Writing in the check list for the exhibition PaperBooks at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA), director and co-curator Charles Alexander explains: The works in the exhibition...were created by hand paper makers in the Midwest. These works take the idea of "book" as an informing principle exploring the physicality of handmade paper. Here books are sculptures, vessels, possibilities, and printed works. Physicality seemed to be the primary descriptive term in both the written description and the actual exhibition, which was broadly focused and not exclusively Midwestern. While the reference to "sculptures, vessels, possibilities, and printed works" failed to encompass all the pieces, a focus on the material aspect of handmade paper united the exhibition. As often is the case, the appeal of the tactile nature of paper captured both the maker and the viewer. How the artist controls the handmade paper and integrates it with form--both organization and book structure--and with content, seemed to be appropriate criteria to judge the success of individual works and the show as a whole. The skills of the papermakers represented ranged from novice-like to masterful. In a few of the pieces, the material, not yet under control, does not allow the structure and the idea of the piece to emerge. A typical response to these works is, "Oh, handmade paper," rather than a comment about the concerns of the artist. Most of the work, however, presents a consistent integration of material, form, and content. My favorite piece, the one I go back to in the exhibition and in my mind, is Tim Barrett's Gampi Book (1991). This work epitomizes for me the unity of all three elements. Totally unadorned, the book acknowledges simply the true nature of gampi as a papermaking fiber. This is the ultimate papermaker's book; the skill of the papermaker, the choice of the book structure, and the materials all work together. Because the book cannot be touched in the exhibition, one must experience it vicariously. Amazingly enough, one can hold the book neatly in one's hands, rolling the spine from one hand to the other and letting the pages spill back and forth from chamois cover to chamois cover. The light hits the pages and shimmers, the sound of the gampi pages whisper in the air. It is like holding a small, old Bible or missal, except that the message lies in the paper, the binding, the book's size in the hand rather than the written word. The physical experience embodies the idea and we can sense this without even touching it. Like Barrett's book, Janet Ahren's Time and Eternity (1994) has a structure which extols the tactile character of paper and integrates it with form and concept. Ahrens has used the sphere shape as both the book structure and the idea contained within it. The paper itself is simple and unadorned, even uneventful. "The structure gives the form the permanence the material lacks," the artist says in a statement accompanying the exhibit. In this case, unlike Barrett's Gampi Book, we remember the idea rather than the experience of the paper. Ahrens feels that, "like a book, the physical object is temporary but the story or memory is ageless." Bridget O'Malley's Tea Book (1990) integrates flax paper, paste paper designs, and tea staining into a gestalt about deep color and our direct participation in her process. Several of her other books, Batik Book/Haiku and Unseen, Not Heard, also included in the exhibition, use elongated formats which alter our sense of scale in relationship to the work. We open the pages with exaggerated movements. We hold the spine with extra effort. Again, the physical, kinetic experience of the book, of the paper, and of turning pages remain in our memory. Thomas G. Siciliano's work, Mathematically Correct (1991), also contains a message about paper in a conceptual rather than an experiential format. This piece evolved from the base up. Siciliano collected wooden boards from demolished houses, cut them into 16" pieces, and stacked them. He then formed 512 sheets of paper that measure 16" X 16", arranging them to repeat the height of the base. Siciliano's tight formal limitations show us the density of the paper as a concrete vehicle for a conceptual idea. All of these pieces stand out because of the careful balance of the nature of paper with the book's structure and content. This balance makes the experience complete. A second set of especially strong works in the exhibition involve collaboration. Anyone who has made paper knows that one operates always in collaboration with the pulp, with the material. A papermaker should, therefore, be a natural collaborator, able to work with other artists to produce art which is integrated and whole. Amanda Degener has collaborated separately with both Barb Schubring and Stanley Shetka to produce two very different pieces. Degener and Schubring produced Land(scaped) (1994), an accordion-fold, pulp-painted and letter-press printed book which explores, in the artists' words, "peoples' relationships with the earth by creating images of partnership, ownership, and harmony with one's environment." The graphic sensibilities of Schubring and the colors used by Degener combine and allow us to walk through the imagery without wondering who did what. Degener's work with Shetka, Untitled (1994), is a large-scale frame structure, like a folding Japanese screen. The frame was sawed and constructed by Shetka out of compressed, recycled cardboard. The panels, by Degener, contain delicate translucent Japanese paper with stenciled images. Almost a visual mixed metaphor, the patterning from Shetka's pressed recycled paper looks like an applied surface treatment and the stenciled images on Degener's Japanese paper look like she created them in the vat. In both collaborations Degener has worked with the material and the other artist's strengths to produce truly unified work, without sacrificing either artists' own integrity. Another collaborative work, Selections From the Claudia Poems by Clare Rossini (1994), fits in a more traditional poet/letterpress printer/papermaker mode. The illustrations and handmade paper by Mary Hark work as more than a substrate for the letterpress printing by Mary Jo Pauly; the type and the images dance together in the paper. The words interact with the deep indigo images. The collaborative potential in this work seems to push it beyond its original impetus. Also worth noting, but not a collaboration, are the exquisite linoleum prints and striking book form of Pati Scobey's Beyond Reason (1984). The strong images and intriguing format upstage the handmade cotton and linen paper of the book. The paper here is secondary to the form and content. On the other hand, the integration of paper and type in Jim Hinz's An Ordinate, Unremoved Eye (1993) serves as a good example of an interesting conversation between paper and type. Mary Hark also collaborated on this piece. Perhaps a papermaker should always work with a word-maker, to add dimension to the act of reading. The individual pieces gave strength to the show. Although visitors were not able to touch or open the books, their messages unfolded with the viewers' imaginative participation. Some led us on more than others, under the glass; certainly handling them would have left different impressions. Some of the books more easily allowed the physical aspect of the paper to hold the idea and relate to the structure. "Physicality of paper" suggests a fairly broad focus. Perhaps if a wider net had been cast to bring in more examples of such a seductive idea the examples could have been more focused in their total impression. This exhibition, like others at MCBA, continues to keep the dialogue going, exposes us to current work, and stimulates the task ahead for book artists, papermakers, and those who love both.

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