Dennis Ichiyama

I discovered the work of artist, Purdue professor, and print-maker Dennis Ichiyama during my first trip to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum a few years ago. Since then, I have seen more of it at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and again on my second visit to Hamilton.

Ichiyama is less concerned with the words and more with the shapes of letters and how color can be used in interesting ways. You can see several of his works here and even more of them here, but I've also shot (marginal) photos of two pieces that are on display at Hamilton to give you an idea of how beautiful they are.


I don't know what this one means, but I love the overlaid transparent inks.


Although Ichiyama says his work is about shapes and colors, this print is also pretty clever -- created for the fifth anniversary of the Hamilton in 2004, its "wooden anniversary."