Howell experimented with sculptural pieces constructed from string and wood dipped into vats of paper pulp. He also "painted" with the pulp in myriad ways. He re-immersed the mould into separate vats of different colored pulp, creating patterns with a template, or poured colored pulp into areas shaped by copper fences. In 1955 these "papetries" were shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, possibly the first exhibition of contemporary handmade paper art in America. Howell shared his enthusiasm and technical expertise with students like Laurence Barker who, in turn, taught numerous neophytes. Knowledge of hand papermaking then spread rapidly so that by 1979 there were 22 workshops coast to coast at which an interest in making beautiful sheets of paper co-existed with a curiosity to explore the artmaking potential of the medium. A mutually beneficial relationship also existed with the printmaking workshops which proliferated in the decades after Tatyana Grosman founded Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE) in New York in 1957. Realizing that "the paper is a completely integral part of the graphic work of art," Grosman collaborated with Howell who produced special papers for her printmakers. In the early 1970s Ken Tyler added papermaking facilities to his printmaking studio and induced prominent artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Ellsworth Material into Content: Pulp Painting Today jane glaubinger Laurence Barker, Sweet Sixteen, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, waterspray-perforated handmade paper with pulp washes of dyed cotton and synthetic rag pulp. Kathryn Clark, Smoke and Fire, 2005, 8 1/2 x 10 inches, colored pencil, collage, and pigmented cotton linter pulp on a cotton linter/cotton rag base sheet. 32 - hand papermaking Kelly, and David Hockney to work with paper pulp which gave the new medium legitimacy and publicity. A paper renaissance ensued, generated by a plethora of articles, books, exhibitions, and an increasing number of students and artists learning about and working in handmade paper. The motivation to innovate with paper pulp remains the same today as in the 1960s, the nascent period of the medium. Artists rebel against the slickness associated with the mass-produced, machine- made aspect of minimalist art and much of modern life. Instead, there has been a return to craftsmanship and simple, basic methods of artmaking. An increased concern for the environment has led to an interest in pre-industrial, "natural" methods of production and materials, and a more intimate, personal means of expression. Paper pulp has a directness and plasticity that makes it a flexible medium with which an artist can readily convey his ideas.* To survey current practice in pulp painting, Hand Papermaking devoted its most recent, limited-edition portfolio to the art form. The contributing artists, limited to an 8 x 10 inch format, created intimate works which necessitate close study. Like poetry, they distill and summarize meaning so that each image, refined to its essentials, yields a profusion of rich associations. Although the 18 artists included in the portfolio each bring their own background and vision to painting with pulp, all exploit the characteristics unique to this medium. The ragged deckle edge, uneven texture of the surface (the result of layers of wet pulp), and the ability to embed or collage other materials, all proclaim that the object is handmade and unique. The theme that dominates the portfolio is nature. Four of the artists, who produced landscapes with panoramic views, evoke rather than replicate each locale. They all demonstrate a sensitivity to natural phenomena such as geography, weather, and the time of day, and suggest the variability of sky and water. Whereas Bobbie Lippman and Peter Sowiski utilize vaporous layers of pulp to achieve the effect of amorphous, floating clouds, Margaret Prentice and Lynn Sures employ washes of transparent white pulp for the frothy edges of breaking waves. In spite of the small scale, each of these works creates the illusion of infinite space where earth, water, and sky expand beyond the sheet. In A Good Day To Paddle, Prentice contrasts diffuse layers of pulp, which describe sea and sky, with a foreground of brown kayaks, flat geometric shapes printed from a woodblock on a solid beige ground. Since most of these boats are fragmented by the bottom edge of the sheet, the composition seems to extend beyond the confines of the page. Although Lippman, Prentice, and Sures depict pleasant views, Sowiski presents a lyrical, moody landscape. The sky may be tinged with blue and pink, and a rose triangle dominates the right foreground, but an overwhelming sense of foreboding is produced by the large black airplane taking off and falling black circles that form dark blotches on the ground below. Sowiski achieved his goal for Fortress Tri-Fold (the piece is 21 inches unfolded) "for the nightmarish, psychedelic vision…when wonderment changes to fear, and beauty turns ugly—when a B-52 takes off as you hold it in your hands." Vietnamese rice straw paper screenprinted with insects and the text "B-52" are incorporated into the pulp of the base sheet. Sowiski explains, "Examining our military might and menace keeps us mindful of the high tech, high stakes times we find ourselves in." Beverly Sky, however, is interested in wilderness conservation and offers a lovely, placid close-up of tree trunks in Autumn Birches. Peter Sowiski, Fortress Tri-Fold, 2005, 10 x 21 inches (open), pigmented cotton pulp on a cotton/abaca base sheet with screen-printed inclusions. winter 2006 - 33 Bobbie Lippman, Untitled, 2005, 8 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, pigmented cotton rag pulp on a base sheet of abaca with a trace amount of pigmented, overbeaten cotton rag. Margaret Prentice, A Good Day To Paddle, 8 x 10 inches, 2005, woodblock print on unbleached abaca paper with poured, pigmented cotton pulps. Beverly Sky, Autumn Birches, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, pigmented overbeaten flax pulp painting on cotton/abaca base sheet. Lynn Sures, Lake Michigan, 2005, 8 x 10 inches, pigmented cooked raw flax pulp poured and painted on uncooked raw flax base sheet. 34 - hand papermaking Ken Polinskie, The Renaissance Fly, 2005, 8 x 10 inches, overbeaten pigmented cotton pulp painting with imbedded silk thread, black cotton string, and flat rubber washer on cotton/abaca base sheet. Victoria Rabal, Absence, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, pigmented bleached flax pulp and pigmented abaca pulp painted in three layers on an abaca/sisal base sheet. Lois James. Untitled Series, 2005, variable dimensions (averaging 8 x 10 inches), pigmented overbeaten cotton/abaca pulp stenciled on pigmented cotton/abaca base sheet. Bridget O'Malley, Venus Flytrap, 2005, 10 x 23 inches (open), handcut, screenprinted paper spiral (pigmented cotton rag/flax pulp on pigmented flax base sheet) attached with eyelet to folded, shaped pulp painted paper (pigmented cotton rag/flax pulp stenciled on pigmented flax base sheet). winter 2006 - 35 Her own strong connection with nature is expressed in the relationship between material and content, "I use pulp or cellulose, the fundamental structure of plant life, to create my own worldview of places I know and love." She admires birch trees, which are pioneers in areas that have been damaged by catastrophe, and represents them as both resilient and flexible, reaching upward yet bending in the wind. Exploiting the unique characteristics of pulp, after delineating the opaque white trunks and their watery black markings, Sky uses a sharp tool to make horizontal gashes in the wet material, replicating the texture of bark. Next, liquid yellow- green pulp is dripped in varying degrees of density, mimicking golden leaves falling in autumn. Aquatic life and the rocky shore inspire Lois James. Using details of her own drawings and photographs from nature, she prepares mylar stencils with which she can obtain fine lines and sharp edges while painting with pulp. The delicate linear patterns and solid shapes, iridescent gold and white, reflect light and glisten as they float above the brown background flecked with coral. This beautiful work evokes the constantly shifting subterranean world of shells, bones, and jellyfish. Water, an important ingredient in the preparation of pulp, infuses another work as well. Victoria Rabal's striking piece, Absence, has three layers visually; a white footprint, radiating concentric silver circles, and a large blue and turquoise shape which functions as an underwater shadow. Influenced by a poem of José Ángel Valente, "CRYING for what is lost when footsteps across the sand leave no trace that will survive the onslaught of the tide," Rabal struggles with loss. The footprint is already beginning to disintegrate, an effect possible using pulp, so that in Absence form and content are interrelated and mutually supportive. Some artists are captivated by various flora and fauna. Ken Polinskie's The Renaissance Fly, is an oversized rendering influenced by a 1538 study of the common insect by Siennese artist Giorgio di Giovanni. Inclusions like black cotton string and a flat rubber washer are witty substitutes for antennae and eye. Shannon Brock's depiction of dandelions, however, reveals personal concerns. The memory of a yard full of weeds, an embarrassment to a teenager, is symbolized by one dark flower. Two bright pink blooms, however, reflect that, as an adult, dandelions offer reassurance and nostalgia for her rural childhood. Venus Flytrap by Bridget O'Malley is a humorous takeoff on the malevolent plant. Opening the wings of the folded piece reveals that three famous Venuses, the prehistoric stone Venus of Willendorf, the 2nd century bce marble Greek sculpture, Venus de Milo, and Botticelli's painting (from about 1480), Birth of Venus, have been lured and trapped by a red and yellow pinwheel. O'Malley, who works at a greenhouse, comments, "The plant then belches out in satisfaction, ‘Gotcha!'" which is written on the piece. Although the spiked edge on the side panels is repeated on the perimeter of the pinwheel and outlines the green on the interior, danger is not lurking. Venus, after all, is the ancient Italian goddess of spring and vegetation whom the Romans later identified with the Greek Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Entrapment also informs Paul Wong's piece, Spider's Web on a Chinese Screen. Investigating his own cultural identity, Wong borrowed a type of latticework, based on a spider's web, from traditional Chinese architecture. On top of this all-over, black, lacey pattern, a thin layer of white pulp forms an oblique view of a spider's web, a construction as fragile as Wong's sense of his ethnic identity, lost during a childhood trying to assimilate in Fargo, North Dakota. Shannon Brock, Dandelion Wine in Plastic Cups, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, pigmented bleached flax pulp painting on stenciled, red-pigmented second-cut cotton linters couched onto unbleached abaca base sheet. Paul Wong, Spider's Web on a Chinese Screen, 2005, 9 x 8 inches, pigmented linen pulp stenciled on blackpigmented cotton linter base sheet. 36 - hand papermaking While many of the artists inspired by nature use a representational style, others prefer an abstract mode. For instance, Beck Whitehead's piece, Searching, presents three large black ovals floating in space. Influenced by reading descriptions of seeds, the artist applies the idea of gestation and growth to human behavior, hoping "we can influence the world for the better by planting small seeds of kindness and hope." Contrasting the solid black shapes, all truncated by the edges of the sheet as they move across the picture plane, with a mottled background, Whitehead juxtaposes organic and geometric elements as well as creates tension between an illusion of three-dimensional space and the flat support. Dawn Peterson, Laurence Barker, Wendy Cain, and Kathryn Clark share similar concerns. Peterson overlays areas of fluffy white pulp, clouds floating in an infinite pale blue sky, with an orange linear framework of squares and rectangles. This architectonic structure is based on the Fibonacci numbers, a mathematical sequence which "defines the perfect equilibrium and repetition found in nature." The next layer, a gauzy fabric which veils the composition in a finely textured net of white threads, adds a second geometric grid that is also firmly anchored to the picture plane. Barker adds regularity to a spontaneous composition of colorful pulps by puncturing the thick sheet with four rows of holes. While the sixteen perforations can be read as a pattern of circles on the surface of the work, they also reveal that the support has depth. Cain's Sky Bowl also plays with illusory space. A large vessel outlined in black hovers in front of a painterly blue and white background. Transparent, the conical form seems paper-thin yet the front half of the rim slopes downward, exposing the interior of the bowl. The effect of three-dimensionality is reinforced by a series of short, curved lines on the body of the vessel which also give volume to the form. Clark paints a white base sheet with lavender and yellow pulp. Other papers and string are affixed to the surface. Further calligraphic embellishment is added with colored pencil. A dynamic composition, all of these elements interact, defining thin layers of space. While some shapes reinforce the actual flatness of the surface, others project into the viewer's space suggestively or even literally. A box drawn in perspective is crowned by a piece of dark paper, folded so that one end protrudes into real space. Whimsically, the perspective is distorted on the bottom of the box and gray pencil colors a corner on the top, where the folded, dark paper will cast a real shadow. The last two works, which are both figural, also employ interesting techniques. Susan Gosin began with a photograph which was translated into a light-and-shade watermark. After pulling and couching each sheet, Gosin hand-painted the image with diluted, pigmented pulp using an eyedropper. The result, a bust-length portrait with mountainous background in medium and pale shades of gray, is shadow-like. A gray oval covers the face like a mask, heightening the mysterious, unearthly quality. Pale, blurry, and perhaps even fugitive, this depiction, nonetheless, has a somber, delicate presence. Cynthia Thompson's work, Afterglow, shares this dreamy quality. A photograph of the face of Gianlorenzo Bernini's life-size marble sculpture in Rome, The Ecstasy of St. Theresa (1645–52), is printed from a computer in a circle with "afterglow" embossed above on a pale blue sheet. The image is surrounded by a pearlescent disk edged in white, an allusion to a halo and a communion wafer. This close-up view of Theresa, as seen from below, Cynthia Thompson, Afterglow, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, giclée print on handmade paper (stenciled, pigmented overbeaten flax pulp on pigmented cotton paper). Wendy Cain, Sky Bowl, 2005, 7 x 6 inches, pigmented cotton linter pulp on cotton linter base sheet. winter 2006 - 37 emphasizes her rapture at the moment an angel pierced her heart with a flaming golden arrow. Theresa described the event, "The pain was so great that I screamed aloud; but at the same time I felt such infinite sweetness that I wished the pain to last forever." Bernini made this visionary experience so sensuously real, Theresa's religious fervor can be interpreted as sexual bliss. By exploring this episode in Theresa's life, Thompson addresses her own concerns "with beauty, desire, vulnerability, imperfection, and bodycentered guilt" through this meaningful, potent image. Over the past half century, paper pulp has developed as a viable medium since technical improvements and experience have resulted in more complex and sophisticated creations. Although artists have gained more control in manipulating pulp, there is still an unpredictability that necessitates a certain amount of spontaneity, a challenging but also invigorating characteristic of this art form. Often in the best pieces, like many in this portfolio, the content reflects the material in ways that enrich meaning. As long as artists continue to innovate and push the limits, painting with pulp will remain an important vehicle for expression, producing alluring and stimulating works of art. *This introduction is summarized from Jane Glaubinger, "The American Paper Renaissance," Paper Now: Bent, Molded and Manipulated (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986), 1–14. Beck Whitehead, Searching, 2005, 9 ½ x 7 ½ inches, pigmented abaca and short flax pulp on pigmented abaca base sheet. Susan Gosin, "M", 2005, 10 x 8 inches, pigmented cotton linter pulp painted into a light-and-shade watermark on a cotton linter base sheet. Dawn Peterson, Elemental, 2005, 10 x 8 inches, pigmented and unpigmented linen pulp painting on linen base sheet.