Paper Snow

Micah Schwaberow

Micah Schwaberow noted that "Paper Snow" is related to the village of Miasa, Japan (Jaramillo p. 167). After some research, it appears that Schwaberow chose to depict part of the 17th century thatched-roofed "hemp house," a roadside inn and safe house built in Miasa in 1698 for samurai to rest or to avoid detection. The structure is made entirely out of hemp, save for the beams, and it remains standing today. In Schwaberow's color woodcut, the roof is dusted in snow, the carved wooden beam and low overhang of the entryway offering spots of color in this quiet, wintery scene.

Though he hadn't yet been to Japan when he made this print, he had been taking color woodcut courses in the California town of Mendocino, the sister city of Miasa, and found great inspiration from the teachers who visited from the region. By 1981, he had decided to attend an intensive woodcut workshop in Miasa, and spent two years learning Japanese with his wife before their departure. This color woodcut course would ultimately lead to his move to Nagai for a year to study with master printmaker Toshi Yoshida, cementing Schwaberow's path as a dedicated color woodcut printmaker.

Miasa was incorporated into Omachi city, Nagano Prefecture, in 2006. A student exchange program with the city of Mendocino continues today.