Orthopedics as Told Through the Art of Papercraft

Orthopedics as Told Through the Art of Papercraft

The Sunday Paper #432

October 23, 2022

I started a short memoir writing class this week through my local community college. Ever since I read Margaret Davis’ book, China Under The Covers, I’ve been thinking about writing my own memoir. What inspired me was the fact that she included illustrated instructions for four of the first forms of book bindings, developed by the Chinese, which can be replicated today using simple tools and available materials. So, it’s part how-to and part adventure/travel/love story. That combination was intriguing to me, and I’ve been wondering whether I could do something like this related to my life with paper, incorporating some of the paper structures I’ve designed.

That was five years ago, and most of my art projects take years to come to come to fruition, if you count the ideation process. I’m sure the writing process will take even longer, and I’m not in a hurry. This project will stew in my brain, bubbling up a little at a time, or perhaps the entire framework will appear to me all at once. That’s how the creative process works for me, and sometimes it is hard to wait. But I’ve learned that it generally pays off to let things percolate.

I’m excited to be moving in a new direction. This particular class is just five sessions and a total of ten hours on Zoom, but I do have some short term goals: I hope to come out of it with a few vignettes from my life and some ideas for potential text for an artist’s book with woven paper illustrations.

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Thanks for all of your fun notes about my blog post last week, recapping my adventure in Italy and France.
Here’s a trip you might be interested in for next summer: Travel to Northern Italy to work in traditional printing and letterpress studios and tour historic libraries and museums. Book Arts in Venice, led by Kalamazoo Book Arts Center’s Executive Director Jeff Abshear, will take place June 20 – July 1, 2023. Create drypoint etchings at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, a design school and studio which for over 50 years has focused on printmaking and artist’s books. Tour historic sites including St. Mark’s Square, the Accademia Gallery, and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Learn to set movable type by hand and print a letterpress book at Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione, one of the largest typography museums in Europe, located in the town of Cornuda at the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. Participants will stay in shared apartments in the heart of Venice and a restored 16th century villa surrounded by a prosecco vineyard in Cornuda. All travel will be via public transport including trains, boats, and buses. The program welcomes all levels of experience, with introductory instruction in the studio. Click here for more details.

This is a sponsored post: The Kalamazoo Book Arts Center (KBAC) is a nonprofit organization in Kalamazoo, MI, that practices, teaches, and promotes the collaborative arts of the book including hand papermaking, printmaking, letterpress printing, bookbinding, and creative writing.

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Friend and colleague Marianne R. Petit has a lovely show up at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Hutchinson Campus that explores the works of orthopedics as told through the art of papercraft. I love this quote about art that appears in the article: “Art is a powerful tool that can help patients and families through challenging circumstances. This exhibition uses art as a vehicle to help inform and demystify the many orthopedic surgical treatments Montefiore physicians perform on their patients.”

Marianne R. Petit was on Episode #93 of Paper Talk

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I’ve been following Hong Hong ever since she did an amazing large sheet forming demonstration in Santa Fe several years ago at a North American Hand Papermaker’s gathering. Tiger Strikes Asteroid LA is currently exhibiting Keeping Score, featuring large-scale works in paper by Hong Hong and Johnathan Payne, curated by Alex Paik. The show is up through November 6th.

Hong Hong, Father’s Mother: Chart of the Inner Warp and Mother: You are Your Own, Handmade Paper, 112 inches (H) x 120 inches (W) x 86 inches (D), 2022, Photograph by Ben Premeaux, courtesy of artist

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This is a terrific video showcasing Pulp 2022 at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, juried by Alicia Bailey and yours truly.

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Paper Tidbits:

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One-Sheet Wonders: 

These two one-sheet wonders came across my desk this week. Both are so timely as we approach Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos.

Sarah Morgan shared her version of the Origami Bat project featured in The Art of Papercraft. I love her twist – the paper she used didn’t fold crisply, so she stitched through the accordions to pull them into place.

Sandy Rhodes created a set of Linked Lights, which is a project I shared during the recent registration window for The Paper Year. You can still access this free PDF tutorial.

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Featured this week in my Studio shop:

The Art of Papercraft, Papermaking with Garden Plants & Common Weeds, Water Paper Time, a film download, and The Papermaker’s Companion.
The Art of Papercraft

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