February Monthly Challenge

Heijinja, 1941

Tōshi Yoshida
Woodblock Print
(Please note this art is copyrighted and is to be used only as inspiration.)

About the Art

The woodblocks for this print are generally reported as having been carved by Toshi Yoshida himself.

Fresh woodblock prints by Toshi Yoshida are few. The Yoshida estate is no longer printing blocksigned posthumous work; decades ago the original blocks became too worn to use. Pristine handsigned woodblock prints by Master Yoshida are even more rare.

When these scarce treasures are gone, they will not be replaced.

Shin Hanga & Sosaku Hanga 

The shin hanga (literally "new prints") art movement of the early 20th century C.E. in Japan, revitalized traditional ukiyo-e art which had its roots in the 17th through early 19th centuries C.E., maintaining the traditional ukiyo-e collaborative system (hanmoto system) in which the artist, carver, printer and publisher engaged in a division of labor, as opposed to the sōsaku hanga ("creative prints") movement which advocated the principles of jiga ("self-drawn"), jijoku ("self-carved") and jizuri ("self-printed"), in which the artist, with the desire of expressing the self, is the sole creator of art. 

About the Artist


Born in Tokyo, the eldest son of renowned painter and woodblock print artist Hiroshi Yoshida(1876-1950) and artist Fujio Yoshida (1887-1987), Toshi Yoshida was raised immersed in art. Branching into other media, later generations have continued to burnish the Yoshida family legacy of art.
From as early as the age of three, Toshi Yoshida showed exceptional talent in woodblock print design, amazing and delighting his father. Together father and son traveled widely in East Asia, completing sketching tours of India, Burma, and Ceylon by the time the younger Yoshida was twenty.
After attending the School of the Pacific Arts Association, seeking new subject matter, Toshi Yoshida resumed travels which took him to the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Antarctica. Throughout Master Yoshida's world-wide travels he held woodblock print exhibitions and found himself in demand as a speaker. Toshi Yoshida and his wife artist Kiso Yoshida (1919-2005) welcomed young artists from around the world to their studio in Japan.
Inspired by the Mendocino Art Center where he lived and taught in 1971, Master Yoshida founded the Miasa Bunka Center International Hanga Academy in Miasa, Nagano-ken on Japan's main island, Honshu. Since the Bunka Center's founding in 1980, Miasa (now Miasa-Omachi) and Mendocino have been sister cities.
In addition to shin hanga ("new prints"), which draw inspiration from the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the 18th and 19th centuries C.E., and employ the same traditional production methods, Master Yoshida distinguished himself as a modern sosaku hanga ("creative prints") artist. His images span traditional Japanese cultural subjects, evocative abstract work and powerful depictions of animals in their natural habitats.
As with the work of his father Hiroshi Yoshida, Toshi Yoshida's woodblock prints are not only treasured in Japan, but have an international reputation for excellence, hanging in the permanent collections of the world's leading museums, including the New York Museum of Modern Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

- Carol Goodwin Blick (2008)

Blog Tour

The Blog Tour deadline is February 26th.

Links must be added to the Art Bead Scene flickr page where you upload your entry. 

The Blog Tour will be on February 28th.

Monthly Challenge Winners

Winners will be randomly chosen from all the qualifying entries on February 1st.

Our Sponsors

Our Sponsors this month are Kabs Creative Concepts and BeadyGirl Beads.

Please visit us tomorrow to see the prizes!

Featured Designer of the Week:

From all the entries during the month, an editor is going to pick their favorite design to be featured every Monday here on ABS. We want to give our participants more time in the spotlight! Our Featured Designer will be this Monday, so get those entries in soon.

How to enter the Monthly Challenge:

1. Create something using an art bead that fits within our monthly theme. We post the art to be used as your inspiration to create. This challenge is open to jewelry-makers, fiber artists, collage artist, etc. The art bead can be created by you or someone else. The challenge is to inspire those who use art beads and to see all the different ways art beads can be incorporated into your handiwork. 
An Art Bead must be used in your piece to qualify for the monthly challenge.

***Beads strung on a chain, by themselves and beads simply wire or cord will not be accepted.***

2. Upload your photo to our flickr group. Detailed instructions can be found here and click here for a tutorial for sending your picture to the group.

Please add the tag or title FEB ABS to your photos. Include a short description, who created the art beads and a link to your blog, if you have one.

Deadline is January 31st. Photos are approved by our moderators, if a photo hasn't followed the guidelines it will not be approved. You may upload 2 photos a day.

What is an Art Bead?

An art bead is a bead, charm, button or finding made by an independent artist. Art beads are the vision and handiwork of an individual artist. You can read more about art beads here.

***A bead that is handmade is not necessarily an art bead. Hill Tribe Silver, Kazuri ceramic beads or lampwork beads made in factories are examples of handmade beads that are not considered art beads.

Beaded beads, stamped metal pendants or wire-wrapped components are not considered art beads for our challenge.***

p.s. If you have a blog, post your entry and a link to the ABS challenge to spread the beady goodness.