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Community Conversation
YOU ASKED!
We've had so many people ask for more Community Conversations that we will be scheduling several of them throughout the year. Keep an eye on our social media and here to see when they will happen.
Community Conversations is a free, public forum for sharing and learning more about pigments. Everyone, even if they haven't even met a pigment yet, is welcome to join us for a friendly, fascinating and fun discussion in which people from around the globe share their pigment stories and adventures, ask and answer questions, and connect with other pigment people.
This is always a casual, come-as-you-are, gathering that we do not record.
We look forward to seeing YOU there!
Saturday March 21, 12pm Pacific time (convert time zones here)
We record all PRI events except Community Conversations.
All of more than 50 recordings of past PRI events are
available in the videos sections of our Resources page.
NEW DATE!
Judith's talk has been rescheduled for July 18th.
Due to the date change, new registration is necessary.
The Allure of Nihonga: A Pigment Perspective
In this presentation, Judith Kruger explores the distinctive materials and techniques of Nihonga through the lens of Japanese pigments. Nihonga, (Nihon-Japan, ga-painting), emerged in the late 19th century during the Meiji period as a response to the growing influence of Western-style oil painting (yōga). Rooted in tradition yet shaped by modernization, Nihonga developed into a major movement within modern Japanese art.
Central to this tradition is its highly refined, extensive mineral pigment gradation system. Natural minerals are carefully ground, levigated and micronized into 15 different particle sizes, from coarse crystalline grains to fine powders. These grades determine luminosity, texture, and tonal subtlety, with coarser particles producing darker hues and finer particles yielding softer, lighter hues. Rather than relying on color mixing, Nihonga artists build depth, hue and saturation through precise layering. Transparent animal-glue binders suspend pigments while preserving their natural clarity. More than any other historical pigment painting practice, natural pigments from shell, earth, mineral and plant pigments are selected and finessed for their unique individual and collective material qualities: ultimately contributing to the medium’s restrained beauty and visual complexity. Synthetic Japanese pigments are also available today, featuring colors and effects that are not necessarily found in nature.
pigments talk
Saturday, July 18
12pm Pacific
(convert time zones here)
