To encourage the development of young artists, CWAJ established the Young Printmaker Award as part of the 50th Print Show celebration in 2005. 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. One student, selected for his/her artistic potential and project proposal, is awarded ¥500,000.

2007 Winner - OYAMA Takaya, a 24-year-old graduate of Tohoku University of Art & Design

OYAMA Takaya will use the award money to buy a press for his etching work. He hopes to create an environment in the Tohoku area where printmaking students can continue producing their artwork even after graduating from art universities.

weeds 4 2006 etching/aquatint 110 x 140cm ed 5

From the artist: The environment where I was born and raised has influenced my art. I was born in the Shimokita Peninsula, the northernmost area of Honshu in Japan. This print is an expression of myself. The upper half shows weeds. Weeds grow even in a very harsh environment, and their ability to thrive in such a place lives also in me and in those people of my native town. For the bottom half of the print, I pounded the copperplate with a hammer, transferring something of my own mind and heart to the plate. The weeds came out of my memories of the past and the pounded copperplate holds the traces of my present life. In the dialogue between the two, I find confirmation.

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