The 2021 Paper Year

The Sunday Paper #337

November 8, 2020

Papermaker of the Week: Drew Matott

This is a new column. If you’re a papermaker and would like to be featured in the coming weeks and months, please fill out this form. I’d love to hear from you!

Riots, Revolts & Revolutions, pulp printing on paper made from Egyptian Cotton, 4 panels, ~18×24 each.

Drew Matott is a master papermaker with an expertise using traditional papermaking as a form of social engagement and community activism across the globe since 2005. He currently lives and works in Hamburg, Germany where he directs the vision and strategy of Peace Paper Project’s International programs.

Drew divides his time between teaching at colleges, doing art residencies, completing studio work, designing new papermaking endeavors and directing Peace Paper Project. He has taught Photography and Contemporary Printmaking at North Country Community College, and Papermaking courses at the Community College of Vermont, Edgewood College, Ursuline College, Massachusetts College of Art and San Francisco Center for the Book. Since 2009, he has taught and exhibited internationally and completed numerous artist residencies. Internationally, Drew has used papermaking and the book arts as a form of social engagement, advocacy, therapy, and community building in India, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Turkey, Spain, Kosovo, Ukraine, and Poland.

Drew recently released a series of how-to papermaking videos that you can watch online.

In the Studio:

This Paper Year is drawing to a close. Here’s the November project – a criss-cross accordion lantern that could stretch along a mantle or be a nice centerpiece for an intimate holiday gathering this year. It’s a fun and versatile project. If you’d like your own copy of The Paper Year (with instructions for this and 11 other projects), I have a couple of copies left. And please join us over in my Facebook group, The Paper Studio, to see what others are making with paper. You’ll have to answer three simple questions to gain access to the group.

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Papery Tidbits:

I’m teaching a 3-hour virtual workshop through the Maine Media Workshop on December 6th, which you can register for now. The Shadow Lantern is one of my favorite projects to teach, and the structure is incredibly versatile. It can be displayed as a book, a lantern or a folding screen, and the paper cutting possibilities are endless. Come explore light with me as we wind our way towards the darkest days of the year.

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I am so excited to share the new Paper Year program with you! This will be a monthly or annual subscription program, and I’ll be opening registration in late December. For now, I’m asking you to fill out a short form that indicates which program you’re interested in. Click here to read more, watch my video and fill out the form.

The 7th National Collegiate Paper Art Triennial is now on view at Georgia Tech, but you can view all of the amazing work being made by up and coming paper artists here. This piece, by Delilah Roberts, a student at the SMFA at Tufts in Boston, is a celebration of diversity through high-shrinkage abaca casts of bras.

© Delilah Roberts, “Delicates” high shrinkage abaca over bra molds.

Sara Langworthy is the winner of this year’s prestigious MCBA Prize, presented by Minnesota Center for Book Arts, an award that promotes excellence in new work from across the expressive spectrum of book art. Click through and scroll down to watch the video about this subtle, yet powerful book.

I always look forward to seeing the lanterns that are created for the Cameron Art Museum’s year-end exhibit, “Illumination,” which it has held every holiday season since 2015. It’s become a celebration of transitioning from fall into winter, lighter days into darker nights, and self-reflection as the year comes to a close. The show runs Nov. 21 through Jan. 10.

One of the artist-made lanterns from the 2018 “Illumination” exhibit at CAM, which in 2020 will feature new works from upward of 50 artists. (Port City Daily/Shea Carver)

I enjoyed learning about the work of Angelica Contreras, who explores the relationships between identity, tradition, and pop culture by incorporating techniques like acrylic, oil, and collage into her unique portraits. The use of collaged material such as patterned papers, advertisement and newspaper cut-outs, to name a few, provide a palette of colors and textures for the subject’s surroundings. Her use of materials is both calculated and serendipitous, leading her to create unusual cultural combinations and providing spectators with a richer interpretation.

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Featured this week in my Studio shop:

Playing With Pop-Ups, Package of Three Films, Panel Shade Workshop, & Papermaking with Garden Plants & Common Weeds.

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