In celebration of 2006 and the Year of the Dog, Deep Roots Urban Teahouse in Oakland, California will host Year of the Dog and Other Animals: an exhibition of linocuts and letterpress by wasabi press. This zodiac animal themed exhibition will open with a lively public reception on Thursday, January 5, 2006 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.. The exhibition continues through Friday, February 1, 2006.

Patricia Wakida is the proprietor of wasabi press, a tiny green Chandler and Price platen letterpress stashed away in her garage studio in Oakland. She is a yonsei (fourth-generation Japanese American), born in the Year of the Dog, and has cut her teeth in the book arts and printing business as an apprentice papermaker in Gifu, Japan and as with letterpress printer and hand bookbinders, the Arts and Crafts Press in Berkeley. Examples of her whimsical linoleum block prints and letterpress books have appeared in exhibitions at the Mission Cultural Center, SOMArts Gallery, New Langton Arts, the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles, the San Francisco Center for the Book, Mills College, the San Francisco Main Public Library, and at Post, Poster, Postest in Tokyo.

Deep Roots Urban Teahouse is located in the Fruitvale district of Oakland, at 1418 34th Avenue and International Boulevard. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Deep Roots is closed on Mondays.
The exhibit and opening reception is free and open to the public. For more information please call 510-261-1573 or visit http://wasabipress.blogspot.com/