Digital Printing Technology Meets Art: A Vibrant Spectacle of Color.

Heather Ujiie – Cry Wolf  

2008 Digital inkjet print on cotton,

7 panels: 48"w x132"h.

Installation @ 40 ft wide x 11 ft high.

The Galleries at Moore

20th Street and the Parkway

Philadelphia PA 19103

September 11 – October 17, 2009 

Philadelphia University's adjunct professor of Print Design, 

Heather Ujiie, creates large-scale allegorical designs that are digitally 

printed on fabric. Her new work on view at Moore is based on a 19th 

century Toile de Jouy textile where she isolates a single scene from a 

repeat pattern and manipulates its color, scale, and surface, to print a 

magical neon world of mystery and conflict. 

Ujiie’s process is a fusion of several methods including painting, 

printmaking, and digital media. She creates an original artwork, either a 

painting or drawing, then scans it and digitally alters it. Cry Wolf started 

with a commissioned toile wall covering which the artist hand drew 

from a 19th century toile fabric. After scanning her handmade original, 

she manipulated the drawing with Photoshop software to achieve the 

commissioned wallpaper’s meticulous details and textures. The large-scale 

work on fabric was then printed using a state-of-the-art digital ink jet 

printer. This technology is capable of producing very large-scale prints and 

enormous color variations that otherwise could not be achieved with 

conventional techniques – in this case, a vibrant spectacle of color. 

Artist Statement 

I have always been fascinated by traditional Toile de Jouy textile prints which 

historically have portrayed vignettes of heroic deeds and mythic scenes of 

battle. The detailed narratives poignantly represent the human condition 

through scenes rich in allegory and symbolism. 

When I was a child growing up in New York City, we often visited the medieval 

Cloisters Museum, where The Unicorn Tapestries displayed the mythological 

hunt and capture of the unicorn. The magic of these immense woven narratives, 

and the vivid accuracy of botanical and human anatomy, created a sense awe 

and wonderment that has always stayed with me to this day. In my latest 

installation, “Cry Wolf ” inspired by my experience as a youth, I have attempted 

to go beyond a historic textile sensibility, into the realm of magic, wonder, and 

theatrical splendor. 

I hope my digitally printed textile installation ignites deep spiritual forays into 

the imagination, and generates personal reflection on what is hidden, weather 

it be our own personal demons, or our lust for life.