Fibershed Papermaking Workshop

This month has been a whirlwind, and I've barely been able to keep up with this blog, as exemplified by the tardiness of this post. Two weeks ago I taught an intensive papermaking workshop for the Fibershed. Specifically, it involved a group of teachers from the Marin County school system who are incorporating sustainable and bio-regional art making activities into their curriculum.

The class covered how to paper from vegetables, invasive plants, and clothing. Here, some students harvest Andean Pampas Grass seed hair.

The class also covered various preparation methods, from hand beating, to blenders, to the beater itself. Many of the teachers really liked the idea of a classroom full of kids expending their energy by hand beating fiber, but to me it sounds like a cacophonous nightmare.

After learning about prep, we moved on to actual sheet forming. I also discussed techniques on preventing water from getting everywhere in a classroom situation. Over the course of the day, I kept making jokes about kids and how they react to various art classroom situations, and how I tend to handle them, which kept the teachers amused. One even commented that it would be very entertaining to watch me handle a group of kids making paper.

It was a great class, and great to share papermaking with a group of enthusiastic people who asked so many good questions, danced around my studio, and kept me on my toes the entire day.

Studio Photos

I recently taught a papermaking class through the Fibershed in my studio. In preparation, I had asked Robert to organize his tool corner of the studio. Instead, he went above and beyond and organized the entire space for me, winning the Ultimate Husband of All Time Award, I think. Before the workshop, while it was set up in preparation for the class, we shot some photos of the space. Above, you can get a good idea of the size - it's about 900 square feet or so, and the reason we decided to rent this house.

The drying area, for prints and pellon. We had built the drying racks back in Philly, using nylon window screening and cheap stretcher bars bought with a coupon at Jerry's Art-A-Rama.

Organized printing and inking tools:

The glowing portal in the back of this photo is the door to our garden, a space I often use for the very wet part of my projects, as well as cooking fiber:

Of course, now that it's all organized, I can't find anything!

Shifting Margins at Red Poppy

Some readers of this blog may not be aware that I am the art instructor for Southern Exposure's partnership with The Beat Within. In this program, I visit the Alameda County Juvenile Hall once a week to teach art and writing workshops.

Recently, some work by my students there was selected for the exhibition, Shifting Margins, curated and organized by OFFSpace. OFFSpace is the brainchild of Kathrine Worel and Emmanuelle Namont Kouznetsov. The exhibition is running in two parts, my students' work is on display at Red Poppy Art House.

Due to the complications and unpredictability that youth in juvenile detention experience, it was decided to exhibit digital reproductions of their artwork, rather than originals. This way, if they were released, sent to a group home, aged out of juvenile detention, or something else, their drawings would not be lost to them.

The work is up till November 10.

"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.

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!

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.

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.