The Sunday Paper #381

September 19, 2021

How do you reconstitute paper pulp? I’ve been recording a series of papermaking tip videos that I’m posting on my youtube channel. This is a one-minute video.

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The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking has an impressive set of online resources. Check out the Paper Play series, but you’ll also find a teacher’s handbook, info on the history of papermaking, lecture recordings and coloring sheets under Resources.

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I learned about Hank Fleischer in this article, but had to find out more. Fleischer creates intricate paper structures built entirely out of colored file folders. He began working with paper at age 87 (he’s now 97), and this year he entered a trilogy of creations in ArtPrize, a competition in Grand Rapids, MI.

© Hank Fleischer, Orange Segments (Deconstructed Turkey) 2’6″ x 2’6″ x 1’7″ (3’3″ with platform)

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This piece caught my eye, and I love the way this group of artists is connected by paper: “Paper Cuts is a group show, guest curated by Alexander Deschamps, that brings together artists from multiple backgrounds and disciplines. This group of artists includes painters, poets, a costume designer, a sculptor, and other creatives, glued together by a common interest: paper.”

© Christian Joy, 2021, on view at The Art Closet Gallery in Chappaqua, NY.

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Dieu Donné recently hosted a series of lectures on Global Perspectives in Hand Papermaking. Here’s the last one about Japanese Paper: History, Export and Challenges.

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Paper Tidbits:

• Each month I do a video recap of what participants in The Paper Year do with the project I introduce them to. Here’s the August video, featuring V-Pockets, designed by our guest artist Paula Beardell Krieg.
• The Movable Book Society is meeting in Denver at the end of the month (I’m going). You can attend virtually.
• My Flexible Book Structures online class tomorrow, 9/20. It isn’t unusual to sign up at the last minute!

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In the Studio:

I had the idea for my artist’s book Intensio 5 or 6 years ago when I made the first mock-up. I produced two other artist’s books between then and now (Tangential and Prism) but this has been one of my long haul projects during Covid-19. There are many steps in producing an edition of handmade books. Here you see the title page with a hand-cut window (I love how all 30 copies look stacked), the first few copies being collated (they are now at the binder), all 8 string drawings, and the back of one of the string drawings (can you guess which one?) with the ends of the strings glued down with little paper dots (insurance)! I can’t wait to get a finished copy back from Claudia Cohen, who will bind and box the books.

In case you’re curious, the title page (pictured below) reads, “In physics, a prime example of tension is the pulling force transmitted axially by the means of a string”. When I read that (after designing the book pages) it made so much sense! This type of tension is literally put into play when you open and close the pages of this book, i.e. as they move across the axis of each page. Stay tuned for a video as soon as I put my hands on that first copy.

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Featured this week in my Studio shop: Now registering: Flexible Book Structures Online Class, The Paper Year (hold your spot), Curated Paper Collection #3, and The Papermaker’s Companion.

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