Although I come from a weaving and fiber background, the spontaneity
of papermaking has been spellbinding for me. I love the magical qualities of the
papermaking process, which can be used to produce a two-dimensional painterly
piece or a sculptural form. Paper which is tissue-paper light can provide the
appearance of great weight. Paper can become the vehicle for almost any concept.
My interests lie in methods of recording memories and events, the ways in which
people live and adapt to their environments, and the overlay of time on space.
My work expresses the forces of time with surface markings and the exposure of
underlying structure. I find that deterioration of physical form can be a
beautiful and revealing record of time and lives. People leave their own marks
in time by building houses, complete with wallpaper and family treasures. The
house, in our society, is a container of personal lives and memories, and also
functions as shelter and protection. Walls Within is an allegorical comment on a
contemporary icon (the house and home) and an individual environment.
I use the wall as a carrier and expression of history. The wall can be a bearer of messages or the message itself. Making a Paper House The planning and making of a paper house was all-consuming for a period of months. It involved making more than 1000 sheets of paper using various papermaking methods and fibers. It required accumulating a door, windows, and enough custom cut 2 x 4s to make the boys in the lumber company run the other way when they saw me coming! The outer walls, which were designed to wallpaper a 17' x 21' room, were molded over lath strips on a 4' x 8' vacuum table. The lath strips were painted with acrylic paints and then the wet, newly formed paper sheets, made from overbeaten, sized, flax linters, were placed over the lath. Under the action of the vacuum table, both the impression of the wood and the coloration of the paint was left in the paper. These papers were designed to create the mysterious atmosphere of an old house, around and through which people would walk in the installation. The papers attached to the inner house walls are 8-10 layers thick. They are a mixture of dyed flax, kozo, and abaca. Some are embossed and waxed. Some of the layers are torn away to simulate old wallpaper, plaster, and crumbling walls. This was an important part of the construction for me, as it is in the walls where the history of a structure lies. I relate this to the numerous historical markings and pictures which have been left by indigenous peoples around the world. Paper was attached to the door using the vacuum table. One of the windows was put on the vacuum table and, as a result, two panes broke in a delicate spiderweb pattern. The other two windows were covered with paper and water was removed with a sponge. With the exception of the door and windows, all wood which came in contact with paper was first coated with polyurethane; the paper tested a neutral pH. This installation has allowed me to investigate the papermaking process and my own impulses and interests at the same time. Being an artist allows me to make social and personal comments, while exploring the complexity of processes and ideas. I can ask myself questions and then try to answer them.
