Hi friends! I'm happy to announce that my prints are now available again for purchase online. I've moved my prints to this website and no longer have them available through Etsy. This is new so please be sure to let me know if you have any problems with your purchases or if you just have questions about the prints. To view and purchase prints, click on the "Shop" tab above or simply click here.
I have spent quite a bit of time trying to decide if my artwork should be separate from my acupuncture practice (a different website etc.). My prints and sketches are an integral part of my practice of Chinese medicine and so, in the end, I have decided to keep them together online. (For a great piece on the arts and Chinese medicine, see Sunjae Lee's blog on Chinese Medicine Central entitled "5 Reasons Why Every Chinese Medicine Practitioner Should Take the Arts Seriously".) Although I have always engaged in the creative arts, it was through the study of Classical Chinese medicine that my art has gained focus and discipline. In turn, the practice of printmaking is a meditative experience that strengthens my mind and hands.
My prints are actually the ongoing results of an engagement with the materia medica. Each print represents months of study of an individual herb and its uses in the classical formulas (Jinggui yao lue, Shanghan lun, and the shennong). When possible, I have spent time observing the live plant and the dried plant parts used medicinally. I research images in various databases online and in texts such as Chinese Medicinal Identification: An Illustrated Approach. In most cases I have also tasted the individual plant and taken the plant myself in a formula. I expect that, as such, my understanding of each of these plants will grow and future prints will reflect new understandings.
Click here for a short, low resolution demonstration video! (This is me making the trio block print that is for sale in the "Shop".)
Each print, in its composition, reflects key learnings. For instance, the gui zhi print is on green paper reflecting the wood quality of the herb. The leaves of the cinnamon tree are given prominence as a symbolic representation of the outward directionality and the surface relieving properties of gui zhi. These qualities will be of interest to the practitioner of Chinese medicine, but it is my hope that their patients will also benefit from the medicinal nature of the prints.
Lastly, I hope that the prints are generally pleasing to the average viewer as well. While my niche is scholars and practitioners of Chinese medicine, I hope that the beauty of these plants shows through my work and appeals to anyone who loves plants and print work!
Next up is a collaborative organ clock (with drawings from Mark Iwanicki) based on the meridian flow as well as the final two herbs from gui zhi tang (ginger root and da zao). I look forward to personally packaging each print with a personal thanks to you!
