Jim Yano was born and raised on Oʻahu."The paper I use is made in Japan and sold by Washi Art and yes the red mark is my signature hand carved into soapstone, called a chop." It is typically the way artists from Asia sign their work, though usually they actually carve out the character in their native language. "All of my work is linoleum block printing, a technique I learned as a kid in the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I typically sketch out the subject on a mounted linoleum block and cut the design out by hand using wood carving tools. In such a design, what I cut out translates to white space, so what I leave on the block is what gets printed. Once the design is cut, I ink the block, place the mulberry paper over it and burnish it using a baren so that the ink transfers to the paper. It is an old world technique and very labor intensive. Some block print artists merely print a single block and then duplicate that design photographically through a technique called giclee, which is basically what a color printer does, but I print purely by hand. I do not use a press, either, because this way each print is unique. In some, the ink goes on heavier; in others, lighter. This way the viewer sees the pure effort of the artist's hand, not a machine duplicate. A potter whose work and opinion I always respected taught me a long time ago that art is in the imperfection, and that is really the essence of art. It is only through the imperfection that we come to catch a glimpse of the artist's spirit."