©"Gyotaku" Fish Printing

©"Gyotaku," oil on rice paper, 1998, Clarissa

The Japanese prints of fish are called  Gyotaku  (pronounced gee-yo-tah-koo), which literally translates to "fish" (gyo) and "rubbing" (taku). This traditional Japanese art form began in the early 19th century as a practical way for fishermen to record the size and details of their catches before photography was widely available.

While teaching art weekly to my children's classes and also as a paid Art Teacher, one of the favorite lesson was always the "Fish Printing." Year after year, it was always the same response to touching a fish; the Boy's-ooh gross!, and sat there in discuss,. The girls-very cool and came right up to the table to help prepare the fish by gently washing it with cleanser to remove the slime coat or mucus and spread the fins and set them with long quilting pins to dry. By then the boys were not going to be shown up by the girls and they jump right in to jointhe hands on of, "Gyotaku," Fish Printing.

When the fish was dry, we would oil paint all over one side, making sure to get the fins covered with paint as well. Then we carefully laid a piece of rice paper on the fish and rubbed gently so that the paint transferred to the paper. Then we removed the rice paper from the fish, and tacked it to the wall to dry for about three weeks to allow the oil paint to cure. Well, the other classes all wanted to do the same Fish Printing art project, so I ended up going to the local fish market in Lancaster, CA, a few too many times to get the Tilapia Fish where the Butcher started to cut the head off. I asked for the head to stay on and the store Owner had been there on the fourth trip in and asked what are you doing with all these fish? I said, we are doing fish prints at school. Well, he screamed at me, “YOU’RE WASTING FOOD!” The Owner continued to scream at me to get out of his store and I was never allowed to come back in to his store again!

Now many people can say they've been kick out of a business for wanting to do art with something they paid for?

To see us in the National Museum of Women Artist, please visit the Clara Database (please copy and paste and allow time for loading): https://wayback.archive-it.org/2972/20181114151849/http:/clara.nmwa.org/

The Clara Data Base is very old and no longer being updated, however we are there🤩