Introduction | Index All the print news that fits!

Neighbourly

(2001) 'Neighbourly' is a small two-minute 'sandwich' program designed to fill space in a TV schedule; they try to show people in relation to their local society. It's a very compressed, but quite well done, view of my life here in Ome ... (They also - I think to give a bit of a 'foreign and exotic' feel to the program - asked me to speak in English, not Japanese!) (2 minutes ... about 2.8Mb)

TV Listings

The 'Woodblock Shimbun' has a full selection of TV programs on file. Videos available include some of David's news appearances, complete feature programs, and some short documentaries on his work. The files are in QuickTime format, and can be easily viewed with your browser.
Program listings are on the Index page ...

Enchanting Japan

Colourful woodblock prints - for people all over the world, to hear this phrase is to think of Japan. Japan has a long history of woodblock printing, or hanga, originally for illustrations for books. By the late seventeenth century, hanga in the ukiyo-e style came into its own as an art form, and prints came to be appreciated on their own merits. The many woodblock prints that accurately depict life in the Edo period are excellent examples of this tradition. Whether a print of a geisha, a kabuki actor strutting on stage, or even a completely modern image, the woodblock printing technique seems to provide the perfect means of expression to capture the essence of things Japanese. (1998)
Full Story.

Carving a Career From an Ancient Japanese Craft

David Bull, a 41-year-old Canadian university dropout born in England who used to program computers and play the flute on the street, anticipates one day finding himself revered as a master practicioner of an ancient Japanese craft. But it took him 35 years to hit upon that uncommon ambition. (1993)
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A Traditional Woodblock Printer

Surrounded by carving tools, brushes and bowls of pigment, he spends hours absorbed in the exacting work that has become both a passion and a ten-year project. A Canadian who moved to Tokyo in 1986, David Bull has made an extensive effort to learn and practice woodblock printmaking as it was mastered in Edo-era Japan. He is currently producing a series of woodblock prints using designs by the famous Ukiyo-e artist Katsukawa Shunsho. The theme is the 100 poets of old Japan (Hyakunin Isshu) and in four years he has completed 40 of them. He expects to finish the collection in 1998. (1992)
Full Story.