Trip To India

In December 2024, I visited the cottage industry of Mr. Mukesh Prajapati in Ahmedabad, India. Mr. Prajapati is widely known and was highly recommended to me by several folks, so I spent about two weeks learning the basics of hand carving teak wood blocks. Blocks are used by textile and paper printers. The deep ridges in Mr. Prajapati 's blocks means they can be used for years before they wear out. Carving in teak is a very precise and time consuming process, and his methods are largely unchanged over several decades. Mr. Prajapati has won accolades from the Indian and Australian governments for his craft and has been invited to demonstrate his skills overseas. It is heartening that his two sons and a nephew are continuing this tradition, and are all master carvers. While they were able to teach me all the basics and I carved several blocks during my stint, it takes about three years to become a master carver. I hope to return and also to invite them to share their craft with us in future. Watching and learning from them was a treat, and left me wanting to learn more.

UpStart

To accelerate growing my business I entered into MICA’s UpStart competition and made it to the final 8 competitors, now it’s time for lessons, workshops and mentoring to refine my plan and get my business successful. Were not merely preserving woodblock printing; they’re

revolutionizing who gets to participate in its continuation. This duality—honoring tradition while democratizing access—creates a distinctive territory. Even deeper, you offers the human chain of memory. Memory that sustains identity across oceans and generations. Between preservation and revolution, you continue a story that began centuries before you and will whisper long after you’re gone, inviting people to become part of something that masters time. (Developed in partnership with Denae Creative Co)

Maryland Folk Fest

In summer, the State of Maryland hosts a large heritage arts & crafts fair in Salisbury (mdfolkfest.com) annually. In 2024, I was invited as a heritage woodblock printer-artist to demonstrate and share this art form. Our team spent 3 days teaching about 100 people to print on fabric. We sized and pre-dyed bags and aprons, which people could print with designs they chose from about 100 woodblocks I had on hand. It was a fun activity for all ages (6 to 86), and I was gratified and thrilled to be invited. The arrangements were superb. I especially enjoyed the day-long performances on three stages, as well as the artists and crafters who displayed and sold hand-created pieces of pottery, wearables, glassworks, jewelry, and a host of other art forms. Demonstrations included fabric dyeing, basket weaving, glassworks, and even oyster shucking! Salisbury is a lovely small town on the eastern shore of Maryland. I will visit again in future, and encourage all to visit and make a nice weekend experience of it.