KUROSAKI: WATERCOLOR FOR WOODCUTS

On his 1980 visit, renown artist Akira Kurosaki presented a demonstration on his methods of making water-based printing inks for his colorful prints.

The following is the sound track from "Kurosaki: Watercolors for Woodcuts"-a 12 minute videotape made in 1980 as Akira Kurosaki demonstrated how he makes water-based printing inks for traditional and contemporary woodcut prints.

As the titles roll, in the background you can almost hear Kurosaki amusing the students with a story prior to his demonstration. The video begins with an edited overview of Kurosaki's full printing demonstration. Izumi Kuroiwa, a graduate student at the University at the time this tape was made, stands by ready to translate.

Ritchie voice-over: Hi. My name is Bill Ritchie. For the next few minutes you will see how watercolors are applied to a woodcut plate and printed on to paper. The artist doing the demonstration is Akira Kurosaki from Kyoto.

The Japanese and also the Chinese and Koreans printed woodcuts with watercolors, whereas Europeans and other occidentals used mainly oil-based inks. Kurosaki is fond of blending two or more colors-a technique known as bokashi. This can be done in oil as well, but it is done in waterbased ink here.

We have seen many older woodcuts in Japanese art which use bokashi. Kurosaki is a modern artist who uses some traditional techniques. His tools are similar to the ones used hundreds of years ago-the brush and the baren, for example. The baren is his printing tool, made of a small flat disc [coil] of bamboo fiber covered with a bamboo sheath and a lacquered back.

His prints are much larger and much more colorful than the ones you see here, and are made of as many as ten to fifteen different blocks and being up to two or three feet in dimension. You are seeing him during a demonstration at the University of Washington School of Art in the summer of 1980. He showed, at the students' request, how to mix watercolors from dry, pure pigment. It is this method that allows him to produce the rich colors so characteristic of his work.

Kurosaki: Pigment itself is no-how to say-no problem to use normal watercolor and water pigment, or gouache or poster color or powder, color powder itself. I usually make my own pigment from powder, mixed up with gum arabic. Because you know, factory-made watercolor is very thin. The percentage of pigment is so small so it becomes a very thin color. Not like a strong color like my work.

So, I always need to make my own pigment with one-hundred percent pigment with a little bit of gum arabic and a little bit of water. In the beginning you have to select very good powder-very nice powder-and without mixing with water and gum arabic. It's different with water. Make a test paper (he smears dry pigment on paper)...testing paper should be like this (he tears a small sheet of paper to show how big it should be).

Half of this you can keep in the dark, like inside a drawer. The other part should be pasted to the glass of a window, facing the sunshine. So, two weeks later you can understand-putting it this way (he rejoins the two halves) whether this pigment will be okay, or not. (He comments to Izumi Kuroiwa in Japanese, and she translates for the group)

Kuroiwa: He has done those test pieces [pigments he uses] for ten years and he uses only the ones that do not fade away in the light.

He put pigment in this mortar...

Kurosaki: Just a little bit of water. (Kurosaki stirs and grinds with the small pestle in the mortar.

Kuroiwa: Just a teaspoon of water. (Kurosaki grinds and stirs.)

Kurosaki: Don't put so much water. A small amount of water will allow you to get a strong, good color.

Kuroiwa: If you put in too much water the powder will repel it, and pouring on the water will make it difficult to mix. So just use a minimum amount of water.

Kurosaki: You know factory-made pigment includes glycerin. Do you know about glycerin? It keeps in the moisture. So that glycerin makes the pigment weak and thin. I told you, the percentage of glycerin can be up to thirty percent, so pigment becomes less than ___ percent. So it is best not to use glycerin.

But, you need to keep in the moisture so it will not dry out the pigment.

Kuroiwa: He mixes them enough so that the powder becomes very fine and mixed with the water very well. And that's the time to put the gum arabic in. It's about a third to a half a teaspoon in that amount.

Question: What is the purpose of gum arabic?

Kuroiwa: (After she asks Kurosaki for the answer in Japanese) It bonds the particles of pigments and also it sticks to the paper. Otherwise if you rub the...just dry pigment after it dries it will come off. It would come off in another printing stage. It bonds the particles of pigments and also to the paper.

Kurosaki: You know, if you want to keep this color, not the powder, right? You can keep it by itself, without gum arabic. Gum arabic will soon get moldy, easily. But with only water it will keep cleanly a long time. So don't put in the gum arabic but only water. And keep it in a bottle. Probably it's better to covered it with paper or cardboard or...(he finishes in Japanese.)

Kuroiwa: So to keep this pigment with water it is better to keep it so the pigment can breathe. It is less likely to get moldy...it is better so that you don't get mold if you...use too tightly [covered] kept, the more chance you will get mold. But, repeating, it's better to keep without gum arabic, he said.

Kurosaki: I think this gum arabic is a little bit weak, too thin. A little bit too thin for making pigment. I think a much more sticky, stronger would be much better to include.

Kuroiwa: I think this is a lithographic gum arabic, but you can get...buy rocks [crystals of gum arabic] _____ and you soak it--or powder--and soak it in water and you get a thicker solution.

Question: Is there any substitution for gum arabic? (Kuroiwa relays the question in Japanese)

Kurosaki: Rabbit-skin glue will be all right, but rabbit-skin is very strong. But it makes the pigment yellow, so I don't like to use rabbit-skin glue. Rabbit-skin glue is very strong, very strong. So it's very good to keep the pigment on the paper; it doesn't come off. But, you know, unfortunately this animal glue makes the pigment yellow or darker after one year or two years. That's why it is better to use gum arabic. It's very easy, but without gum arabic for a medium it's very difficult to mix up.

Probably the pigment will decide your art work. (He explains the concept to Kuroiwa.)

Kuroiwa: (Speaking over the drone of an airplane overhead) Since color is the ultimate part of your work, so he recommends you make your inks on your own.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Akira Kurosaki and the Ford Foundation which made this program possible. And the participants here and Mr. Ritchie, and he videotape team. Thank you very much.

(Applause)

End of program.

Bill Ritchie's mailing address is Ritchie's Video 'N Print, 500 Aloha #105, Seattle, WA 98109-1243. Telephone (206) 285-0658. This transcription is copyrighted 1997.

Afterword: The northwest became a lively center for experiments in art and technology in the 1960s and '70s. Print makers contributed by bridging old-time hand processes, electronic imaging and the world of business. Bill Ritchie, as Ritchie's Video, started in printmaking and video art.