Welcome to my first blog post!
Let me introduce myself.
I am Becky Albright, a gyotaku printmaker and fiber artist. The purpose of my blog is to share my journey of art-related activities, happenings, and miscellaneous musings.
I am a life-long resident of west central Minnesota. After completing my college career at Concordia College, Moorhead, Mn, I became a middle school educator for over thirty years. Now retired, I have time to pursue my own interests in the fiber-related art genre.
Over ten years ago, this journey led me to a discovery of gyotaku printmaking. Gyotaku, what’s that? It is a direct print making technique the Japanese fishermen used in mid 1800’s to capture the size and species of their catch using calligraphy ink and rice paper - supplies they readily had available. Cameras were not available in those days.
In Japanese gyotaku literally would be ‘gyo’ meaning fish; ‘taku’ meaning rubbing or impression. Gyotaku = fish rubbing. A good fish rubbing captures the exact size, shape and scale/fin details of a fish. I found the process and results captivating. I kept returning to the technique, studied what I could find about it, and practiced. Lots of practice. I discovered not every gyotaku fish print is a keeper! Living in Minnesota lake country made it easy to find my resources. Thanks to friends, neighbors, and relatives, I had a variety of fish species with which to work. It was several years into experimenting with the process that I started to share my work through art shows, galleries, and exhibits. This is part of my journey I’d like to share with you. It’s been quite the adventure!
Thank you for letting me start my blog story with you.
