Artist's Reception

Forty to fifty people attended the artist's reception for my one woman show of hand made paper artworks in Palos Hills, IL, on the evening of April 30, 2009. Eighteen framed pieces, a dozen unframed pieces, and a rack of cards were on display for the month of April in the hall of Dr. Rory McKenna's office. That evening I shook a lot of hand, hugged a lot of friends, and generally basked in the joy of the event. Then I got to enjoy counting the 8 sold signs on the framed art work, in addition to the many unframed pieces and cards that also sold. I'm still smiling.

Earth Day 2009

This year I joined a dozen other presenters in Evergreen Park’s Earth Day celebration at the Activity Center with a paper-making demonstration on Saturday, April 25. From 9am – 2pm I made recycled pulp in a blender, botanical papers with pressed flowers from the garden, pulp paintings, cast paper, and gift cards with envelopes. Several dozen visitors, adults and children, stopped at my table to make bookmarks with confetti paper or cast paper medallions using cookie molds I provided. With all that activity, I spent most of the time on my feet, so I was glad to soak them in the tub when I got home.

How It's Done

Admit it, you've always wanted to know how paper is made. So here it is - a photo commentary of me making paper at the Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts paper-making studio in Chicago.

1. The vat is full of 100% cotton fiber pulp.
2. After dipping the screen and deckle, I pull it up and let excess water drip off. Then I remove the deckle.
3. I walk over to my couching area (pronounced cooch - it's a French thing) where my plywood board has wet layers of felt and non-woven fiber pellon.
4. In a rolling motion, I press the wet pulp onto the wet pellon.
5. Wet attracts wet, so the sheet transfers from the screen to the pellon.
6. As I make more sheets, I separate them with more layers of wet pellon.
7. I stack the same size sheets on top of each other in each layer.
8. For pulp paintings, I pour over-beaten dyed pulp onto the newly formed sheet.
9. With the addition of a top layer of pellon and felt, my work gets sandwiched between another plywood board and goes into the hydraulic press. Here two things happen: water is squeezed out, and the pressure causes the chemical hydrogen bonding process - which means the sheet is no longer pulp, it is paper, and only needs to dry.

So now you know.

Winter Inspiration

On a very cold morning I sat in a coffee shop and watched cars driving carefully while the snow continued to fall. My car guys repaired an unfortunate meeting of the under-bumper of my car with a very big chunk of ice in a parking spot on the north side. This happened to my husband, Rich, while I was at a Mindfulness & Miracles Retreat at The Center last weekend.
While he was driving on Lake Shore Drive, I was eating breakfast in silence after taking 15 minutes to mindfully enjoy eating a single grape. While he ate breakfast with our daughter and went to his class at Lillstreet, I followed deer tracks in the snowy woods and walked the labyrinth for a second time. First time was by candlelight, second in the fresh, bright daylight.
I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to slow down and focus on the tiny miracles that surround us every day. I'm sure my meditations from the labyrinth will appear in the artwork I do this year.

Holiday Art Shows

Some of my framed art work joined that of other Chicagoland artists in "Art for the Hungry," an art show at Jacob's Well in Evergreen Park, from November 14-16. A portion of the proceeds from the entrance fees helped support the local food pantry.
The Center's Christmas Art Show and Sale was November 16. I joined the talented and creative art instructors from The Center to display and sell my cards and mounted and framed artwork.
McCord Gallery in Palos Park accepted my work in their juried show from November 22 - December 27, where over a dozen of my pieces sold.

A November Demonstration

Little Company of Mary Hospital hosts the CHEER program to support and encourage patients and families who are living with difficult diagnoses. I met with them on November 12, demonstrated the papermaking process and showed some of my framed art work. The people attending then made their own unique bookmarks out of recycled pulp, adding pressed flower petals from my garden.

Fall Handmade Paper Demonstrations

This Fall I exhibited my work and demonstrated paper-making in 2 locations. On September 12 I joined other art instructors from The Center at the Orland Park Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Starbucks Cafe. A percentage of Barnes & Noble's sales that day benefited The Center (www.thecenterpalos.org), one of the places I teach paper-making. I made cast paper by pressing pulp on textured clay molds I've made. After I blot out the water, I dry the "medallions" to paint later and attach to cards.

On October 8, I displayed framed artwork and cast hand-made paper at the Palos Park Metra Station's Crooked Arrow Cafe as part of Palos' celebration of Illinois Arts month. A visiting patron of the arts joined me and made a piece of cast paper on a ceramic cookie mold which I supplied.

A mild Fall, beautiful colors, good coffee, good art. That'll do.

Cast Paper

I love making paper castings. Paper doesn't have to be flat; it can be textured, or it can be scuptural. I press an interesting object, texture, or design into clay, bake it, then press thick pulp onto it, blotting to remove all excess water. When I pull it off, the result is cast paper that I can either paint, or allow light to cast shadows to show the design. I put most of my cast paper medallions onto card stock and sell them as one-of-a-kind greeting cards.
This description is for the card above:
While walking in my garden in early spring, I saw my rhubarb plants poking up through the soil. I picked this first, tiny leaf and pressed it into clay so I could cast handmade paper and remember how beautiful small beginnings can be.

This cast paper design of a bamboo plant is based on a drawing of a bamboo fountain my daughter gave me for Mother's Day. This recycled, handmade paper is painted with watercolors and acrylic.

Pulp Paintings from photo silk screens

What's going on in my life seems to make its way into my art. Last year's trip to New Mexico influenced several pulp paintings. Oh, what's a pulp painting? Pretty much what it sounds like. While I have about 3 variations on the theme, it comes down to putting a different color pulp onto a sheet of wet pulp before it has been pressed into paper. "Santa Fe" is a larger piece I did in a class at Columbia College where I made a photo silk screen from a picture I took, then I squirted over-beaten pulp (very short fibers) with a spray bottle. I made a series of several designs, then signed an numbered each. I also made a hand design based on a southwest theme. And I drew a southwest inspired design of a kokopelli in a cornfield near a pueblo. I just love the story of how he carries seeds in the hump on his back, scatters them in the soil, and waters them with the music from his flute.
You can see some of these pieces of art by looking at the slide show on this page.

So what do I do, anyway?

Think of me as a green alchemist. Environmentally green in that I use scrap paper and junk mail, and an alchemist in that I take what would be garbage and make it into handmade paper artworks. I may not spin straw into gold, but I do what I can. The botanical inclusions I put into my work come from my kitchen, garden, and from the gardens of friends and relatives. I cut fibrous stems and leaves into pieces that I cook in my fiber pot, then literally beat them into a pulp and add them to my recycled paper pulp. Other leaves and flowers get pressed and dried to become part of the paper I make, not just glued onto the surface.

Last year my sister sent me dried fern leaves from the asparagus in her garden. I added pressed flowers and leaves from my garden to make a Sisters' Gardens series.