The Sunday Paper #531

November 10, 2024

In 2016, I created a series of watermarked Word Broadsides. Here are two, and you can click through to view all 6 of them, as well as my sentiments about each word.

EQUALITY: I have been thinking a lot about equality (for years actually, but the 2016 election and women’s marches brought my thoughts to the forefront). There are so many ways to think about equality: women’s rights, human rights, sexual and gender bias, religious freedom, income inequalities, etc, etc, etc. Why do we feel powerful; when do we feel weak? This is my humble attempt to voice my feelings through a love of letterforms, watermarks and design. The root is love, the letters are blooming, and I was delighted to discover the grid/ladder that formed when the roots of the letters intertwined with the rainbow earth at the base of the image.

CONTINUUM: I love how the image lies subtly within the sheet of paper and without backlighting, is only slightly visible. I often think of my ancestors and descendants and how my life fits into the continuum. The image to me conjures a labyrinth-like path that we have all walked/are walking/will walk.

Keep on keeping on my friends. Sending love, always.

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Check this out: Notpla Ocean Paper is made to be recyclable and compostable, a remarkable zero-waste paper from a forest below the sea. This printable paper, created with seaweed, enables future-focused creatives and brands to challenge the status quo.

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In about 1995, I had the opportunity to work with a producer who made films for Sesame Street. He created this fun film at Dieu Donné Papermill, where I was working at the time. I still remember meeting him somewhere on the streets of NYC on my bicycle – he wanted to share the catchy jingle he wrote – probably on a walkman. I was grinning ear to ear s I listened.

Someone brought up this film in the Q&A after a lecture I gave a couple of weeks ago. Afterwards, a young woman named Harper, who is currently studying at the University of Iowa Center for the Book (UICB), told me that she got interested in papermaking when she saw a short film during childhood. She’d forgotten where she’d seen it, but when I said you could google “papermaking on Sesame Street” that day, she did, and she realized it was this film that led her to papermaking! How cool is that?!

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I found this artist’s talk by May Babcock to be a breath of fresh air, especially this week. She creates pulp paintings with natural materials, and reflects on the process and her time spent in nature.

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Paper Tidbits

• I’ll be talking about my recent Japan Paper Tour at a Puget Sound Book Arts lunchtime series (online) later this month. There are a few spots left.
• Weave Through Winter is coming! Registration opens on New Year’s Day, and class will run Feb 1-28, with a kick off on January 31st.
• Paper Year members explored Mini Accordions with a Removable Spine last month. Here’s a video showing off their variations.
• We’ll be making woven paper lanterns and books in a one-day online session through Maine Media Workshops in December – perfect for holiday gift giving. Join me!

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About Our Sponsor: Washi Arts, located in the Pacific Northwest (USA) is a specialty retailer of fine Japanese papers, tools and supplies and a retail partner of The Japanese Paper Place in Toronto, Canada. Focused solely on papers from Japan, proprietor Linda Marshall curates and stocks a fine range of handmade and decorative sheets as well adhesives and specially tools for book and paper artists.

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In My Studio Shop

As the holidays approach, I’m featuring a few products in my online shop.

In 2021, I created an artist’s book, called Intensio. I have six different string drawings that I am offering as artist’s proofs, which can be framed or folded and kept as a movable object. (1-3 signed and numbered copies of each image are available). Click on the first image to access the page where you can view (and purchase) all six drawings.