Some of you may know Mai Osawa, who worked with the Ochre PrintAble group for a couple of years. For those who don’t, Mai is a graduate of Nihon University in Tokyo who worked as a set designer for many years in Japan before moving to the UK in 2002. Once in the UK, whilst continuing to design sets, she broadened her art practice to include freelance design and illustration. Mai has published a book about British church architecture illustrated with her own watercolours. This fascination with architecture led to a growing interest in printmaking, which in turn led her to Ochre Print Studio. Her drypoint etchings are often atmospheric interrogations of old British buildings, and she won a Printmakers’ Council prize this year.
Mai says “Being trained as a set designer, I see my work as being like a scene without actors, for which people can conjure up their own stories.”
We are hugely impressed with the quality of Mai’s print portfolio. She demonstrates amazing technical ability and flair for someone who has reasonably recently started printmaking.
“I have been enjoying my residency at Ochre Print Studio. It is such a friendly environment. In my other life I mainly work from home as an illustrator and it is easy to adopt a narrow focus but being in the studio, I meet people carrying out all different kinds of work and even just chatting with everyone is inspiring. I am very fortunate to be resident in a year when the studio has just opened a new etching facility and I have been experimenting with etching techniques, using copper and aluminum plates at the moment. At the same time, I am hoping to establish which technique best suits my future projects so that by the end of the residency I can go forth with confidence.”
