"Translucence: Forms in Paper" at Brookfield Craft Center, Connecticut February 6–March 26, 2005 This group exhibition, curated by paper sculptor Jeanine Esposito, featured 20 artists' work utilizing the hand papermaking medium to explore the diaphanous, ethereal, sometimes elucidating, and sometimes concealing qualities of handmade paper. Participating artists were: Talya Baharal, Jessica Beels, Shannon Brock, Jocelyn Chateauvert, Amanda Degener, Jeanine Esposito, Daniel Essig, Jeanne Jaffe, Sheryl Jaffe, Ann Marie Kennedy, Donna Koretsky, Mary C. Leto, Virginia Maksymowicz, Catherine Nash, Jill Parisi, Donna Ruff, Michelle Samour, Virginia Tyler, Jenna Weston, and Marcia Widenor. A CD-ROM of exhibition snapshots available from the Craft Center, www.brookfieldcraftcenter.org. anil revri "Quantum" at Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York April 14–May 21, 2005 Indian-born and Washington, DC–based artist Anil Revri exhibited paintings on paper at this New York City gallery focused on showing the confluence of Western and non-Western cultures. Revri used metallic paints, markers, and pencil on handmade paper he produced at Pyramid Atlantic in Silver Spring, Maryland. Windows into a multi-dimensional, spiritual place, his Geometric Abstraction series are, in the words of the artist, "inspired by Eastern philosophy. Each piece becomes a meditation." In 1994, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC presented a solo retrospective of Revri's work and published, on its occasion, a beautiful catalog with many full-color reproductions of his handmade paper pieces. "Paper Adornment" at Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts March 11–April 23, 2005 Paper has been used as adornment, for practical, decorative, or ceremonial purposes over time. It has been made into thread and woven, molded into Noted Exhibitions left: Ana Fernandez, Lost, 2004, 24 x 18 inches, collagraph on handmade abaca paper with embedded thread and lace. Courtesy of Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. right: Anil Revri, Geometric Abstraction # 1, 2004, 40 x 30 inches, mixed media on paper handmade by the artist at Pyramid Atlantic. Photo courtesy of Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York. Ana Fernandez, Lost, 24 x 18 inches Anil Revri, Geometric Abstraction # 1, 40 x 30 inches 46 - hand papermaking left: Michelle Samour, detail of Sampling, 2003–2005, 8 x 8 x - inches each piece in multi-piece installation, pigmented abaca "lace" paper between acrylic sheets. Photo: Robert Schoen. Courtesy of the artist. center: Karen Trask, Lecture aux morts \[Reading to the Dead\], from the installation and performance, "Lieux de contemplation" \[Places of Contemplation\], 2005, 8-inch-diameter ball of handmade linen paper twine with names of people buried in Deschambault Cemetery, performed on August 6, 2005, in Deschambault, Québec, Canada. Photo: Tristan Fortin Le- Breton. Courtesy of Biennale internationale du lin de Portneuf, Canada right: Jill Parisi, detail of Stellae, 2005, approximately 4 x 3 inches each, etchings, handcut, and some handcolored. Courtesy of the artist. following page left: Lyle Starr, detail of installation of All Fours at the Gallery at Dieu Donné Papermill, New York, July 2005, 14 x 16 inches each of 100, pigmented linen on flax base sheet. Courtesy of Alona Kagan Gallery and Dieu Donné Papermill, New York. right: Ellie Winberg, Green Twist, 2005, 18 x 18 x 1 - inches, pigmented cotton mounted on canvas. Courtesy of Woman- MADE Gallery, Chicago objects to be worn, or used as disguise. Some of the exhibiting artists who utilized handmade paper in their work include Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, Julie McLaughlin, Kiff Slemmons, and Ana Fernandez who contributed an oversized "embroidered" paper-doll dress, "embroidering" the paper cloth by embedding thread and lace between translucent sheets of abaca paper. jill parisi "Sculptural Works on Paper" at A.I.R. Gallery, New York May 3–28, 2005 As part of A.I.R. Gallery's Fellowship Program, Jill Parisi exhibited an abundance of new works – prints, relief pieces, and sculptural installations, all on handmade paper (lokta and gampi primarily). Hand-colored etchings, with a light but obsessive touch, are cut and assembled into delicate, sculptural forms, attached to the walls in groupings, that quiver and come to life when you walk by them. The artist describes the pieces as "inhabitants of uncharted ecosystems…plants and creatures that are by turns familiar, alien, aquatic, terrestrial, or of the air." "LieNs: Biennale Internationale du lin de Portneuf" at Deschambault-Grondines, Québec, Canada June 24–October 2, 2005 This first biennial event dedicated to linen and flax included exhibitions, installations, and workshops by 14 artists, five of whom integrated handmade linen paper into their work: Chantale Simard, Isabelle Lemelin, and Karen Trask from Québec; Arlette Vermeiren from Belgium; and Marie-Thérèse Herbin from France. Curated by Carole Baillargeon, the works in the exhibition allude to the various functions, historically, of linen and flax, particularly poignant in Trask's installation and performance which remind us of the funereal role of linen in many cultures over time. reviews Michelle Samour, detail of Sampling, 8 x 8 x - inches Jill Parisi, detail of Stellae, approximately 4 x 3 inches each Karen Trask, Lecture aux morts \[Reading to the Dead\], 8-inch-diameter winter 2005 - 47 48 - hand papermaking lyle starr "All Fours" at The Gallery at Dieu Donné Papermill, New York July 13–July 27, 2005 New York–based painter Lyle Starr is known for overlapping silhouettes of familiar objects and figures, in luscious, transparent layers of paint. For this unusual "edition," Starr chose ten colors and ten images of men and women on "all fours." Multiply that and you have 100 unique pieces which were shown all together as one group before being dispersed to subscribers of the Dieu Donné Editions Club. Proceeds from this first-come, first-served, annual art subscription program benefit Dieu Donné's activities and allow the organization to offer affordable handmade paper artworks by significant artists of our day. "The Nature of Paper" at WomanMADE Gallery, Chicago September 1–29, 2005 Juried by Melissa Jay Craig, this exhibition featured works by women artists who explore paper as their primary material or medium in their artist books, sculptures, paper cuts, drawings, and paintings. Of the 34 artists in the show, almost half utilized handmade paper or paper pulp in their work. Included in the show are Anne Q. McKeown's Waste My Beautiful Mind, a response to Barbara Bush's indifference to human suffering caused by the Iraq Invasion; Lois James's Imprints I, an intricately detailed, stenciled pulp painting; and Ellie Winberg's Green Twist, a highly textured, bright green relief piece, distorted, however elegantly, by two slightly curved folds running down the center. Ellie Winberg, Green Twist, 2005, 18 x 18 x 1 - inches left: Lyle Starr, Installation of All Fours, 14 x 16 inches each