Mary Brodbeck’s Japanese woodblock prints (moku hanga) reveal ethereal, quietly structured landscapes. Soft colors, achieved through watercolor inks, shift subtly across the surface of the page, conveying the calm of a moment of stillness and gentle light. Within Brodbeck’s images of flora and fauna, earth and sky, tightly controlled patterns are revealed, the hand of the artist responding to and enhancing natural rhythms and shapes. The final effect is one of contemplation, an exploration of a single instant and all of the mysteries it holds.
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Brodbeck, currently based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, began her career as an industrial designer, producing furniture designs for Haworth and Steelcase from 1990 to 1996. She returned to school to earn her MFA in printmaking from Michigan State University in 1999. Her early prints shared many aesthetic characteristics with Japanese woodblocks, an interest that ultimately led her to study in Tokyo. In 1998 Brodbeck was the recipient of the Bunko-cho Fellowship from the Japanese government, allowing her to study in Japan with painter and printmaker Funasaka Yoshisuke, from whom she learned the traditional techniques that continue to inform her work today.
In addition to producing and exhibiting her art, Brodbeck teaches and lectures, and, in 2014, released the documentary film Becoming Made, which reveals her techniques and process.