HAND PAPERMAKING, Inc.

Winter 2020: Print and Handmade Paper

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The long history of print and paper is a rich and varied one, and guest editor Georgia Deal delves into this topic in the Winter 2020 issue. In it, we learn how contemporary artists, working at the intersection of both media, approach their work. How their paper is made, chosen, and used in their artwork is as diverse and nuanced as can be imagined. From the use of thin translucent papers to add subtlety and depth to printed images to sculptural cast paper as components of a print, each decision impacts the final work. All of these artists will likely agree that paper is as integral to the final work as the ink used and print medium employed.

Tom Bannister, former executive director of Hand Papermaking, writes on paper and print’s long history in an exchange article with the American Print History Association’s Printing History journal.

Karen Kunc discusses her decisions in choosing both commercial and handmade papers in her beautiful print and book projects, as well as collaborations with other well-known papermakers.

Sammi McLean and Ingrid Schindall of IS Projects in Florida have organized and exhibited a “paper forward” exchange portfolio, Extra Pulp, in which invited artists showcase their use of paper as predominating over the printed components.

Christina Taylor, a paper conservator and printmaker at the Harvard Art Museums, writes on the aquatints of Dan Flavin that were printed in relief, rather than the traditional intaglio inking methods—results are stunning!

Ruth Lingen, longtime master papermaker of Pace Paper in Brooklyn, shares the complex details in making Li Songsong’s large dimensional monoprints. The step-by-step process she leads us through is truly intriguing!

Lynn Sures‘ interview with Helen Frederick, artist and founder of Pyramid Atlantic in the Washington DC area, covers Helen’s impressive history, including both past and current projects in paper, printmaking, and installations. 

Guest editor Georgia Deal contributes the issue’s paper sample, a paper-print collaboration with Penland School and Pyramid Atlantic, aply titled Community.

Cynthia Nourse Thompson contributes an impressive article on the history of papermaking in Philadelphia and its status as a  contemporary center for print, paper, and the book arts.

Mary Hark’s work in Kumasi, Ghana with her aim to develop high-quality handmade papers there, led her to meeting artists Atta Kwami and Pamela Clarkson. She shares in her article their many projects and work in their Ayeduase studio.

Julie Chen introduces readers to a group of West-Coast book artists, whose works involve incorporating handmade paper as a key element in their approach to making artist books.

And Susan Gosin reviews three exhibitions for this issue: a show celebrating the thirty-year anniversary of Robbin Ami Silverberg’s Dobbin Books; as well as two memorial exhibitions honoring the legacy of Walter Hamady (1940–2019).

Summer 2020: Paper in Performance

Cover of Summer 2020 Issue of Hand Papermaking

Sharing space and time and experiential connection are at the core of the Summer 2020 issue of Hand Papermaking magazine, in which we look at ways artists have mobilized paper in performance. The physical, aesthetic, and working properties of paper have been explored in costume and stage design, sound pieces, and kinetic artwork, both in live performance and as a document of private performance. We also examine the performative nature of the act of papermaking and the choreography inherent in the process.

Midori Yoshimoto starts off the issue by introducing us to the work of Japanese artist Shiraga Fujiko (1928–2015), an early member of Gutai, the Japanese avant-garde, performance-based collective, active in the 1950s.

Elise Thoron shares her conversation with Japanese paper artist Kyoko Ibe who first incorporated paper in performance work in the early 1980s, finding that “theater is the ideal place to show the beauty and variety of washi.”

Hannah Turpin writes about Fluxus performance in Alison Knowles’s handmade-paper sound sculptures, costumes, and instruments. 

Winifred Lutz worked with our wonderful designer Karen Kopacz to ‘re-stage’ (with coda) a photo story publication of Light Cycle, a performance project Lutz produced in Anchorage, Alaska in 1986.

In Lucy Kay Riley’s article about Lesley Dill’s extensive use of paper costumes in performance-based pieces, Riley argues, “live performances activate the work, bringing the paper alive again, and give the audience the opportunity to hear and see how it moves on the body; we can imagine more clearly what it feels like to wear it, and what it would feel like to be the one to tear it apart.” 

Beatrix Mapalagama contributes a profile of Tone Fink, a prolific and well-regarded Austrian artist who uses paper costumes, masks, and objects in his performance pieces and installations. 

Michelle Samour maintains that the process of making paper is by its very nature performative, in the ways papermakers use their bodies to transform pulp into paper, and the synchronized movements that are required when more than one are at the vat.

Artist and papermaker Peter Sowiski contributes a paper sample that demonstrates the use of one of his whole-body-action, DIY, pulp-painting tools.

Karen Trask reviews Sarah Bertrand-Hamel’s new permanent installation of drawings and paperworks at the Pierrefonds Public Library in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Lisa Cirando gives us her take on “Paper Borders,” a recent exhibition of paperworks by Emma Nishimura and Tahir Carl Karmali, presented at the International Print Center New York. 

Winter 2019: International Connections

To celebrate and enhance the global paper commons, for the Winter 2019 (Volume 34, Number 2) issue of Hand Papermaking we invited colleagues to identify a papermaker or artist outside of their home countries to profile or interview, to create a collection of International Connections for this issue of the magazine. 

Helen Hiebert (US) interviews papermaker Gangolf Ulbricht (Germany)

Michael Durgin (US, currently in Germany) speaks with Italian artist Riccardo Ajossa

Emily Duong (US) writes about the paper artwork of Miriam Londoño (Colombia)

Radha Pandey (US/India/Norway) introduces us to Iranian papermaker Ali Pezeshk; accompanied by a sample of his Iranian wheat straw paper

Aimee Lee (US) profiles Argentinian papermaker and toolmaker Alejandro Geiler

Argentinian papermaker/artist Vicky Sigwald interviews Maureen Richardson (UK)

Susan Gosin (US) writes about traveling in India with Victòria Rabal (Spain) and Anne Vilsbøll (Denmark)

Anne Vilsbøll tells us about a German company developing Neptune balls as a sustainable insulating material

Victòria Rabal reports on a new generation of papermakers in Aoya, Japan

Amanda Degener (US) and Peng Wu (Chinese, living in the US) present the artwork of Miki Nakamura (Japanese, living in France)

Donna Koretsky (US), Winifred Lutz (US), Tin Tin Nyo (Burmese, living in the US), and Wu Zeng Ou (China) memorialize our beloved international paper historian Elaine Koretsky (US, 1932–2018)

Lisa Miles (US) contributes her interview with Tedi Permadi (Indonesia), with a sample of hand-beaten daluang paper

Sylvia Albro reviews Tim Barrett’sEuropean Hand Papermaking

AND

May Babcock gives us her take on the exhibition “Pulparazzi: Painting with Paper”

Summer 2019: Collaborations in Paper

In Volume 34, Number 1, Hand Papermaking examines and celebrates the “we.” Collaboration is a core aspect of our medium, our practitioners, and our output. At its essence, papermaking is a “we” process in which fiber partners with water, through hydrogen bonding, to create paper. In this issue, our authors discuss methodologies and sensibilities of collaboration in the studio, and issues surrounding authorship, agency, and the multiplying effect in collaborative practices.

Amy Hughes traces Kenneth Tyler’s ground-breaking use of handmade paper with his artists for publishing projects at Gemini G.E.L.

Katharine DeLamater discusses how the role of collaborator has evolved from historical models and ways in which the field can acknowledge new forms of assisted and shared authorship.

The collaboration theme is the perfect setting for Tatiana Ginsberg’s insightful essay accompanying Intergenerationality, Hand Papermaking’s 2017 portfolio which paired artists from two generations.

Frida Baranek and Joan Hall share their conversation about their fruitful give and take in the studio.

Winifred Lutz and faculty collaborators at the Kansas City Art Institute outline Lutz’s extraordinary exhibition project combining an immersive learning process for KCAI students and the creation of an ambitious site-integrated installation for the KCAI Crossroads Gallery.

Accompanied by a sample of Combat Paper, Drew Cameron reflects on the project, which after fifteen years and countless workshops for war veterans, continues to be a critical resource that engages the participatory art model.

Lynn Sures speaks with paleoanthropologist Rick Potts about mutual endeavors in science and art to discover and interpret human origins.

Andrea Peterson and Brien Beidler contribute a paper sample and provide twin accounts on how they worked together to design Beidler Blue Laid, a new “contemporary historic” bookbinding paper.

And the issue closes with Michael Durgin’s take on “Papier Global 4,” an international triennial of paper art which took place last year in Deggendorf, Germany.

Winter 2018: Paper Through a Feminist Lens

In Volume 33, Number 2, Hand Papermaking examines handpapermaking — the history, the craft, and art made in the medium — with a feminist lens. Today there is an unprecedented and widespread awareness of the devastating effects of patriarchal systems and structures imbedded throughout the culture. What can we learn from past, present, and future practice of hand papermaking to pulp the patriarchy?

Elizabeth Boyne makes the case that the earliest papermakers were most likely women. 

Erin Zona speaks with Ann Kalmbach and Tana Kellner about founding Women’s Studio Workshop in 1974. 


Melissa Hilliard Potter traces the history of the Los Angeles Woman’s Building and its impacts with two of its papermaking instructors, Sukey Hughes and Patricia Reis.

Ferris Olin interviews Judith Brodsky, along with Gail Deery and Anne McKeown, about the feminist origins of the Brodsky Center.

Alisha Adams profiles the People’s Paper Co-op’s Women in Reentry program.

Neysa Page-Lieberman introduces us to Seeds InService, an ecofeminist seed-saving and papermaking project by Melissa Hilliard Potter and Maggie Puckett in Chicago.

Feminist painter Natalie Frank describes her powerful experience with pulp painting.

Anne Osherson brings feminist context to the survey exhibition “Paper/Print.”

Two handmade paper samples round out the thematic focus of this issue:

  • Kenaf paper, made at Women’s Studio Workshop;
  • And Underpaper, by Margaret Mahan Sheppard and workshop participants in solidarity against sexual and domestic violence.

In addition, Jamye Jamison reviews an important exhibition of Rembrandt’s etchings that focuses on paper and a watermark identification project.

 

GO BACK TO SCHOOL with Hand Papermaking

Attention Papermaking Students!

Subscribe to Hand Papermaking magazine by September 30, and receive One Free Issue!

 

Hand Papermaking supports emerging artists, crafters, designers, and all young paper enthusiasts! For a limited time only, we are extending all student subscriptions to three issues (one-and-a-half year’s worth) for the price of two — a 33% savings on the cost of a regular subscription. 

Just visit our subscription page, and enter the code BACKTOSCHOOL as you sign up.  

*****

Included in our most recent, exciting, beautiful, all-color! (Summer 2018) issue of Hand Papermaking:

  • Three (!) stunning samples of handmade paper that reveal the artists’ intimate relationship with water
  • A profile of the artist Joan Hall, whose work “The New Normal: In with the Tide” (2018) graces this issue’s cover and is shown in part in the banner image above
  • Articles and reviews examining the work of a some amazing paper artists who explore water as a subject, medium, and conceptual underpinning
  • “Paper is the Thing,” a new poem by Richard Tuttle

And much, much more!

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Summer 2018: Water

In Volume 33, Number 1, Hand Papermaking focuses on water: its central role in our process, the notion of “flow” in art produced in our aqueous medium, and the ways in which artists and papermakers are addressing the growing risks to our planet’s precious and finite water resources.

Simon Green provides a fascinating primer on water and its importance to papermaking.

Amy Richard tests out her hunch that the oxygen-rich papermaking studio may result in an enhanced sense of well-being.

Artist Michele Oka Doner muses on water’s capacity to connect us, fiber, and time immemorial.

Donna Gustafson introduces the work of Saul Melman who is employing ice, carbon, and water (hot and cold) to address climate change.

Jill Powers describes her environmentally grounded sculptural and installation work focused on ocean health; algae scientist Dr. Kathy Ann Miller weighs in on her interdisciplinary exchange with Powers.

Artists May Babcock and Megan Singleton share their conversation about their collaborative site-specific installation work that address human impact on waterways and watersheds.

Francine Weiss presents the dynamic paper sculpture of Rhode Island–based artist Joan Hall who investigates the effects of plastic pollution on oceans and marine life.

Sally Wood Johnson reminds us of the cyclical flow of water and nature, as she recycles her paper art from 1986 into a new work twenty-eight years later.

This issue also features three (!) distinctive paper samples:

  • Simon Green documents the making of a custom paper order for Arion Press’s Moby-Dick, evoking the “cold and unyielding ocean;”
  • Joan Hall contributes a sample from one of her large-scale, pulp-painted collagraph prints, related to her work, The New Normal: In with the Tide, that is featured on the cover of this issue;
  • And paper marbler extraordinaire Steve Pittelkow presents a dazzling example of his work, using water movement to capture a moiré pattern on Tom Balbo’s signature engraver’s paper.

Web supplement to “The Universal Solvent”

by Simon Barcham Green with assistance from Dr. Robert Keirle

Published in Summer 2018 issue of Hand Papermaking magazine

 

Author’s correction to the original article — “The Universal Solvent” — as published in the Summer 2018 issue of Hand Papermaking:
The caption for the 3D model pictured on the right side of page 4 should have indicated that the image shows only one part of a cellulose molecule. Cellulose molecules are typically made up of 7,000 to 10,000 monomer units whereas the image shows only 5.5 units.

 

Some notes by Dr. Robert Keirle on the complexity of US-EPA water regulations:

 

From: Robert Keirle Sent: 05 September 2017 23:30
To: Simon Green  Subject: RE: water quality information

Hi Simon,
You’re right about the situation in the USA being complicated. When I was with a UK water and environmental consultancy a couple of years ago, one of the projects I was working on involved contacting all 50 States to determine what their approach was to drinking water quality. Even now I don’t think I fully grasped the situation! Just for your interest (and maybe the information could be useful for your paper), the following quotes are taken from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) website:

  • The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the federal law that protects public drinking water supplies throughout the nation. Under the SDWA, the EPA sets standards for drinking water quality and with its partners implements various technical and financial programs to ensure drinking water safety.
  • The EPA identifies contaminants to regulate in drinking water to protect public health. The Agency sets regulatory limits for the amounts of certain contaminants in water provided by public water systems. These contaminant standards are required by the SDWA. The EPA works with states, tribes, and many other partners to implement these SDWA provisions.
  • The National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) are legally enforceable primary standards and treatment techniques that apply to public water systems. Primary standards and treatment techniques protect public health by limiting the levels of contaminants in drinking water.
  • The EPA has established National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) that set mandatory water quality standards for drinking water contaminants. These are enforceable standards called “maximum contaminant levels” (MCLs) which are established to protect the public against consumption of drinking water contaminants that present a risk to human health. An MCL is the maximum allowable amount of a contaminant in drinking water which is delivered to the consumer. In addition, the EPA has established National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations (NSDWRs) that set non-mandatory water quality standards for 15 contaminants. The EPA does not enforce these “secondary maximum contaminant levels” (SMCLs). They are established as guidelines to assist public water systems in managing their drinking water for aesthetic considerations, such as taste, color, and odor. These contaminants are not considered to present a risk to human health at the SMCL.

It’s interesting to note that “although state health agencies and public water systems often decide to monitor and treat their supplies for secondary contaminants, federal regulations do not require them to do this”, despite the fact that many of the parameters could have an adverse impact on papermaking.

This paper gives a good insight with some of the things that can readily go wrong with paper that may be attributable to metal contamination:
Sarah Bertalan, c Condition Problems in Modern Papers and the Role of Inorganic Additives.” American Institute of Conservation: The Book and Paper Group Annual 34 (2015).

Water requirements of the pulp and paper industry, by O.D. Mussey. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1955

Iron in Drinking-water Background document for development of WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality: 2003

Iron in water and processes for its removal. By John F. McPeak and Harold L. Aronovitch Hungerford & Terry, Inc., Clayton, N.J. 08312 21st Annual Liberty Bell Corrosion Course September 22, 1983 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Copper in drinking water – Government of Western Australia Department of Health

What is tested for in drinking water? Drinking Water parameters – Irish Water

 

Winter 2017: Paper as Evidence

Volume 32, Number 2 of Hand Papermaking explores the evidentiary nature of paper, as well as its capacity to conceal secrets, and what a forensic analysis of paper can tell us about our culture.

Donald Farnsworth recounts his discovery of a special “maker’s mark” in a sheet of 17th-century paper.

Tim Barrett instructs us on how to “listen” closely to paper.

Michael Durgin speaks with Marian Dirda on how the National Gallery of Art Paper Sample Collection sheds light on works of art on paper.

Amy Hughes explains how the NGA Paper Sample Collection helped her figure out how to conserve a Max Weber print.

Gary Frost hails the codex book structure as a key preservation device for paper.

Izhar Neumann follows a lead from an historical treatise to make a mould and paper from the samar plant; accompanied by a paper sample.

Barbara Rhodes outlines early methods for secret writing in handmade paper.

Frank Brannon and Jeff Marley talk about their site-specific paper installations.

Robert Riter introduces the work of Chris Davenport and Crane Giamo who both use handmade paper as applied ecological evidence for environmental forensics.

Susan Mackin Dolan interviews the artist Hong Hong.

And we close with a roundup of recent exhibitions, and reviews of two books: Minah Song’s take on Sylvia Albro’s book about the history of Fabriano, and Bernie Vinzani’s thoughts on Peter and Donna Thomases’ interviews with retired papermakers from Tuckenhay Mill.

 

HAND PAPERMAKING’s print and online publications chronicle the finest work in the field, while advancing the scholarship and production of handmade paper and paper art.

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