The Sunday Paper #447

February 12, 2023

I’m so honored to have been inducted into the North American Hand Papermakers Hall of Papermaking Champions. The Sunday Paper has played a major role in my work in the field, and you, dear readers, keep me stoked to continue delivering it every week. Click through to read about the amazing group of people who were inducted this year. Congratulations to Lilian A. Bell, Tom Balbo, Susan Gosin, Aimee Lee, and Paul Wong!

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I met Sarah Brayer in the early 1990’s when I was working at Dieu Donné Papermill in NYC, where she would come to make art. In 2019, I had the good fortune of visiting her studio in Kyoto, Japan.

Brayer has pursued her passion for traditional washi paper since the 1980s, when she moved to Japan. To learn time-honored techniques from artisans she has made countless trips to Echizen, one of the oldest homes of washi. Her style of blending the traditional with her original vision has won her international acclaim. Recently, she received a rare chance to dedicate a fusuma-e, sliding partition paintings, to a Zen temple in Kyoto. Her 8-panel piece will be installed in the temple’s meditation space. This piece follows Brayer’s painstaking process to create a piece that will be treasured at the temple, possibly for hundreds of years. Watch the documentary piece: Confluence of Life.

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I’ve featured Polly Verity on the blog before, and here’s a new video about her work. I love how she explains that she doesn’t like to pre-plan – she likes the freshness, or spontaneity, of making folds or creases and seeing what happens.

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Need a valentine? My Woven Paper Valentine was featured in the Craft Industry Alliance Valentine’s Trends article. You’ll find a link to the YouTube tutorial there, along with some other fun Valentine’s Day ideas. I learned about Galentine’s Day in the article and have decided to host a Galentine’s Day dinner, since my hubby will be out of town.

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Jenny Sorkin interviews Melissa Potter in Bomb Magazine. Potter uses hand papermaking as feminist eco-critical social practice.

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Paper Tidbits

• The Red Cliff Paper Retreat is filling up. Will you join us for a week in Colorado in August?
• If you’re in the Denver area, I’m teaching a workshop at Anythink York Street Library on March 11th. You’ll get to experience my lantern Step Into the Light, which currently on view.
• Some of you contributed roots to my sculpture Mother Tree, and many of you have seen her on view, first in Portland and then as she traveled around the country. She is now at the Museum of Motherhood (yes, a museum about motherhood exists) in St. Petersburg, FL. I met the founder of the museum, Joy Rose, all the way back in 2010, right after I finished Mother Tree, and we’ve been talking ever since. They intend to purchase her to remain on site, and you can help!

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In the Studio

Here’s the next short but sweet video in my Papermaking Series: Draining Tub.

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