Young Printmaker Award Winner

Young Printmaker Award

CWAJ established the Young Printmaker Award to encourage the development of young artists in 2005 as part of the 50th Print Show celebration. The recipient of this annual award is selected on the criteria of a project proposal, artistic potential and creativity, and is awarded 500,000 yen to be used for a specific project within one year. Eligible applicants are makers of the top 30 prints selected by Daigaku Hanga Gakkai, the Committee of Universities of Art for Print Studies in Japan, from Zenkoku Daigaku Hangaten, the Annual Exhibition of the Association of Japanese Art Colleges, held at Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo.

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 marks the 5th year of this award and CWAJ is pleased to have the 2006 Young Printmaker Award recipient, Tanaka Emi, exhibiting in the 2009 Print Show.

2009 Young Printmaker Award Recipient
MOMMA Hidemi

MOMMA Hidemi

Ms Momma will use the award to hold a workshop for secondary school
students to experience silkscreen printing.

“As silkscreen is one of the newer printing techniques and few people know its charm, I made this plan to introduce how rich the world of color is in silkscreen and the freedom of expression in this technique.”

2006 Young Printmaker Award Recipient
TANAKA Emi

TANAKA Emi

Ms Tanaka tells us how the Young Printmaker Award in 2006 encouraged
her to take a new step forward in her pursuit of printmaking.

“I spent six weeks as an artist in residence at a Finnish print studio in
2006. It was my first stay in Northern Europe. I was deeply impressed by the colors of sunlight there and how different these are from those in Japan. In August and September, when I lived there, the colors of the trees, the water and even the shadow of things had a quality of transparency, a kind of glow that was unknown to me. The experience made possible by YPA has led me to seek life and printmaking opportunities in different environments. It meant a great deal to me as it opened up a new world of “chances” for me.”