Captivating Woodblock Prints from Artists Based in Portland, Japan, and Across the U.S.
Portland, ORE., United States—March 5, 2026—Portland Japanese Garden is excited to announce its first new art exhibition of 2026: Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints. Opening Saturday, March 7 and running through Monday, June 15, this exhibition reveals how the centuries-old tradition of mokuhanga,Japanese-style woodblock printmaking, is experiencing a contemporary revival as artists around the world use the artform’s quiet power and unique characteristics to create captivating works of art.
Mokuhanga has been embraced as an environmentally friendly art form that traditionally uses wood, water-based pigments, and paper made from plant fibers. The exhibition’s featured artists are among the growing international movement where meticulously crafted art prints incorporating these traditional tools and techniques are complemented by alternative printmaking technologies and strategies for contemporary expression. Across the galleries at Portland Japanese Garden, Enduring Impressions presents an eclectic range of contemporary prints, alongside a behind-the-scenes look at the process, history and future of this iconic art form.
This exhibition marks the Garden’s first collaboration with the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) and is co-curated by Stephen Salel, the Museum’s Robert F. Lange Curator of Japanese Art. In the Garden’s Pavilion Gallery, six of the original artists who participated in HoMA’s 2025 iteration of this exhibition will be featured. Joining them will be Portland-based illustrator and printmaker,Aya Morton, whose mokuhanga-inspired prints merge silkscreen with relief printing processes to produce beautifully rendered scenes of the Pacific Northwest.
Meanwhile, the Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Gallery will offer a glimpse at the diverse accomplishments of this printmaking tradition through the remarkable work of two pivotal artists: Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), one of Japan’s most iconic artists of the 20th century, and Portland-born Richard Diebenkorn (1922–1993), a prominent American Abstract Expressionist. Though visually distinct, their prints are nonetheless linked across time and space by the meticulous collaborative craftsmanship and expert-driven processes at the heart of traditional mokuhanga.
Major support has been provided by Jordan Schnitzer and The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, and Oregon Arts Commission. Additional support has been provided by the Robert F. Lange Foundation. The Tanabe Gallery portion of Enduring Impressions was made possible through support from The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints and The Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.
Event Information
Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints
3/7/2026 – 06/15/2026
Portland Japanese Garden
611 SW Kingston Ave. Portland, OR 97205
(503) 223-1321 (main)
Cost: Included with Daily Admission
Hours & Admission found here
Visual Assets
Images can be found in this Dropbox folder. A document is included providing credit information.
Media Contact
Will Lerner, Marketing and Communications Manager
(503) 542-9351 (office)
wlerner@japanesegarden.org
About Portland Japanese Garden
Portland Japanese Garden is a nonprofit organization originally founded in 1963 as a place for cross-cultural understanding following World War II. A hallmark in the City of Portland, the Garden was founded on the ideals of peace and mutual understanding between peoples and cultures. Portland Japanese Garden is considered the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan and the foremost Japanese cultural organization in North America.
About Japan Institute
Japan Institute was established in 2020 as a global cultural initiative of Portland Japanese Garden. This sibling organization is the programmatic arm of Portland Japanese Garden, allowing us to share and expand our cultural programs more broadly around the world, deepen international partnerships, and continue to engage diverse people in shared experiences and conversations about peace, beauty, and connection of nature.
Portland Japanese Garden & Japan Institute share the mission: Inspiring Harmony and Peace.