NoBA Artspaces welcomes Michele Kishita back to Philadelphia after her OCHO artist residency in Questa, New Mexico. Her newest prints, influenced by the light, air, landscape, and lived experience of her environment, have their first viewing in these galleries. They appear quite distinct from other works in her production, as they respond to entirely different physical, geographic, and climatic contexts. Juxtaposed with her recent paintings on wood panel that collectively describe the pale freeze of mid-winter; the new growth of spring; the calm and fluidity of bodies of water at specific moments of the day; and the interplay of light, shadow, and speed recalling movement through the urban landscape, Kishita’s prints, reflecting the heat -- and the chill -- of the mountainous American southwest, expand our range of reactions to the spaces we inhabit.

Stylistically, Kishita’s work is deeply influenced by the strong lines and compressed space of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints, particularly the landscapes and natural world imagery of Hiroshige and Hokusai. In addition to creating her own work, Kishita is a Japanese print consultant who authenticates, translates, and appraises woodblock prints.