About Elizabeth Forrest

I began printmaking as a student of Frederick Hagan at the Ontario College of Art in the 70’s after completing a BA at York University, Toronto. A few years after graduating from OCA,  I was hired there as a part time printmaking instructor for about 7 years.  During this time I created work in the OCA shop and later, in my own lithography equipped studio on downtown Temperance Street.  Post graduation, I worked at Open Studio, a fine print facility in Toronto, with whom I’ve maintained an association till the present.

Beginning to work almost exclusively in oilbased  woodcut in 1983, I was fortunate to be included in some significant exhibitions in the 80’s both in Toronto and nationally. However in 1988, I left Toronto to “spend a year” in Japan researching Japanese woodblock or mokuhanga at Seika University in Kyoto, with Akira Kurosaki. This turned into a stay of 11 years a time during which my practice matured and I had many opportunities to exhibit in Japan.

Since coming back to Toronto I have concentrated on mokuhanga exclusively to develop expertise in the medium.  Without a doubt, once you understand the basics it’s all about placing your own demands on the medium and… practice.

In the past few years, I have also attempted to engage internationally with artists who work in mokuhanga by producing two exhibitions. The first at The Japan Foundation Toronto, October 2008 where I combined forces with colleagues and the superb staff at the JFTO to produce a top quality exhibition. Information about the show can be reached through the link Mokuhanga Toronto 2008 on this blog. The second exhibition sprung out of an acceptance of a proposal for a dual presentation with April Vollmer of New York City, of  mokuhanga techniques for Open Studio’s Printopolis conference in October 2010.

Worldwide, artists are being increasingly attracted to  mokuhanga for many reasons not the least of which is the independence the artist has from the use of a press, and it’s non- toxic materials. For many, it also offers  exciting new challenges both aesthetically and technically.  This reminds me in a way of the excitement one felt about printmaking, back in the early 70’s when artists everywhere were engaging in printmaking as a formative discipline for the first time.

For more details on my career please see CV section of my website.