Sunday, September 16, 2012

Sculptural Papermaking Workshop Photos



Yesterday was the final workshop in the series I taught with Rhiannon Alpers - Sculptural Papermaking. The workshop focused on creating armatures from various types of wire, reeds, and thread, and covering them with overbeaten abaca. Above is a shot of reeds soaking in hot water.

The image below is kind of fuzzy, but it shows how, once soaked, these tough reeds can be shaped in to various perambulations.


Unlike our other workshops, this class enabled everyone to sit down, instead of the back-and-forth to the vats. We barely got any water on the floor, and I didn't slip once!




Some results from early experiments.



Rhiannon and I are going to be offering some of these classes again, along with a very basic, introductory paper class, later this fall and into the spring of 2013. This time, however, we will be working in conjunction with the San Francisco Center for the Book. I'll post more information when I get the final details.

Finally, I've got two more workshops coming up in October. First, on the 13, I'll be teaching an intensive Papermaking from Plants workshop through the Fibershed (follow the link to register). It will focus on harvesting and preparing local fibers, beater use, sheet formation, and how this can be adapted for classroom use. And later, on the Saturdays of October 27 and November 3, I'll be offering my Monoprinting and Pop Up Paper Engineering class through the Kala Art Institute (follow that link to register). Hope to see some of you there!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Watermarks in Corn Husk




Work continues on my Corporate Corn series since my last post on the topic. Above, a mould with the McDonald's logo. Below, its result, along with the Monsanto logo.


A detail of the Monsanto watermark while still wet:


A General Mills watermark, freshly pulled:


Some results fresh out the drying box:




I'm planning on a series of ten in all, all of corporations that drive our corn-based food system. I'm hoping that when seen as a group, with the knowledge that the fiber itself is corn (husk), the overwhelming basis for GMO corn in processed food systems will be apparent.


Monday, September 3, 2012

Projects, Promotions, and Publications




After talking about this idea off and on for about three years, and proposing it to various venues, I am launching a new project, Carbon Corpus. You can read about the project as it develops here, but a synopsis is that I will be selling the animal-based carbon credits to my body to people. In exchange I will eat a vegan diet for the period of time purchased. The project aims to examine the difficulties surrounding carbon reduction by individual choice in modern society.

An installation of the ephemera generated for this project will be part of the exhibition, S'Long As Its Yours, at Gallery Aferro, in Newark, NJ, in March 2013. Other venues may also feature this project as well.

While Carbon Corpus progresses this fall, I'm also participating in a few upcoming exhibitions:

Agents of Change: Artists as Activists, at the Jean and Charles M. Schultz Memorial Library at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA


The Art of Handmade Paper, at the Sonoma Valley Museum, Sonoma, CA

How to Read a Book, at the Lawton Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay


And finally,Thread Loves Paper is out! I'm so honored to be included in this publication. To find out how to order a copy, please visit here.