Soufu Honda wants the characters she writes to "express themselves." The Hokkaido-born artist and calligrapher bends traditional writing techniques to her own vision of the letters and words she writes, which results in dynamic pieces of art.
Honda is an energetic addition to the world of shodō (calligraphy), which is a bastion of staid tradition and circumscribed rules — though some artists, the renowned Toko Shinoda among them, have been able to push the envelope by moving into more abstract territory. While she acknowledges the importance of such experimentation, Honda refrains from venturing too far into the abstract herself by giving the kanji primacy in her work, which is distinct enough to help her stand out from the norm.
It's not too surprising to learn, then, that for the past 10 years Honda has worked independently of any shodō ryuha (school of calligraphy), doing work on commission.