Impressed by Idealism

Putting a happy stamp on the Arts & Crafts Movement

Signed, limited-edition woodblock print of the Grove Park Inn, designed and carved by Yoshiko Yamamoto. The 14-color polymer blocks were made from hand-cut stencils by Taylor Cox at Arts & Crafts Press. 

As a child in Tokyo, Yoshiko Yamamoto was constantly sketching. She drew more than 600 species of animals, and still considers that endeavor some of her best artistic training. She also spent hours mesmerized by the craftsmanship of traditional carpenters in her father’s construction company as they cut, shaved, and shaped wood by hand. Those are some of her fondest childhood memories, and when Yamamoto attended the University of Tokyo, she majored in art and specialized in wooden sculpture. She continued her education in California, studying music and history and graduating from Berkeley. 

But she became disillusioned by the prevalent approaches to art. “It seemed that to be successful, you had to produce things that were epoch-making or shocking,” she notes. Around that time, she and her husband, writer Bruce Smith, became acutely interested in the Arts & Crafts movement of the 19th century. They were attracted to the movement’s idealism and rejection of shoddy products mass-produced in factories, and delved into the writings of its pioneering leader, William Morris. Yamamoto and Smith authored several books about the historic movement, and in 1996 they launched the Arts & Crafts Press — primarily to publish related materials. 

Waterlilies I, a triptych based on Yamamoto’s childhood memories of a koi pond at her grandmother’s home in Northern Japan.

“Since we were foolishly young and idealistic,” Yamamoto reminisces, “we bought a 100-year-old printing press, printed each page by hand, and bound each publication with needle and thread.” They also printed Yamamoto’s artwork. “One day,” she says, “I began experimenting making small greeting cards, using a set of carved linoleum blocks I created. I loved the melding of the art and craft in this type of printmaking. The whole process was something I was always looking for as an artist.”

She adds, “Luckily for me, the greeting cards and larger woodblock prints became more popular each year, and eventually became the mainstay of the Arts & Crafts Press.” 

Three Sisters, Morning Reflection. The artist describes the print as a “tribute to the end of summer days,” from a scene at Scott Lake in Oregon.

The printing process begins outdoors, with Yamamoto creating pencil-and-pen sketches to which she applies watercolors. “That is really important for me … it is sort of like a dialogue with nature.” She transfers the images to a linoleum block for carving, then applies inks and presses paper onto the block to capture the image, using multiple color blocks that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle for sequential printing.

Arts & Crafts Press sells art prints, notecards, tiles, and other items, and Yamamoto has created commissioned work for clients including the Gamble House National Historic Register, Patagonia Books, and the Disney Grand Californian Hotel. Her latest major project is illustrating the utopian novel News from Nowhere, originally published by William Morris in 1890. She’ll speak about Morris’ continued relevance in February at the 36th Annual National Arts & Crafts Conference at Asheville’s Omni Grove Park Inn.

Kelmscott Manor, multi-color woodblock print depicting the rural English farmhouse of textile designer William Morris, the idealistic motivator of the Arts & Crafts movement. 

Meanwhile, she has achieved a sort of utopia of her own: “I always wanted to make something that made me happy, made other people happy, and had really good craftsmanship.”

Yoshiko Yamamoto, Kamakura, Japan. The artist will deliver an address, “Why William Morris today? Art, Craft and Pursuit of Happiness for the 21st Century” at the 36th Annual National Arts & Crafts Conference at Asheville’s Omni Grove Park Inn happening Friday, Feb. 17 through Sunday, Feb. 19. See arts-craftsconference.com for event details and artsandcraftspress.com for more information about the artist.

0 replies on “Impressed by Idealism”