Artist's Talk: Mokuhanga (Japanese Woodblock Prints) in Asian Art

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Event

Please join the students of Asia 101: Introduction to Asian Studies as they host Japanese woodblock print (mokuhanga) artist Patty Hudak, who will give a guest lecture on the past and present of mokuhanga, and its reverberations in Asia and in the world. Lunch will be served.

Patty Hudak: Biography 

Patty Hudak is an artist living in Underhill VT, whose work embodies philosophy and processes linked to Ireland, China, and Japan. While living in China, her work evolved to include theories of ink painting and process and contains influences by the mystical Irish poet, WB Yeats. In Japan, she studied traditional woodblock printing and carving, which she is using for both print and installation work. She is a member of 3 global art collectives: Art Byte Critique, the Mokuhanga Sisters Print Collective, and Solve Studio. 

Hudak addresses concepts of isolation in Nature, amidst the surrounding turmoil. She applies color and forms in organic patterns and marks history with the penetration of the color into the fibers of the surface. This action symbolizes Nature as a system of porous materials. The pressure of her hand is a real-time response to the current emotional climate; she transforms these emotions into tangible forms. Memories of walking in Nature are channeled into the structures of the line and pattern.

Since 2015, Hudak has created large-scale installations for the public in non-profit spaces. These include the 2018-2019 Vermont Creation Grant project, "There, Through the Broken Branches, Go", exhibited in 2020 at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT. Other large-scale installation projects include "Sailing to Byzantium" at Dublin Castle in Ireland, and "Botanical Ornaments" at the TW Wood Gallery in Montpelier, VT.

In 2018-2019, Hudak collaborated in two Irish Eco-Residencies. In June 2018, she traveled to Baby Forest, a digital Artist Collective in West Cork, where she explored perceptual drawing in a newly established beech forest. In July 2018 and 2019, she traveled to Walking Birds’ Mountain, to collaborate with 14 artists and writers to produce an installation responding to folklore, archeology, and the natural environment in the Ballygawley Mountains in Sligo County. This residency will continue, culminating in a documentational exhibition.

In 2016, 2017, and 2019 Hudak was Artist in Residence at Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory in Yamanashi, Japan, where she studied traditional woodblock printing with Japanese Masters Printers and Carvers, as well as private study with Carving Master, Motoharu Asaka. She was honored to serve as a juror for the 2017 College Women’s Association of Japan 61st Print Show and served as Art Manager for the 2016 College Women’s Association Exhibition Intimate Dimensions. She has been a guest lecturer at the Irish Embassy, Beijing; the US Embassy Beijing American Center (2013), and Beijing Normal University (2012), and served as Artist in Residence at Harrow International School Beijing (2014-2015). She was awarded the Being 3 Gallery Geography Projects Award in 2015 for her installation, Sailing to Byzantium. In addition to practicing art, she has curated group exhibitions at the Southern Vermont Art Center, Nishimachi Art Space in Tokyo, Japan, and XYZ Gallery in Beijing, China.

Hudak studied painting at Wellesley College, where she was awarded 2 Stecher Scholarships to study in Italy and at the Lacoste School of the Arts in France. She has continued her art education at the New York Studio School and the Alternative Arts School. Since 2005, she has practiced art in Hong Kong SAR; Beijing, China; Tokyo, Japan; Sligo, Ireland; and Vermont, USA. She is a recipient of the Vermont Arts Council's 2018-2019 Creation Grant, Vermont Artists to Watch in 2020, and the International Mokuhanga Conference 2021 Awagami Paper Award.