Printshow Young Printmaker Award

Young Printmaker Award

CWAJ established the Young Printmaker Award in 2005 to encourage the development of young artists as part of the 50th Print Show celebration. Eligible applicants are the creators of the top 30 prints selected at the Annual Exhibition of the Association of Japanese Art Colleges held every year in December at the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts. The recipient of this annual award of 500,000yen is selected on the criteria of a project proposal, artistic potential and creativity.

In addition to the cash prize for the project proposal, the Young Printmaker is invited to exhibit in the CWAJ Print Show and also is invited to exhibit one new print three years after receiving the Award. This year CWAJ is pleased to have the 2008 Young Printmaker Award recipient, ISHIZAKI Miku, exhibiting in the 2011 Print Show alongside this year’s winner HIROSE Risa

2011 Young Printmaker Award Recipient
HIROSE Risa

Hirose graduated with an MFA from Tokyo Zokei University and is now working at the National Printing Bureau as an engraver. She plans to use the award money to furnish herself with the materials needed for a good production environment and to have a personal exhibition early next May.
“I have been creating works with the theme ‘sealing down time.’ Document—A Taste of Impressions was created during the time when the extreme heat of summer finally began to give way to the more pleasant weather of fall. I felt the change of the seasons in the air and sensed the existence of bugs and caterpillars from the remains of flowers and leaves, all of which I tried to seal in my work.”

2008 Young Printmaker Award Recipient
ISHIZAKI Miku

Ishizaki’s signature style involves using her own handmade washi paper, so she used her 2008 Young Printmaker Award prize money to study papermaking techniques as well as purchase special equipment. In addition, she held a solo exhibition at a gallery in Ginza.