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"I use the woodblock print medium as a vehicle for me to make well-crafted and meaningful interpretations of nature." (Mary Brodbeck).
Mary Brodbeck is a Canadian moku hanga artist. Her landscapes, most of them of the Great Lakes, have a special atmosphere due to her sense of colors. She works with clear shapes and fine graduated colors to create beautiful compositions with a touch of easiness.
About Mary Brodbeck
Mary Brodbeck was born in 1958 in Hastings, Michigan and grew up on a dairy farm near Woodland, along with her four brothers and two sisters. In 1982 she began to study at the BFA Michigan State University with the major emphasis Industrial Design and the minor emphasis Mathematics. In the 1990's Mary wants to focus on fine art full time and worked as an industrial designer in the West Michigan office furniture industry. In 1999 she starts studing once again at the MFA Western Michigan University to learn printmaking.
Mary has specialized in moku hanga - woodblock prints made using all traditional Japanese methods and materials. She learned these techniques from Yoshisuke Funasaka in Tokyo, as a recipient of a Bunka-Cho fellowship from the apanese government. You can see her work in exhibitions in the United States, in Canada and Japan. She received several awards for her work. Mary conducts woodblock printmaking workshops around the country as well as from her studio/gallery in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Statment by the artist
"More than just "multiples" of a single design, my prints have gained their distinctive look through the very act of repetition - similar to the developed voice of any well-practiced instrument. In many ways, I consider my prints to be stilled performances."
"Yet art speaks it own language and viewers will come away with their own interpretation. My hope is that my art will cheer to the good qualities in all of us and speak of love, beauty, mystery, desire and optimism."
Teaching Experience
She offers public lectures and demonstrations, workshops, community education courses, college & university courses, and private lessons to learn the traditional methods of Japanese printmaking.
Exhibitions
Her prints were selected for over 60 national art competitions and she received 15 national awards. She had 20 solo exhibitions in Michigan and participated in over 50 joint or group shows throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. The highlights were:
- 2006 - The "Forest Hills Fine Art Center" exhibiton in Grand Rapids, MI.
- 2003, 2005, 2007 - Print Shows with Y. Funasaka at Rutan Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo.
- 2008 - And the "Joint Print Exhibition" at the Hudson Gallery in Sylvania, OH.
Special Events
At the event "Reflections of Superior - Artists Under Sail" she participated as artist. But she was also the exhibit coordinator for a traveling exhibition based upon a sailing circumnavigation of Lake Superior. She developed the brochure and publicity material, wrote all contracts, and secured all exhibition locations. The event exhibited in ten locations in Michigan and Ontario, Canada from 2001 to 2004.
The second event was the "East Meets West Print Exchange Exhibition" from 2002 to 2004, in which she has participated as artist and exhibit coordinator for the Tokyo/Kalamazoo print exchange, too. There are some more accomplishments like, developing prospectus and catalog, applying and receiving grant support, publishing article in a national journal (Graphic Impressions), and promoting, organizing and presenting this 120 piece print show.
Awards
- 1998 - She received six grants and one fellowship including the prestigious BUNKA-CHO Fellowship, a five-month-long Japanese government sponsored program to study Japanese woodblock printmaking in Tokyo with Y. Funasaka.
- 2000 - Invited to the Artist-In-Residency program in the Isle Royale National Park (2000).
- 2005-06 - Two National First Prize awards from American Color Print Society, Cheltenham, PA and Celebrating Contemporary Printmaking, Hudson Gallery, Sylvania OH.
- 2006 - Invited to three Artist-In-Residency programs including Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire, MI.
More about Mary Brodbeck
On the homepage of Mary Brodbeck you can get more information about the artist.
The images on this web site are the property of the artist(s) and or the artelino GmbH and/or a third company/institution. Reproduction, public display and any commercial use of these images, in whole or in part, require the expressed written consent of the artist(s) and/or the artelino GmbH. .
Canadian Artists
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