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My artistic vision focuses on authentic expression, the continuation of technical printmaking traditions, and arts education.

Nichol Markowitz - Imagination Fund Proposal

Education is a core part of my practice and I regularly teach workshops at the print shop I co-founded, Moonlight Press. Mokuhanga is my favorite print medium to teach not only for its aesthetic beauty, deep cultural history, traditional materials and techniques. Perhaps most importantly, because mokuhanga is non-toxic and doesn’t require the use of a press or other specialized machinery, it empowers my students can continue to making prints from anywhere.

Workshops

Technical Mastery and the continuation of printmaking traditions through education, documentation, and accessibility.

Project Proposal

My personal artistic practice is multifaceted, ranging from ink paintings to ceramic sculptures. For my Imagination Fund proposal, I am focusing on my mokuhanga woodblock prints and my collage work that employs Japanese mounting and backing techniques.

Portfolio

Two of the primary techniques/mediums that I employ in my work are: mokuhanga (Japanese water based woodblock printing) and Japanese scroll mounting techniques. Each process consists of many steps and is often laborious and time consuming, although much of this labor is invisible in the final product. Because these processes are such an essential component of my practice, I believe it’s essential to give the viewer a window into how the work is created.

Process

Artist, Collaborative Printer, Master Printer and Co-Founder of Moonlight Press

Nichol Markowitz is an artist and master printer specializing in mokuhanga woodblock printing, copper plate etching, and traditional Japanese scroll-mounting techniques. Since graduating with her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2007, she has continued to hone her craft at the professional level, executing print projects for artists including Judy Pfaff, Joyce Kozloff, Nicola Lopez, Sandow Birk, Lothar Osterberg, Emilie Clark, Max Gimblett, and Katsura Funakoshi, Swoon, and Artemio Rodriguez. For the past 10 years she has been the art director and master printer for Oakland-based artist Favianna Rodriguez. Recently, Nichol completed her graduate studies, earning a Masters in Modern and Contemporary Art History from Azusa Pacific University in the Spring of 2022. In 2023, she co-founded Moonlight Press, a fine art printmaking based project space that publishes original printed editions with artists, offers a rotating variety of unique workshops, as well as contract fine art printing and plate making services.