PEI’s Gyotaku print artist, Tracy Gallant has returned to print making after 20 years and has resurrected the FISHIRT brand of wearable art shirts and fine traditional rice paper fish prints.  Joining her in creating the new Fishead Company Store in North Rustico Harbour and in fish printmaking is her sister, Cheryl Thomson.  They share a love of nature of and gyotaku's relationship with science, primarily in terms of aquatic natural history.

Gyotaku (pronounced ghio-ta-koo translated; Fish rubbing) is a Japanese printing method that involves applying ink or paint onto a fresh fish, applying fabrics or rice paper so that a beautifully detailed impression of the fish will result.  The art form originated in the 17th century simply as a practical means for Japanese fishermen to record a notable catch.

THE SISTERS, practitioners of the ancient Japanese art form of GYOTAKU, have developed innovative techniques that allow them to pull intricate detail from their aquatic subjects onto quality fabric t-shirts that retain the traditional artistic expression of Gyotaku but adhere to the traditional direct printing method of printing for their rice paper prints.