Kristina Hagman at her dining room table, on the wall, four of her woodblock Prints: "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Rainier"
Last week I visited Kristina Hagman at her studio in Seattle to talk with her about her new work. Kristinas’ Woodblock Print “Night” is on the cover of the new DANIEL SMITH 2009-2010 Reference Catalog.  This Woodblock Print is just one from her series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Rainier”, inspired by Hokusai and his series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. Kristina also wrote an article for DANIEL SMITH about how she was inspired by Mt Rainier and Hokusai to make this series that you can read here
Print & woodblocks from Kristina Hagman's "View from Georgetown"
In The Studio, Kristina first showed me the four woodblocks she used for the print “View from Georgetown“. We talked about the peculiar cloud formation that occurs over Mt Rainier, called lenticular clouds that look kind of like UFO’s. Kristina has carved one of the lenticular clouds into the woodblock which is appropriate for a view from Georgetown, which is a quirky little Artist community just about 2 miles southeast from the DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store. Kristina told me that she began working with DANIEL SMITH Printmaking Inks in 1983 when she was in New Mexico studying printmaking, funny how she now has one of her prints 26 years later on the cover of a DANIEL SMITH Catalog!Â
Kristina Hagman with Progressive Prints of "Dawn"
Kristina showed me a set of Progressive Prints of her print “Dawn” which is basically the print deconstructed. Each paper is of just one of the woodblock prints with it’s particular ink color. If you *click* on the link to see the print, you will see subtle “waves” in the water of Lake Washington, those “waves” are actually the wood-grain of that particular woodblock. That was an artistic decision to choose a woodblock that had wood-grain that resembles waves, and to incorporate that wood-graining into the print. It takes careful printmaking to bring out the wood-grain. You can see some wood-grain in the sky of “Night” which is on the cover of the DANIEL SMITH 2009-2010 Reference Catalog, they echo the general shapes of the night clouds.
Kristina Hagman working at her lectern carving on her new untitled woodblock of Beacon Hill transformers and power lines with Mt Rainier in the background
Next Kristina showed me her wood cutting tools nestled in a nifty segmented box, a cigar box/tray that someone gave her. I asked Kristina where she actually worked when carving the woodblocks and it turns out to be a lectern that she picked up at a thrift store. It’s the perfect height for Kristina to stand at to carve. Kristina picked up one of her woodcutting tools and began to carve the woodblock laying on the lectern to show me how she works. That woodblock is an interesting one with Mt Rainier in the background of the Giant Transformers and Power Lines that run along the spine of Beacon Hill. Below those power lines is a Park/Trail called Chief Sealth Trail. It’s interesting to know that Seattle City Light has purchased, for their Arts Collection, some of Kristina’s prints from this series, since those power lines in this new print belong to Seattle City Light.
