I’ve been pretty lucky as of late, I have to say. After completing my MFA in Book Arts at the University of Iowa Center for the Book last fall, I had the privilege of spending three months in Italy teaching book arts and papermaking for the UGA study abroad program in Cortona. It was an incredible opportunity to slow down and focus in a new way, to pass along my enthusiasm for all things book and paper to a new group of students, and to be freshly inspired by the culture, individuals, and art that surrounded me.
Read moreAn Exercise in Patience (and Madness)
Steph Rue, Radha Pandey, and I have been working for the past few months on a project for the upcoming Hand Papermaking Portfolio Series. These portfolios, which are published every two years and feature works by paper artists around the world, often have a theme that unites the selected pieces. In the past, these have included themes such as “Handmade Paper in Motion,” “The Art of Pulp Painting,” “Watermarks in Handmade Paper: Modern and Historic,” and others. The theme for this portfolio, which is set to publish in late 2014, is “Negative Space.”
Historic Recycled Papermaking -The Ink Removal Method
In late July, I had the pleasure of hosting Kazuko Hioki, a conservator at the University of Kentucky Libraries, for four days as we worked on a collaborative project to recreate Japanese block printed book cover papers from the Edo Period (1603-1868). These historic specimens have been the subject of Kazuko’s research for some time. Not a papermaker herself, she contacted Tim Barrett at the Center for the Book to ask if he could put her in touch with a papermaker who might be interested in recreating these historic specimens, and he in turn suggested she contact me.
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