The Rhinoceros Project at Ramon's Tailor

The Ramon's Tailor installation is up! Visit here to see a sneak peek!

Our opening reception is tomorrow, November 19, from 3-6 PM. Join us at 628 Jones Street for sewing circles, rhinoceros cookies, and rhino ephemera!

We will be in residence on Saturdays and Sundays, 12-4, till January 8. Visit us to take a break from the holiday craziness and sit, sew, and share!

Geeking out

I've been unabashedly geeking out on some interesting and great papermaking stuff online. First of all, this website, Papeles con Marca al Agua (Papers with Watermarks), is a great collection of watermarks online. It's where I found the image above. Text is only in Spanish, but you can peruse the images without a fluency. Check out these!

Two great blogs on papermaking that I have been reading are Paperslurry (written by May Babcock) and The Fiber Wire: Plugged in and Turned On. Full disclosure, Paperslurry has featured my work before - most recently here (!), but previously here. Both blogs feature not only papermaking, but historic insights and contemporary roles of paper, such as this recent post on The Fiber Wire on the new $100 Bill.

May Babcock is the coiner of the word "pulptype," a form of combining pulp painting with monotypes. Very similar to what we did at Magnolia here, read her talking about her practice here.

Finally, I discovered the Youtube videos series by the Hermitage and Matanhongo Heritage Center. They have a whole series of videos on processing flax. The brothers there, Christian and Johannes Zinzendorf, are also the authors of The Big Book of Flax, which has been on my wishlist for a while now, although I haven't had the money to splurge yet.

The videos go beyond just how to process, but also some of the history and comparative methods of processing from various part of the Western world. Check out the video below on breaking flax:



Scutching:



Combing:

"Rag Men" at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Last Sunday I went to the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art for their presentation, "Rag Men," part of The Art of Handmade Paper exhibition (see my previous post here). It featured the curator, Simon Blattner, and Bryce Seidl, director of the Pacific Science Center, who is a also a paper historian and collector, as well as responsible for loaning many of the objects to the museum of the exhibition.

Most of Bryce's objects were left to him by his father, Roger Seidl, who was assigned by the US Government to assist and coordinate the rebuilding of the Japanese paper industry after WWII. Our country had bombed most of the paper mills, and during the reconstruction Roger Seidl ended up befriending many papermakers, who gifted him with some of the objects that were on display as part of the show.

Their discussion centered around the history of the commercial paper industry, which Bryce had worked in for years before his time at the Pacific Science Center. Much of it was just explaining the basics of how paper is made to those who were unfamiliar in the audience, but Bryce was able to rattle off facts - such as each person in the US still goes through 700 pounds of paper a year - that would have eluded me. He stressed that the paper industry has actually become much more environmentally friendly, with abilities to do things like recycle heat from the manufacturing for drying the paper, recycling the processing chemicals, and recycling paper in general. He stressed that the alternative to paper in most situations is plastics, from the petroleum industry, and that tree-based paper is a much more environmentally friendly alternative. Which, I guess when you think about it that way, is true. Although I will argue that that doesn't mean we shouldn't make intelligent choices about how we use paper.

Towards the end of the discussion, someone asked if either of these men thought that we would ever be a totally paper-free society, as the digital age progressed. Bryce said he didn't believe so, and also pointed out that as use of paper declines for things like books or business memos or whatever, we will still use it for toliet paper or tissues, and asked the audience to imagine a world without toliet paper. It was a very cogent point.

It was a good discussion, however I wished they had touched on the relevance, vitality, and importance of handmade paper as a contemporary art form.

I was fortunate to talk to Bryce a bit after the discussion, and he was excited to learn that I as an artist who was working with watermarks. Our discussion led him to ask the museum to pull out one of the objects they had chosen not to display out of storage, a large watermark his former paper company had produced that he wanted to show me.

I also had a chance to see the parts of the exhibition I'd missed in the crowd, such as this piece by Helen Hiebert:

Finally, I got to spend some time with the installation of Tibetan prayer flags and paper in the front of the museum. I forgot to note the information down about the story behind the piece, but nonetheless, it was beautiful.

"The Art of Handmade Paper" at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Some of the Population Dynamics series is currently part of the exhibition, The Art of Handmade Paper, at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, in Sonoma, CA. The exhibition is up till the end of December, and last Friday I went up for the opening reception.

The show is predominately focused on the history of handmade paper, featuring a few contemporary artists like myself, as well as one of my teachers, Lynn Sures:

Also featuring a tiny little hand-crank beater. This made me think of all the discussions I've had with fellow papermakers about a bicycle-powered beater (which was finally developed by Lee Scott Mcdonald), although several people found pedaling while grinding rag pretty onerous (and could you imagine trying to make something like high-shrinkage? Hours and hours of pedaling!) Anyway, made me wonder if this would be better or worse.

Two other intriguing historic objects included were these fusan bakudan, or Japanese fire balloons. For those unfamiliar with the history, during World War II, these were washi balloons that were used to carry bombs across the Pacific towards the United States, floating along Jet Stream air currents. I gather that most did not make it, but some did. It brings to mind a conversation I had with Mary years ago in which she said something to the affect of," I don't know whether to be horrified or like, YAY PAPER!"

The show is up to December 30, and there is talk with the curator on October 28 at the museum.

On a related note, I was recently interviewed by Discover Paper. Check it out here.

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.

Late Night Papermaking

As a promotion for my upcoming Watermark Workshop, I thought I'd post some of experiments for a new suite of watermarked handmade papers that I'm working on.

I'm tentatively calling the series Corn and Corporations, and the suite, of which this is the first, will be a series of logos of corporations that are part of our corn-based food systems. Though I guess technically, the USDA isn't a corporation, but it's part of the overall system.

Above is one of the laser-cut vinyl watermarks that John Sullivan of Logos Graphics made for me on a mould. Below are some tests.

The watermark, made of corn husk fiber, has been couched onto a sheet of denim. Together, these two fibers with this watermark embody the mythology and reality of our food systems and the American heartland.

I'm curious how the paper will look dried, if the denim will be too dark and the corn husk too light for clarity.

There is still time to register for my Watermark Workshop! And check out the photos from our past workshops - Papermaking with Plants and Pulp Painting.

Upcoming Watermark Workshop

Papermaking Basics: Watermarks
August 18th, 2012 from 10am - 5pm
2012
$150
Click here to register.
Taught by Michelle Wilson
Class fee: $150 Materials $10
Held at 1890 Bryant Street, #308 San Francisco

Please note the original date was August 25. The date has now been changed to August 18.

Watermarks are a mark-making technique unique to hand papermaking. In this class, learn the secret of turning your own images into watermarks - images that hide within a sheet of paper but be visible when held up to the light. The class will cover various ways of making both invisible and visible watermarks.

Check out images from our previous workshops - Papermaking with Plants and Pulp Painting.

Interview on Manufactured Dissent

This week I was interviewed by Manufactured Dissent. Check it out here.

Together Again

I just learned yesterday that I will be in an exhibition with my friend and old studio-mate Sun Young Kang! We are going to be part of the exhibition Branching Together, curated by Melanie Mowinski, coming at at PRESS: A Letterpress Public Art Project in North Adams, MA. Unfortunately, I don't think we will physically be able to be there, but I'm sure our spirits will.

Above is Sunny's piece that will be on display, though I believe it will have a different configuration for PRESS, and I will be exhibiting my Ghost Trees. The exhibition will also feature Helen Hiebert's Mother Tree project. Its sure to be an amazing and paper-rific exhibition!