Dorothy Field is a visual artist who uses handmade paper for sculptural works and artists’ books.

Over several years in the 90s, Field collected tree branches, bound them to into 3D tent-like forms, sewed cheese cloth onto the forms, and poured in hand-beaten mulberry with formation aid. They were big – often 8′ tall or taller. Her former husband would do the pouring, and Field kept moving the forms around so the fiber was evenly distributed. After they dried, she peeled off the cheese cloth and installed them in the woods at the back of the farm. She built each form from only one species of tree, since each species has its own calligraphy. Then she’d install them in the woods at the back of the farm and photograph them as they returned to nature. They lasted several years, despite British Columbia rain. The weak areas were along the ribs. The paper just lasted and lasted. This piece is called Esau and Company.

Decades ago, UNICEF in cooperation with the Nepalese government, set up Bhaktapur Craft Printers (BCP) in the Kathmandu valley to address the over-cutting of daphne. UNICEF’s goal is to improve the lives of children by way of making their parents’ lives better. They hire largely women, pay decent wages, and their products reference tradtitonal Nepalese themes. They are a model for culturally appropriate development. This photo shows Nepalese women spreading out newly dyed sheets of traditionally-made daphne paper to dry on metal sheets. 1989

Field is also the author of Paper and Threshold: The Paradox of Spiritual Connection in Asian Cultures. In this book, Field examines a wide range of papers at thresholds in many parts of Asia, and its uses in Shinto, shamanic, and Buddhist temples, as well as paper kites, lanterns, doors, and windows.