As spring approaches, why not join us for a creative and immersive journey celebrating its delicate and vibrant blooms? We are delighted to welcome London-based artist Hiroko Imada back to guide us in the traditional art of Japanese woodblock printing. Whether you're a beginner or have prior experience, this hands-on workshop offers a wonderful opportunity to explore this historic craft and create your own floral-inspired prints. 

Japanese woodblock printing, moku-hanga, is a relief printing technique, utilising a print surface that is raised above the unnecessary areas that are cut away from the wood block. Moku-hanga differs from many printmaking techniques as it is printed by hand with a pressing instrument (baren) and uses water-based ink.  

This half-day workshop is an introductory course to learn the basic process by creating your own design, carving a block and printing in black and white on Japanese paper. No experience is necessary for this workshop. 

To make the most of the experience, we encourage attendees to think about their designs in advance, drawing inspiration from spring flowers such as plum, peach, cherry blossom, canola flower, tulip, wisteria, hyacinth, lily of the valley, and daffodil. 

Hiroko Imada is a London-based painter, printmaker and site-specific installation artist. She studied art at the Tokyo Zokei University and The Slade School of Fine Art and has exhibited throughout Europe and Japan. In 2021, Hiroko was commissioned by the British Museum to create a woodblock print inspired by Hokusai’s drawing and its process was recorded to create a film to run at the exhibition ‘Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything’ from 30 September 2021 to January 2022 at the British Museum. Imada’s new site-specific installation work Sakura saku ('Cherry blossoms are blooming') was presented at Watt’s Gallery to coincide the exhibition, Edo Pop: Japanese Prints 1825 - 1895 last year and will be presented at the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath as a centre piece of a part of In Bloom exhibition.

Hiroko also specialises in teaching Japanese woodblock printing, papermaking, folded screenmaking, and hanging scroll making. Since 2000 she has been teaching the Japanese woodblock printing regularly at the British Museum and from 2017 the King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts. Hiroko is a member of the Japan Artists Association & the International Association of Art.