In this two-day workshop, you get to explore the relationship between mokuhanga, traditional Japanese woodblock printing, and washi, Japanese paper. To find out all about the class and instructor Charles Spitzack, please visit https://northwindart.org/collections/courses. Sessions will go from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 10 and 11.

With Spitzack as your guide, you'll experiment with a range of handmade and machine-made washi from Echizen, Japan, a place with a papermaking tradition spanning more than 1,500 years. Each student will receive a sample pack of washi. We will use pre-carved blocks to experiment with different styles of printing on each paper, then gather the results and bind them into a book.

We will also look at sizing paper, which is a useful skill to have in your mokuhanga toolkit. As time allows, you also can explore carving your own blocks and learn more about washi and how it is made.

You'll come away from this two-session class with a bound book of printed washi samples and sources for purchasing handmade paper for future artwork.