Japanese Arts & Culture Festival
Join us for the inaugural International Arts and Culture Festival! This year’s focus is Japan. From woodblock prints to kimonos, traditional fans to dolls, we’re excited to showcase the beauty and intricacy of artwork and other items from Japan. Plus, we’ve got a great slate of events coming up! Join us for shakuhachi performances, a tea ceremony demonstration, and other presentations- there’s a lot to see and learn at The Arts Center! See the flyer for more information.
All events and exhibits are free, except for the Tea Ceremony on March 20. Please use the button below to purchase tickets.
Buy Tea Ceremony Tickets
About the Artist
After receiving her BFA from Sam Houston State University, Daryl lived and taught art at an overseas school in Tokyo in the 1970’s. During this time Howard was introduced to a private collection of 18th and 19th century Ukiyo-e woodcuts. Feeling an immediate connection to the works of art and wanting to learn more about the woodblock print making process, Daryl embarked on an apprenticeship with master printmaker Hodaka Yoshida. By the time she left Japan, Howard had become proficient in the medium, well on her way to perfecting the painstaking demands of carving and printing. Immediately returning to graduate school in 1976 at the University of Texas at Austin, she began her experience with a second medium, mixed media collage.
Artist Statement
The technique of woodblock print making is part of my soul. After over forty-five years of sketching, carving and printing, I am still as excited as I was when I pulled my first print with Hodaka Yoshida in Tokyo. The textural thread within my collage work leads from one image to the next. There is something magical about using the elements of the planet: gold, silver, copper, gemstones and pigments made from soils. These processes have become the way of expressing my world. It involves seeing images through a series of shapes, arranged and colored to represent the essence … the magic … that I experience.
About the Process
The technique of woodblock print making dates back to the 2nd century B.C. in China. Japan has enjoyed a long tradition of woodblock print making, with woodcuts first appearing in 1770 A.D. Ms. Howard’s technique of woodblock printing is exclusively the traditonal Japanese method which she studied in Tokyo, Japan under Master Hodaka Yoshida. A carved woodblock is created for each color in the print. Watercolor and rice paste are applied with a Japanese brush to the wood. A dampened piece of handmade mulberry “Kizuki” paper is placed on the block and pressed, transferring the color to the paper. Two sides of each piece of paper are exactingly cut at right angles for the registration of the paper to the woodblock. The precise hand-registration of the paper to each block must be repeated many times throughout the creation of one print. Daryl’s signature of 22K gold, silver, or copper leaf is applied last as embellishment to the print. Each print is released in limited editions of 50.