Co-op, Nunavut, Canada
• Rebecca Cowan
• Brian Kelley
• Drawing and Painting
• Home Decor
• Invitations
• Fine Art

Inuit prints from the Cape Dorset Printmaking Co-op, Nunavut, Canada

The first catalogued collection of graphic art was produced in the Cape Dorset print studio in 1959 and the practice of producing an annual collection of prints continues to this day.  In the 60's, any Inuit still lived in camps and would make drawings there in their traditional environment. During the next visit to the trading post, the artists would present their finished work for sale in the hope of having one or more made into limited edition stonecuts, stencils, or engravings.

Today, most artists work in their homes in Cape Dorset and more recent printing techniques also include lithographs, etchings and aquatints. Although many of the early artists are now deceased, a new generation has emerged, also expressing their unique vision in strong compositions and compelling images.

Washi has been used from the very beginning in Cape Dorset for both stencil prints and the stonecuts, often mixing the two techniques in the same print.

In 2003, The Japanese Paper Place arranged for a family of 3 Japanese papermaking generations to visit Cape Dorset, to introduce them to the printmakers who were using their paper. The highlight was the presentation by the Co-op of one of Kenojouak's "Golden Bird" stonecut to the Osaki family, a magnificent glowing print on fine seichosen kozo.

In addition to being aesthetically appealing, Inuit works on paper offer invaluable documentation and insights into a culture that endured largely untouched until the middle of the 20th century.

If you would like to read more about this fascinating piece of Canadian art history, check out the new book release by Leslie Boyd called Cape Dorset Prints: a Retrospective or to purchase a print visit www.dorsetfinearts.com.

Rebecca Cowan

"As  printmakers, we are drawn increasingly to beautiful paper and so I discovered what Japanese papers would do for my work. Images that looked quite ordinary on ordinary paper seemed to glow on fine thin Japanese paper.

Detail of Green-Eyed Dreamer translucence - click on image to enlarge

"This series of little etched accordion books, "Small Stories of Big Ideas" was inspired by an etching class which I was teaching in which I used a long skinny plate to demonstrate a number of techniques. The result appeared to fall readily into this book form and I did the first of a series of 5 books as a result. They were so little that I could spring for very good quality paper which absorbs the ink completely.

"It is the combination of the strength and yet the seeming fragility and translucence of the paper that I really like. I like the idea of art which is so small you can take it wherever you go and when you have a bad day, you can open it up and be transported somewhere else. There may be more in the series..."

Kingston, Ontario printmaker Rebecca Cowan can be reached at bjwan@sympatico.ca.

Trust	Think Big	Green-Eyed Dreamer	Shadows

Brian Kelley

"An artist can start out with an idea that he or she forces on the world or they can let the world slip something in, but what's produced by this interaction is always going to have surprises. It's not like you can get an idea and go "click" it's manifested. You deal with what's involved with working out that idea and you get new things happening, unexpected things hopefully, that play with you, that irritate and even imitate you."

    - Brian Kelley

Having first discovered washi as a substrate for woodblock prints during his studies with Toshi Yoshida in Japan in 1980, he has been endlessly exploring its other possibilities for drawing, pastel, watercolour, etching, chine collé, and pochoir (stencil prints) since then.

Cape Dorset, woodcut	River, woodcut	Brandywind Falls, woodcut	Sky is the limit, woodcut and pochoir	Webster Falls, woodcut and pochoir
Game, woodcut	Forest Floor, pochoir	Woodcut book	Apricots and Rose, pochoir	Peaches as Plums, pochoir

Drawing and Painting

Japanese papers, especially 100% kozo or gampi, can add depth and richness to painting. Using water-based paints, especially gouache, inks and fabric paints, the effects of the special union of paper and paint can be explored. By adding drawing mediums over the paint, a wide variety of effect can be expressed on a single piece of washi. Here are some examples.

Lorraine Pritchard		Susan Low-Beer
Paths 1	Paths 2	detail, Tools for Daily Living	closeup, Tools for Daily Living
Drawing with graphite, coloured pencil and ink on kozo cards		Mixed drawing and painting media on various washi
Susan Wood		Mary Jane Varro
Bleeding Tulips	Falling Leaves	Untitled	Untitled
Ink, watercolour, collage on gampi and kozo		Fabric paints and wax resist on Kozuke

Home Decor A boring worktable dressed up with cheery Tairei sheets. Our very own creative Kayoko Torii sewed these colourful curtains out of Watermark Tissues. You've seen shoji screens - how about shoji shutters?  Simple and classy.

Invitations

	Tara Moore-Jones created these stunning invitations, showcasing Chiyogami and Opaque papers with Watermark Tissue overlays.

Fine Art

Mary Jane Varro Technique: Stitching & Dyeing	Susan Low-Beer Technique: Painting
Kenojuak Technique: Stonecut & Stencil	Leah Taylor Technique: Collage	Milt Jewell Technique: Encaustic Monoprint