As part of the Museum’s Winter Lecture Series, Dinah Bowman spoke on Feb. 6, 2023, about the history of Gyotaku.
About Dinah Bowman
A fish print — almost perfect, so distinct, such detail. The Japanese call it GYOTAKU.
Technically, it’s a relief monoprint. Learning GYOTAKU from Japanese masters in the late 60s, Dinah has returned several times to Japan to show her work and continue her nature printing education. Her work is included in the Smithsonian permanent collection and was chosen to travel throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia with the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service. GYOTAKU art pieces can feature a single fisherman’s catch or nature scene with plants, animals, invertebrates and jetty rocks — all printed. More recently, bright abstract paintings with GYOTAKU collaged into the design — visual images exciting and challenging for Dinah to create and her collectors to enjoy.
This journey started over 50 years ago with a B.A. in marine science/chemistry, a M.A. in art/terrestrial biology, and a three-year commission with Texas A&M Press to illustrate FISHES OF THE GULF OF MEXICO. Upon completion, she opened her gallery in 1979 in Portland, Texas. Other commissions followed with the U. S. Navy, E.P.A., National Park Service, TxDot ferries and highway art, the Texas General Land Office, the National Assoc. for Soil and Water Stewardship, Geological Societies in Corpus Christi and Houston, and a two-month voyage aboard the JOIDES RESOLUTION — a deep ocean research drilling ship.
Learning new techniques and more about nature has been a continuing passion. Master SCUBA Diver, Master Naturalist, 2x President of the Nature Printing Society, Assoc. of Biological Illustrators, Certified Picture Framer, taking watercolor, collage and nature printing workshops around the world, fishing and diving everywhere else have contributed to the journey. Dinah now has a “bucket list” of critters she wishes to pursue in 2019 it was an exhibition and printing trip in New Zealand, before that it was piranhas in the Amazon and a Nile Perch in Egypt, the future – a really BIG Halibut in Alaska, a Roosterfish in Costa Rica — the journey never ends.
“My success has not come from painting one picture. It has been a building — step by step against great odds.”
