Drawing Attention to the States of Change with Yoonmi Nam

The Print Cast

Artist and professor Yoonmi Nam comes on the podcast to discuss her art, collaborations, exhibitions, and more. Nam is a professor at KU in Lawrence, KS, and we discuss her inspiration that comes from the world around her including her neighborhood and kitchen table. Nam is a lithographer, and Moku Hanga artist, and connects her passion for technical processes with content that speaks to ephemerality and convenience. Most of her art examines liminal spaces between states of change, and contradictions that exist in the things we use like how we use "disposable" goods packaged in plastics that will be around for the next 10,000 years. Her collaborative group Wood/Paper/Box is a long running project between three artists and we discuss how the group works together while apart, and upcoming shows and travel that connect to the work of the artist trio. Today's Let's Get Technical dives into damp pack paper storage, which you may need someday...maybe.
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Today's discussion involves:
How art resembling takeout food takes on new meaning in the pandemic world.
Toile wallpaper
SGCI New Orleans - print exchange
How construction and decay often look similar.
Living in a run down neighborhood where new development impacts the vintage neighborhood.
Flavor Paper - Brooklyn custom screen printed wallpaper
Mustard Seed Garden Manual for Painting
Wood/Paper/Box - a collaborative group where three artists exchange art works.
Moku Hanga Conference in Japan
All works during one project are contained into one box and become an exhibition.
Next exhibition of group due to happen in 2021 at The Beach Museum in Manhattan, KS
They are creating a custom edition as part of the show.
Their projects are interactive to view because they have to be taken from the box, handled, and moved around to view all the contents.
We talk about GAMPI!!! A favorite paper. So delicate, and yet so strong.
She started making sculptural objects in response to paper prints.
She likes to think about time in materials
The contradiction that disposable things are made in ultra-durable materials like plastic
Studying Moku Hanga in Japan
Viewing Mt. Fuji in daily life while in Japan
Doing a print residency in Japan learning Moku Hanga

Let’s Get Technical
Using a Damp Pack:
Moku Hanga paper is typically prepared so that it is moist before printing
How to dampen your printing paper, not fully wet, but moist and ready to take ink
Using damp newsprint, and a sheet of plastic of trash bag
Taking humidity and paper thickness into account
Maintain right amount of moisture throughout editioning
Don’t leave it sit for too many days, or the damp pack can grow bacteria and ruin paper