About the Exhibit:
Ms. Johnson will be showing new work focusing on the use of hand made paper in creating images.  A selection of her intaglio prints will also be on display.

Katsunori Hamanishi, considered to be a world master in the technique of mezzotint, will who new and earlier prints.   

Yoshikatsu Tamekane will exhibit new work created during his stay as resident artist at the University of Pennsylvania.

Each of the artists has their own unique style and medium, Yet, each respects and incorporates the Japanese aesthetic of supreme craftsmanship and attention to detail. Simultaneously they bring contemporary techniques and culture into their work with an underlying quality of ‘Zen’
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About the Artists:
Like the surrealistic paintings of Dali and Magritte, Katsunori Hamanishi's mezzotints juxtapose nature and abstraction. In "Division - Work No. 94," for example, bold abstract shapes marked by thin curved lines bump up against fields of rice and grain. Hamanishi's prints are noted for their delicate details and velvety blacks – a result of his mastery of the mezzotint process. Each image shows a great range of tones and depth of color which is only obtained from the painstaking burnishing of the plate.

Hamanishi’s work is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York; Art Institute, Chicago; Library of Congress, DC; Taipei; National Museum, Osaka and more. Beginning in September 2004 he will have a two-man show with long venerated mezzotint artist Yozo Hamaguchi at the Worcester Art Museum in

Margaret Kennard Johnson was first introduced to the art of hand-made paper while in residence in Japan. Intrigued with the process, she has subsequently become a master of creating unique images using this medium. The Dieu Donne Papermill,on Broome Street in New York is where Ms. Johnson creates her work. She says:

“My special focus in making these works has been to explore expressive possibilities of handmade paper – to collaborate with it’s unique capabilities for shrinking, expanding, twisting, creasing, wrinkling incising, layering, and to foster its interaction with other materials such as imbedded vellum and rusty wire”

On May 15 of this year Ms. Johnson was recognized for the creation of a multi-layered ‘mesh fabric’ sculpture now installed in the Quiet Room of the new Princeton Public Library.

Born in 1959, Yoshikatsu Tamekane studied at Sokei Academy of Fine Arts in Tokyo. From 1991 to 1994 he lived in Paris while studying art at the Musee d’Orsay, the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou.He is a member of the Japan Print Association and has shown seven consecutive years in the prestigious CWAJ Print Show. He is known for his combination of technical prowess with a mystical aesthetic and vision. He frequently adds rich textural qualities, such as silver and gold leaf, to his woodblock images.

Since September 2003, Mr. Tamekane has been artist-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. He recently, May 15 of this year, gave a demonstration of his woodblock techniques at the Montgomery Center for the Arts. A selection of his newest woodblock/collograph prints will be on view at Hills Gallery.

"I savor the past and also look forward to the next century as a time of hope and advancement for the human spirit".
(Y. Tamekane)