1 To develop my ideas around why young artists are so attracted to hand papermaking in the social realm, I reached out to some of the artists who inspired the Social Paper exhibition and asked them to share their inspirations. Their answers echo my discoveries in creating the exhibition, and reveal the allure of hand papermaking as an art medium. Just as all things have their equal and opposite reaction, socially engaged art was a natural alternative to the money-soaked art scene of the late twentieth century. Globalization and its discontents became fodder for artists to consider different outlets and expressions. A new international discourse evolved around socially engaged art in the form of books, conferences, and educational programs, such as Social Practice Queens (SPQ) at Queens College, and Otis College of Art and Design's MFA Program in Public Practice founded by Suzanne Lacy. New concepts evolved around shared authorship, audience engagement, and creative pedagogy—a term coined by leading socially engaged practitioner Pablo Helguera. Such terms did not exist when People's Paper: Young Practitioners Take Papermaking to New Publics melissa potter Jillian Bruschera and her Mobile Mill outside the Academy of Fine Arts, Sarajevo, May 2015. All photos courtesy of the author and the artists. summer 2016 - 9 I worked at Dieu Donné Papermill in the late 90s, but now help contextualize hand-papermaking projects such as Helen Hiebert's Papermaker's Garden, established at elementary schools throughout New York City, in a larger contemporary art conversation. Today, hand papermaking is attracting young practitioners who are not always formally trained in the medium. Concept is as compelling as craft to artists like Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles, co-founders of The People's Paper Co-op (PPC), an initiative by the Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia. Every month the PPC partners with Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) to offer free legal clinics. Participants work with PLSE lawyers to clear or improve their criminal records, and those records are recycled with blenders to make blank sheets of handmade paper. Co-op participants develop a variety of important skills ranging from public speaking, to community organizing and journalism. The project also embodies a crafts culture with roots in second- wave feminism's intersectional ethos. "We have thought a lot about how sewing circles (or other craft meet-ups) have functioned throughout history. The slow and collective process of most crafts also make them incredibly powerful stages for conversation…a space for social services, community organizing, empathy building, and, at the core, developing support networks and friendships across difference. We are continually humbled by how powerful a thrift-store blender, a folding table, and couple of water bins can be."2 The rise of crafts culture is as well a reaction to the tyranny of technology in our lives. Over the years, many of the Columbia College Chicago students have explored gift economies and "DIY" culture with a particular interest in slower, more local economies and exchanges. They see the irony of our dependence on digital devices, which we are unable to maintain or repair ourselves and require a subservience to frequent software updates and planned obsolescence.3 Though these technologies expanded our horizons with social media, young practitioners also suggest that "over-connectedness" creates a longing for real human interaction. Personal and cultural identity are also a consistent theme in contemporary papermaking. Steve Mancione, a recent graduate of the Columbia College Chicago Book & Paper program is a graphic novelist and printmaker-turned-papermaker. In his artist's book, Blue Collar, Black Sheep, he created original drawings on large sheets of handmade paper designed to represent different building materials such as drywall, brick, and Sheetrock. For him, the labor-intensive nature of papermaking is the perfect metaphor for the conflict between the working class and the art world. The story follows a young artist struggling to make a successful art career while being ridiculed by his blue-collar community of family and friends. The limited-edition artworks were digitized and production printed, bringing the fine art world to an audience traditionally removed from gallery openings and museum exhibits. It was during her time in the Book & Paper program that Trisha Martin traveled back to her family's country of origin, the Philippines. There, she worked in the northern rice terraces with a women's papermaking cooperative using locally sourced fibers for cards and other marketable items. This collaboration was featured in the Social Paper exhibition in the form of a traditional Filipino kiosk through which she sold their work, and gave the proceeds to the cooperative. Through a MacArthur Foundation–funded residency program at the Field Museum, she returned to the same region this spring and took inspiration from the symbolic patterns found on traditional craft textiles, baskets, and domestic objects. Working with abaca, a fiber sourced from the Philippines, she has been exploring the hidden histories of her ancestors through pulp paintings and sculptural works. Financial analysts project that the under-30 set, also known as "Gen Y," will have more than ten careers in the course of their lives.4 In this context, Jillian Bruschera's traveling papermaking program, The Mobile Mill, is as much a political statement as an artistic endeavor. With a paper studio and living space built into a retro-fitted truck, Bruschera has traveled twice cross-country so far. She sets up at universities, residency programs, and at times by the side of the road to create art, conduct workshops, and set up camp for the night. As a woman traveling alone and working with a lowor- no-budget, she challenges the expectations of a recent graduate A young participant in Maggie Puckett's The Big Here: Chicago, an interactive workshop with 35 questions to increase ecological awareness, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2014. Installation included handmade paper, markers, and artist book. Trisha Martin, Sari Sari Store, an installation of handmade papers created by the artist and the Hardin ng Kalikasan women's cooperative in Quezon, Philippines, for the "Social Paper" exhibition, Center for Book, Paper and Print Gallery, Chicago, 2014. by making home and studio where she can. And once again, the collaborative, human aspect is essential: she relies on her peers, but also strangers in order to do her work. Participants are invited to take part in a project she calls "pay-it-forward papermaking." They take work made from previous workshops, and make more for future participants at other locations. The Social Paper exhibition continues to influence our curatorial and artistic practices. After writing extensively on the feminist, collaborative, and inclusive politics of hand papermaking, I was inspired to collaborate in the Columbia College Chicago Papermaker's Garden with recent alumna Maggie Puckett. Through thematically driven papermaking fiber beds, we explore eco-feminist alternatives to corporate agriculture. Next year, Puckett will work to save the seeds of Zapatista corn which requires special isolation techniques to maintain variety purity and genetic strength. The Zapatista are a Mayan-descended insurgent group and their supporters inhabit Southern Mexico, fighting for basic human rights and indigenous autonomy against a corrupt and violent Mexican government.5 Through handmade books, broadsides, and other artistic interventions, Puckett addresses questions of biodiversity, local economic Puckett addresses questions of biodiversity, local economic empowerment, and sustainability. Jillian Bruschera joined us on empowerment, and sustainability. Jillian Bruschera joined us on her Mobile Mill journey last summer, and the three of us started the her Mobile Mill journey last summer, and the three of us started the Three Sisters Collective, inspired by the three-sisters planting method Three Sisters Collective, inspired by the three-sisters planting method and the basic feminist tenet that all work is shared labor and created and the basic feminist tenet that all work is shared labor and created through collaboration, both visible and invisible. through collaboration, both visible and invisible. Motivated by her involvement in the Social Paper exhibition, Jessica Motivated by her involvement in the Social Paper exhibition, Jessica Cochran embarks on a new project this year, Social Paper: From Cochran embarks on a new project this year, Social Paper: From Pulp to Publication which will launch at the Center for Book Arts Pulp to Publication which will launch at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. This exhibition will consider publications, zines, in New York City. This exhibition will consider publications, zines, posters, and printed matter produced by socially engaged papermaking posters, and printed matter produced by socially engaged papermaking projects. Documentation is an important and sometimes neglected projects. Documentation is an important and sometimes neglected aspect of the practice of socially engaged art, often ephemeral aspect of the practice of socially engaged art, often ephemeral in nature. In contrast, papermaking lends itself perfectly to project in nature. In contrast, papermaking lends itself perfectly to project documentation. The practice itself generates its own record in the documentation. The practice itself generates its own record in the form of books and cards, as well as artworks completed on location. form of books and cards, as well as artworks completed on location. "I am particularly interested in the idea that hand papermaking "I am particularly interested in the idea that hand papermaking is a mutable and discursive process," notes Cochran. "Unlike some is a mutable and discursive process," notes Cochran. "Unlike some other contemporary crafts it can be adapted to nearly any site and other contemporary crafts it can be adapted to nearly any site and situation in a really meaningful way. We see so many examples situation in a really meaningful way. We see so many examples of artists using the collective activity of hand papermaking to engage of artists using the collective activity of hand papermaking to engage specific communities in local histories, and current issues specific communities in local histories, and current issues (such as labor or the environment)."6 This inherent adaptability (such as labor or the environment)."6 This inherent adaptability has attracted socially engaged practitioners internationally. has attracted socially engaged practitioners internationally. The transformation from pulp to page, with equipment as common The transformation from pulp to page, with equipment as common as a kitchen blender, and papermaking's poetic interaction as a kitchen blender, and papermaking's poetic interaction with the natural world have inspired artists for generations. But with the natural world have inspired artists for generations. But why have so many young artists gravitated to the medium in why have so many young artists gravitated to the medium in recent years? There is something more to its allure that speaks recent years? There is something more to its allure that speaks to these artists. Simple to learn and challenging to master, its to these artists. Simple to learn and challenging to master, its collaborative hand labor offers an intimate, human scale in our collaborative hand labor offers an intimate, human scale in our interactions and expressions. Though hand papermakers have interactions and expressions. Though hand papermakers have worked in the socially engaged realm for decades, this generation worked in the socially engaged realm for decades, this generation has raised visibility for the medium in contemporary art has raised visibility for the medium in contemporary art circles with important questions about what constitutes an art circles with important questions about what constitutes an art practice. Their work will surely highlight the important contributions practice. Their work will surely highlight the important contributions hand papermaking has made to artistic practice historically hand papermaking has made to artistic practice historically and will continue to do so as artists seek new forms of and will continue to do so as artists seek new forms of engagement with the world. engagement with the world. ___________ ___________ notes notes 1. Jessica Cochran and Melissa Potter, "Introduction to Social Paper" in the exhibition 1. Jessica Cochran and Melissa Potter, "Introduction to Social Paper" in the exhibition catalog Social Paper: Hand Papermaking in the Context of Socially catalog Social Paper: Hand Papermaking in the Context of Socially Engaged Art (Chicago: Center for Book and Paper Arts, 2015), 18. Engaged Art (Chicago: Center for Book and Paper Arts, 2015), 18. 2. Interview with Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles, October 19, 2015. 2. Interview with Mark Strandquist and Courtney Bowles, October 19, 2015. 3. Interview with Jillian Bruschera, October 16, 2015. 3. Interview with Jillian Bruschera, October 16, 2015. 4. Jeanne Meister, "Job Hopping is the New Normal for Millennials: Three Way to 4. Jeanne Meister, "Job Hopping is the New Normal for Millennials: Three Way to Prevent a Human Resource Nightmare," posted August 12, 2012 on Forbes' website, Prevent a Human Resource Nightmare," posted August 12, 2012 on Forbes' website, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/job-hopping-is-thenew- http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/job-hopping-is-thenew- normal-for-millennials-three-ways-to-prevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/ normal-for-millennials-three-ways-to-prevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/ (accessed December 26, 2015). (accessed December 26, 2015). 5. Interview with Maggie Puckett, October 30, 2015. 5. Interview with Maggie Puckett, October 30, 2015. 6. Interview with Jessica Cochran, October 18, 2015. left: Courtney Bowles and 6. Interview with Jessica Cochran, October 18, 2015. left: Courtney Bowles and Mark Strandquist, The People's Mark Strandquist, The People's Library, an installation Library, an installation for the "Social Paper" for the "Social Paper" exhibition, Center for Book, exhibition, Center for Book, Paper and Print Gallery, Paper and Print Gallery, Chicago, 2014. Chicago, 2014. right: Steve Mancione, Blue right: Steve Mancione, Blue Collar, Black Sheep, 2012, 26 x Collar, Black Sheep, 2012, 26 x 22 inches, Xerox transfer and 22 inches, Xerox transfer and Epson print on handmade paper. Epson print on handmade paper. One of 44 pages, exhibited and One of 44 pages, exhibited and digitized into a graphic novel digitized into a graphic novel about the class divisions of labor, about the class divisions of labor, art, and museums. art, and museums.

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