HAND PAPERMAKING
NEWSLETTER
number 129 • january 2020
Newsletter Editor: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton
Columnists: Sidney Berger, Donna Koretsky, Winifred
Radolan, Amy Richard
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>DEAR READERS
Those Were the Days My Friend, You Thought They’d Never End1
My father, Rémy John Barcham Green, and I sold old hand papermaking moulds for many years. I had not realised how early this had started until I recently came across the card illustrated, which presumably Rémy sent to a wide range of customers.
In 1961, hardly anyone was making paper as a studio type of activity, so I infer that Rémy initially thought that he would sell to customers as collectors’ items to hang on the wall or incorporated into coffee tables etc. By the time I joined the business in 1968, sales of old moulds were in full swing. Customers included Howard and Katherine Clark at Twinrocker, Greg Knowle at Iowa Center for the Book, and Muir Dawson in Los Angeles. Rémy kept selling moulds after I bought the business back in 1975. After a while this became a bit of an issue between us, as his prices were still ridiculously low and he was selling to some workshops who were trying to compete with us on a small scale. Eventually he stopped selling moulds in about 1976.
When Hayle Mill closed in 1987, I had about 250 pairs of moulds in stock and decided to price them based on what Ron MacDonald at Edwin Amies charged. I classified all the moulds by condition from 1 to 10 and discounted accordingly. Hayle Mill moulds have gone to new owners in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Catalonia, Czechia, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, Sweden, the UK, and the USA, among others. Most are in collections and some are in use. In early 2019 I sold all but a dozen moulds to the Cropper Paper Foundation in northern England. The few moulds that I am keeping are for my personal collection.
So, after 58 years, the sale of moulds from Hayle Mill has eventually ended. I sometimes wonder where they are now and what they are used for. Some will have changed owners again and hopefully most have survived. However, not everyone values moulds. I recently had an email from someone about a mould that he had rescued from a skip2–discarded and on its way to oblivion.
If any readers of Hand Papermaking Newsletter have information about them, what they are used for, and their journey from Hayle Mill over the years, I would be very interested to hear from them.
Thanks for spreading the word,
Simon Barcham Green
United Kingdom
1. With apologies to Gene Raskin who actually wrote in his lyrics: “we thought they’d never end.”
2. Editor’s note: A “skip” is what Americans would call a dumpster.
We invite our readers to send in a picture of their Hayle Mill’s mould to newseditor@handpapermaking.org or tag us on Instagram or Facebook!
Do you appreciate fine hand-made paper?
>ALONG THE PAPER ROAD...
In it for the long term!
BIO: Since 1998 this column has featured paper musings from Elaine Koretsky (1932–2018), renowned paper historian, researcher, and traveler. Since 2016, her daughter Donna Koretsky, co-founder and owner of Carriage House Paper, has continued the legacy.
ABSTRACT: In this issue, Donna continues Elaine’s tradition of papermaking with homegrown cotton.
At the most recent annual meeting of the Friends of Dard Hunter in Philadelphia, I gave a presentation entitled “The Brilliant Life of Elaine Koretsky.” Included was a short video clip from a lecture my mother gave at the 1990 Dard Hunter conference in Atlanta about fiber preparation. She discussed how she grew a number of jute plants one summer, retting the jute for four weeks in water in order to extract the bast fiber, with the net result of just three ounces of fiber—not nearly enough to put in her beater. To much laughter from the audience, she remarked that she had to grow jute for three more years before she could make paper from it: “I’m in this field of papermaking for the long term,” she asserted.
Another papermaking plant that Elaine continued to grow for the long term was cotton, botanically known as Gossypium. In the spring, she would place a few seeds in pots, and by mid-summer the cotton plants would develop white flowers which withered after a few days, and a cotton boll (not ball) would begin to form. In the fall the boll would burst open, exposing the soft cotton fibers. Every fall Elaine would harvest the cotton bolls, put them in a plastic bag and mark its date. I recently uncovered ten plastic bags of Elaine’s cotton, from ten different growing seasons, over a span of 16 years. Some years were better than others; she had a bumper crop in 2001, while 1997 yielded very little. All those years of growing cotton yielded two pounds of cotton fluff, ready to be made into paper. I was thrilled; I could fulfill my mother’s wish to make paper from plants that she grew, and there was enough cotton to process in the beater.
As every papermaker knows, fiber preparation is key to successful papermaking. Therefore, I began the task of separating the long staple cotton fiber from the seeds by hand, not realizing how tedious it was going to be. The fibers were attached to the seeds and it took a lot of work to pull them apart. I figured out that it would take me 26 hours to remove all the seeds from two pounds of cotton. I was surprised when I also figured out that fifty percent of the weight of the cotton is seeds and the other fifty percent is fiber.
Well, as much as I loved my mother, there was no way I was going to spend 26 hours removing seeds by hand. I wondered what would happen if I beat the cotton along with the seeds. However, the seeds were rock hard and I was afraid they might damage the beater roll. I decided to boil one pound of the cotton with the seeds, which softened them. I beat the boiled fiber and seed for one hour in my Reina beater and made paper.
I imagined crisp, pristine, white sheets of paper with tiny black specks. Instead, each sheet was so loaded with black specks of ground-up seeds, that the surface was rough and uneven and looked and felt like a sandy beach. The white cotton fiber was overpowered by the black seeds. I should not have been surprised since there was such a high fiber-to-seed ratio.
One pound of cotton remained and I decided to bite the bullet and remove all of the seeds. I watched a Youtube video showing the removal of the seeds by running the cotton through a pasta maker. It sounded like a good idea until I tried it. It was slow going, and took the same amount of time as it took to remove the seeds by hand. So I then spent 13 hours pinching and pulling seeds from one pound of cotton, and have a newly acquired appreciation for Eli Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin. The result was half a pound of beautiful white cotton fiber, ready to be thrown into the beater. (In addition, I had half a pound of fuzzy and hard cotton seeds.)
I beat the pulp for an hour and was pleased with the finished paper. The formation was good and the laid and chain lines are visible when a sheet is held up to the light. The sheet isn’t white like the cotton, but a cream color with a minimum of black specks throughout.
My grappling with the cotton bolls gave me a better understanding of cotton and its uses in industry. Once the cotton bolls are picked from the fields, they are put in the gin, a machine that separates the seeds from the long staple cotton fiber. This seed-free cotton fiber is also called lint and is baled and sent to the textile industry to be spun and woven into cloth. Meanwhile the cotton seeds still have a white fuzz of shorter fibers attached to them. These seeds go through a second ginning process and the fuzz that is removed gets sent to a pulp mill to be made into cotton linters. The de-fuzzed cotton seed is made into cooking oil, and the meal that remains after the oil is extracted is used as livestock feed. Nearly every part of the cotton plant is used.
For papermaking, cotton can be in the form of either the ginned raw cotton, cotton rag, or cotton linters. Raw cotton, as I used, could have been what the early cotton papers were made from in the end of the 9th century when there is mention of the discovery of charta bombycine or cotton paper in the empire of the east.1 Cotton rags have been more commonly used historically for papermaking from the 12th century on.2 Cotton linters, developed in the early 1900s, were not originally used for papermaking, but used during World War 1 to make smokeless gunpowder! They did not become popular for papermaking until after the 1920s.
I still have a pile of nearly 2,000 “vintage” cotton seeds, covered in cotton fuzz. I will likely plant them in the spring in the hopes that some of them will be viable, and continue my mother’s tradition of harvesting miniscule amounts of cotton every year.
Notes
1. Joel Munsell, A Chronology of Paper and Paper-making (Albany, New York: Munsell, 1870), 12.
2. Benedict Cowell and Robert Frost Wilson, The Giant Hand: Our Mobilization and Control of Industry and Natural Resources 1917–1918, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), 139.
Elaine’s homegrown cotton bolls; ten years of growing cotton plants in pots.
A couple handfuls of cotton produces about a handful of seeds.
The paper with seeds (right) was much coarser than the paper made from Elaine’s homegrown cotton with the seeds removed (left).
>TEACHING HAND PAPERMAKING
Breaking a papermaking dry spell
BIO: Based in Philadelphia, Winifred Radolan operates an itinerant teaching papermill, and has taught papermaking to thousands of adults and children. Her works, both paper and book, have been exhibited internationally and are in private collections.
ABSTRACT: In this issue, Winnie celebrates getting back into papermaking after an unfortunate tumble put her hand in a cast.
This past Thursday, after my longest dry spell since becoming a papermaker, I plunged both hands eagerly into a vat of pulp. For the first time in nearly two months, I demonstrated the sheet-forming method to a brand-new student in my Paper Studio class at Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. It surely felt wonderful!
Why, might you ask, such a long hiatus from my beloved papermaking? A misadventure in another of my passions sidelined me. While I was running agility with one of my dogs, my foot became entangled with the “field turf monster” while the rest of me stayed in motion. Down I went, full force on my left hand. My left wrist now stirs the pulp with the aid of a plate and nine long pins! I am fortunate that it wasn’t worse and that I have wonderful friends who helped me continue to function as I healed.
But oh...the timing of this setback was poor! This happened on the morning that I was looking forward to meeting the Friends of Dard Hunter conference attendees at Historic RittenhouseTown to assist with their tour. I had been happily anticipating helping to assemble the conference keepsakes. But those wonderful friends stepped up and took my place in both instances, and did a fantastic job! Nevertheless, I was quite sad to miss the Friends and festivities!
Fortunately, I had recently done a pulp refrigerator inventory and major pulp reconstitution with fibers that weren’t exhausted from the summer in the vats. I had rinsed old pulp and made a supply of new to tide me over what I thought would be a busy stretch of weeks. As it turned out, I’ve been busy healing. But my studio class at the art center continued on, with my student-artists necessarily much more proactive with set-up and clean-up.
During the last week of the five-week session of Thursday classes we got creative. Everyone decided they would like a “veggie pulp” afternoon. During the week each artist cut, cooked, and rinsed a vegetable to contribute to the vats. In class, we subjected the rinsed veggies to a spin in the blender to break down the fibers before adding them to a medley of pigmented cotton/abaca pulp in the vats. Our dwindling fiber supply was augmented with fennel, leeks, chard, and beet stems as well as some cooked ginkgo leaves and camellia petals. The resulting sheets were positively stunning.
It was unfortunate that I had to miss making paper with the children at a yearly book festival that I’ve attended since it began. But lifting buckets of water is still a bit too much. Until this recent setback I hadn’t fully considered how physical our pulp pursuits can be. My sister’s recent visit was timed conveniently with my empty pulp buckets. She did all the heavy lifting while I ran three loads of fiber through the beater and pigmented them. I believe I’ll be ready to make the next batch solo!
I am most grateful for all the support and assistance I’ve been receiving as I “power back up” to the vats!
A healed wrist, with the minor addition of a plate and nine long pins.
>DECORATED PAPER
The Dessauer Company
BIO: Sidney Berger is Director Emeritus of the Phillips Library of the Peabody Essex Museum, and a professor on the faculty of the library schools at Simmons University and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He and his wife Michèle Cloonan put together the Berger–Cloonan Collection of Decorated Paper (about 22,000 pieces), now in the Cushing Library at Texas A&M University.
ABSTRACT: In this issue, Sid takes us to the city of Aschaffenburg and the extraordinary decorated papers produced there.
Nearly ten years ago I wrote about paper sample books (in Hand Papermaking Newsletter no. 91 and 92 in July and October 2010), and now and then I refer to them again (especially in no. 126 when I wrote about wallpaper sample books). Thanks to a fairly recent acquisition, I wish to return to the subject, this time to focus on some of the most prolific producers of decorated papers from one city, Aschaffenburg.
This town in northwest Bavaria, Germany, was the home of a company specializing in decorated papers. As Karli Frigge notes in her little book Sample Book of Aschaffenburg Fancy Paper Factory (1993), the first company there was started in 1810 by Johan[n] Daniel Knode, a marbler, who quickly had to sell the firm to cover the loans he had taken out that were called in.1 He sold the company in 1811 to Alois Dessauer, a much better businessman, under whose ownership the company flourished. Showing Dessauer’s success, Richard J. Wolfe points out in his book titled Marbled Paper (1990) that by about 1818 Dessauer employed over 100 people at the plant.2 When Dessauer died in 1850, the factory employed over 500 workers. And by the 20th century the company had absorbed several other paper-decoration companies, two of which were in Aschaffenburg, with several others elsewhere in Germany. Though the company (referred to in the trade as “Aschaffenburg,” though more properly “the Dessauer company”) made it through two world wars, it shut its doors for good in 1968.3
In an extraordinarily lucky moment, my wife and I acquired a small collection of the sample books from this company, some labeled with the name of one of the firms that Dessauer took over—A. Nees & Co. (but with the Aschaffenburg rubber stamp on the front pastedowns and many pages of samples designated with the Aschaffenburg name). What is startling about these amazing sample books is the number and range of decorated papers the establishment was producing when these books were compiled, probably around 1910. Three of the books that we have are massive. The one I will speak of here is 13 x 10½ inches, and is 5 inches thick, and it has over 250 pages holding 6,067 samples with no repeats. The volume is undated, but it predates World War I, and is after 1900, when the zeppelin was first flown (there are papers showing these lighter-than-air crafts).
The range of papers here is absolutely astonishing. The sample book was clearly meant for a broad buying clientele since the captions throughout are in German, English, and French. And section after section of the volume show papers with an enormous range of colors, textures, patterns, and surfaces. Some papers are matte, some are semi-gloss, some are glazed, and some are what the book calls “gelatined”—that is, not merely glossy and coated with a gelatin glaze, but thickened with a bright, shiny, stiffening coating that glistens in the light. There are hundreds of these. For instance, there is a section labeled Gelataniert Krokodil-Papier (Gelatined Crocodile Paper), with the embossed crocodile-skin texture palpable through the bright coating.
The first section of this 17½-pound volume shows a great range of marbled papers, mostly done by hand, though some seem to have been machine made, followed by an equally impressive group of paste papers—just what one would expect of a company purveying decorated papers. But impressive and beautiful as these sections are, they cannot hold a candle to the rest of the catalog.
In the Winter 2009 issue of Hand Papermaking I contributed an article titled “Dutch Gilt Papers as Substitutes for Leather.” Though the Japanese were early masters of this kind of paper (which are called kinkarakawakami or kinkarakami), the Germans excelled in them too. One of the aims of my essay was to point out the versatility of paper. This Aschaffenburg sample book multiplies that message a hundred times over. The so-called “imitations” in this volume are astonishing. There are hundreds of papers showing beautiful imitation leathers, including calf, goat, deer, antelope, gazelle, zebra, and other mammals, along with snake, crocodile, and armadillo. And not just one or two of these papers, but dozens of them, in varying colors and textures. There is an extensive section of just “embossed fancy leather papers,” some adorned with gold-stamped patterns. And there are papers with imitation ivory and moss as well.
Many of us have seen wood-grain papers, but this sample book has papers imitating cedar, birch, olive, apricot, and many other woods, and in a host of shades and grain patterns. In fact, there are at least 125 different imitation-wood patterns here, along with imitation cork, metals, brocades, moire, and many others.
One set of imitations is of ceramics, specifically those for Wedgewood Imitation porcelain; another is for Meissen porcelains; and a third is for the Dutch Delft china. There is a group of series of papers showing “Parkett-, Mauer-und Ziegel-Papier” (“Extrafine Floor & Brick Paper”), with patterns of bricks and tiles. Other groups of papers are called “Brokat”—as in the German word brokatpapier, which we call “dutch gilt papers.” (See my column on these amazing papers in Hand Papermaking Newsletter no. 81 of January 2008). One could look for (and have great difficulty finding) the handmade, extraordinarily expensive originals from the 18th century, or one could go to Aschaffenburg and get their machine-made copies, which, themselves, are lovely—and which were available in more than a hundred patterns.
Yet another series of papers were inspired by the beautiful 18th-century “Fantasie” papers of the French, called here “Chromo-Fantasie” papers, of which there are hundreds of amazing patterns in bright and glowing colors. In fact, one of the startling things about these sample books is that their pigments look as shiny-new today as they did when this book was put together.
Catering to a wide range of users, the manufacturer offered a tremendous number of papers for bookbinders—for covers and endpapers. One group of series—showing hundreds of patterns—is specifically designated for endleaves, with one of the company’s series called “Aschaffenburger Goldbrokat” and designated in English “Aschaffenbourg Brocade Endpaper.” At many an ephemera fair one will encounter scrapbooks filled with decorated papers. There is no doubt that this company supplied the compilers of these scrapbooks with their wares. One series of papers are touted for people who want to decorate box covers; others were for wood veneers; yet others were for wall coverings.
And remember, this is just one of their sample books. At an antiquarian book fair two years ago, one dealer had a collection of 18 of them, most of which were like the one I have been describing here. I would love to have gotten them, but it would have meant selling my house or cashing in my retirement.
* * *
With such an extensive line of papers, it is easy to see why over 500 people were employed by this company when this catalog was compiled. The number of colors, kinds of paper substrates, textures, patterns and designs, finishes, and other artistic effects offered by this company is truly astonishing. Wolfe says that just after the company’s 150th anniversary, the firm decided to close. “While apparently solvent, it was not making a sufficient profit to satisfy its stockholders; liquidation began in 1968 and its factories were torn down in 1971.”4 We will never see the likes of such an establishment again. But for decorated paper aficionados, the sample books of this truly amazing company live on as a testament to their imagination and artistry.
Notes
1. Karli Frigge, Sample Book of Aschaffenburg Fancy Paper Factory (Buren, Netherlands: Frits Knuf, 1993), 2.
2. Richard J. Wolfe, Marbled Paper: Its History Techniques, and Patterns (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990), 25.
3. Frigge, 2. And Wolfe, 26.
4. Ibid.
A sample book page with the Brokat-Fantasie Serie VII, from the German word brokatpapier, which we call dutch gilt papers.
Walzendruck-Kattun, which roughly translates to printed calico papers, are exceptionally vibrant.
A sample book page with lush florals; the Dessauer company came to be known for such bright and elegant decorated papers.
From tiny farm scenes to strange fairy-tale vignettes, these sample books have something for every occasion.
>PAPER CONSERVATION
From the papermaking studio to the conservator studio
BIO: Maria Olivia Davalos Stanton is an artist, tea drinker, and apprentice art conservator in San Francisco, California. In this column series, Davalos Stanton shares interviews, resources, and news about paper conservation—bringing the handmade-paper cycle full circle.
ABSTRACT: In this issue, Maria Olivia talks with Associate Conservator Michelle Sullivan from the Department of Paper Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The interview was conducted via phone on November 14, 2019.
Maria Olivia (MO): How did you discover this field? And what made you decide to stay?
Michelle Sullivan (MS): Though I didn’t know about art conservation as an undergraduate, I’ve always been drawn to paper-based art. At the University of California Santa Barbara, I double-majored in art history and studio art, within which I focused on drawing, printmaking, papermaking, and book arts. Within my art history major I developed a focus on ukiyo-e (Japanese woodblock prints), completing an undergraduate honors thesis and several museum internships on the subject. Like many undergraduates, I felt I had two options as an art history student: professor or curator. I knew I wanted to work in a museum, so upon graduation, I started as a curatorial assistant at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, assuming that I would ultimately pursue a PhD in art history. Working at the museum was a wonderful experience, but I did miss the studio environment. Fortunately, I continued to work with one of my studio art professors, Harry Reese, in the evenings and on weekends. I was part of a team that created hundreds of sheets of handmade paper for his installation Grus Pacifica at the Broward County Public Library in Hollywood, Florida.
About a year after I started working at the museum, I met my first paper conservator, Jeffery Warda from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. After spending an hour talking with Jeffery about his work, I knew that I wanted to be a paper conservator. Conservation offered me the opportunity to combine my art historical interests and work with my hands. I continued to work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art while chipping away at prerequisite coursework in chemistry and gaining practical experience through internships. My final internship before admission to graduate school was with the Department of Paper Conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where I now work. Ultimately, I earned my master’s degree from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Graduate Program in Art Conservation, completing summer internships at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Getty. Conservation students complete a one-year capstone internship before graduating; I spent my third year at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC before returning to the Getty Museum after graduation.
MO: A question which I find produces a really varied response from conservators is: Do you consider yourself an artist?
MS: I don’t think I would call myself an artist, though I still enjoy making art from time to time. I enjoy participating in classes and workshops that allow me to flex my creative side, things like book arts, knitting, and other handcrafts. And my studio background, knowing firsthand how paper is made, has proven invaluable to me as a paper conservator; it is something I appreciate and use every day.
MO: What is an average day like at the J. Paul Getty Museum? It is quite a large institution, how does that impact your work?
MS: We have five conservators in the Department of Paper Conservation, and each of us works on a specific area of the collection. I am the conservator for the Drawings Collection. We also have a conservator for Illuminated Manuscripts and three for Photography Collections. Mainly, I work on Old Master material, as the Drawings Collection focuses on work from European artists dating from the Renaissance through the late 19th century. Through exhibitions and loans, however, I often have the opportunity to work on quite a variety of artworks—modern and contemporary, American and Asian.
My work at the Getty also involves public education. Sometimes, conservators help develop material and displays for exhibitions at the museum. We even have a didactic papermaking mould to help describe the hand papermaking process to students and classes visiting our lab.
MO: Have you ever worked in private practice?
MS: Right now, I really enjoy working in an institutional setting. I truly value the expertise of my colleagues and collaboration between curators, scientists, and fellow conservators. The Getty really fosters this type of work. With Old Master drawings, our approach tends to be rather conservative with limited intervention. Much of our work is preventive in nature with preservation, not restoration, as the aim. By controlling the environment in which art is stored and displayed (temperature, humidity, light, pollution, etc.), we try to limit change and prevent damage. If a drawing does require treatment, my goal is usually stabilization. I might mend a tear, reinforce a weakened edge, or upgrade the materials used to house the object. Conservators always document their interventions and, as much as possible, try to make their work reversible.
MO: What is your most memorable project involving handmade paper?
Well, most of my treatments involve handmade paper! I use handmade European, Japanese, and Korean papers in conservation treatment—mending tears, filling losses, and adding false margins to double-sided drawings. Also, because I work with an Old Master collection, nearly every drawing I work with at the Getty is on handmade paper.
Through my work at the Getty, I continue to seek out opportunities to learn more about papermaking as often as I can. I am so lucky that workshops on hand papermaking are part of my professional development! This past September, I participated in a workshop in Puymoyen, France at Moulin du Verger, a 16th-century mill. The workshop focused on learning historic papermaking techniques. We spent five days dyeing rags, creating pulp with stampers, pulling sheets, and loft drying paper. This experience, and the paper samples we took home, provide a fantastic reference for identification and examination of historic examples in the collections of our home institutions. It also touched upon the importance of educating ourselves as paper conservators. The ability to witness firsthand such an amazing craft is truly valuable and helps us better understand the qualities we observe in the paper—grain direction, thickness, absorbency, surface texture, translucency, and color. By making paper ourselves, we become more aware of these properties and how our treatments can alter them. Artists often select paper for a reason, for specific qualities. As conservators, we need to understand those qualities to fully preserve the work of art.
Michelle Sullivan working on a paper treatment. Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The didactic papermaking mould we keep in the lab to show visiting classes. Courtesy of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
>STUDYING HAND PAPERMAKING
Pa·per \ˈpāpə(r)\ n.
BIO: Amy Richard is a visual artist, writer, and proprietor of Amy Richard Studio in Gainesville, Florida where she produces original artwork, teaches papermaking, and tends to her kozo garden. In this column series, Richard explores the unique energy of handmade paper, the spiritual and healing characteristics of the process itself, and the opportunities for studying papermaking in colleges, universities, and other established art centers in the United States and abroad.
ABSTRACT: In this issue, Amy ponders a new definition of paper and relives a visit to The Papyrus Museum in Ortigia, Sicily [Italy].
Describing paper just got a little easier thanks to a new definition proposed by Tim Barrett in his recent book, European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques:
Paper is a material made of cellulose fibers beaten or otherwise manipulated while moist for use as a substrate to carry writing or display images.1
As Barrett explains, this broader definition (currently under discussion in the field), acknowledges “the contributions of earlier cultures to the development of human civilization by their inventions of new lightweight, long-lasting cellulose-fiber-based sheets.” It also contrasts with a long-held opinion that specifies fiber dispersion in water as a defining characteristic: “Traditionally, paper is defined as being made from cellulose fiber that has been beaten, dispersed as fibers in water, strained out again to form a sheet or a three-dimensional structure and dried…”2
In a few words, this is huge. It means that materials previously relegated to pre-paper or paper-like (e.g., amate from Mesoamerica, daluang in Indonesia, tapa in Polynesia, and papyrus from Egypt) would now, “all fall under the category of paper.”3
While I am not a scholar, this new perspective makes sense and will help eliminate quizzical looks among novice papermakers who nearly always reference papyrus in historical discussions before being told that it is not a “true” paper—especially since the word paper is derived from the word papyrus!
This profound shift in terminology made my recent trip to The Papyrus Museum (Museo del Papiro) in Syracuse, Sicily, that much more meaningful. Founded by Corrado Basile and Anna Di Natale and dedicated solely to the study of papyrus and its uses, the museum is considered to be the only one of its kind. For more than 30 years, its focus has been on the study of ancient manufacturing of papyrus paper, its preservation and protection, as well as the history and origins of papyrus in Sicily.
Housed in a St. Augustine convent dating back to the 17th century, the exhibition is well organized in a series of small galleries containing a host of information and artifacts. Papyri documents from the 15th century BCE to 7th century CE; life-size papyrus boats from Ethiopia (replicas of the same design used in biblical times), and other handmade items such as baskets, sandals, ropes, and mats are on permanent display. A herbarium is also featured containing umbels from papyrus plants gathered from various locations in Egypt, Sicily, Africa, and Israel.
Didactics provide insights into the origins and manufacture of papyrus paper in Egypt and also in Syracuse, Sicily where papyrus plants are thought to have been introduced in the 3rd century BCE.
It was here that I learned that ancient papyri are “of different qualities depending on the variety of techniques and substances used.” As the museum literature describes, “The finest papyri are the oldest ones dating from the Pharaonic and even Ptolemaci period. Roman papyri until the 3rd century are of good quality, even if thicker…” with a sharp decline in the quality of papyrus from the later Byzantine and Arabic periods.5 Exquisite examples are provided to illustrate the difference and one does not have to be an expert to see it.
While studying the exhibit, I remember being struck by parallels in the rise and decline of the quality of papyrus to a similar pattern in European handmade papers of hemp and flax, which Barrett has dedicated much of his career to.6 Like Barrett, Corrado Basile has dedicated much of his research to identifying and reconstructing significant phases of papyri production in search of secrets that the ancient papyri might reveal.
Looking out at the turquoise sea from the museum window, I remember thinking how easy it would have been to miss this gem of a museum tucked away from the hustle and bustle of mainland Italy. It was pure chance that we spotted it in an innocuous tourist pamphlet. To reach the museum, one has to leave their car or other transportation behind in the adjacent city of Syracuse and cross one of two bridges (on foot) to enter the tiny island of Ortigia, which serves as Syracuse’s historic city center.
This first visit was far too short but rest assured I will be back for a guided tour and hopefully a live demonstration of papyrus manufacture (although a video in the museum provides a substitute).
Back across the bridge and near the immense archeological museum in Syracuse I spotted a canal full of Cyperus papyrus. Finally able to see and hold a live specimen, it occurred to me that papyrus is to Egypt (and Sicily) what paper mulberry (a.k.a. kozo) is to many Asian cultures, both are humble plants whose fibers have been transformed into paper “vehicles” that have changed the world. For millennia, both types of paper were used for a full spectrum of communication from the most mundane business transactions to great literary works and some of the most important spiritual manuscripts in human history.
When one considers that papyrus remained in use longer than any other material in the history of written documents, it clearly deserves more attention from papermakers and artists alike.
Notes
1. Timothy D. Barrett, European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques (Ann Arbor, MI: The Legacy Press, 2018), 316.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Museo del Papiro: Corrado Basile, no. 7 in the series The Papyrus Museum, Monograife del Museo del Papiro (Syracuse, Sicily, Italy: Pubblicato dall’Istituto Internazionale del Papiro, 2015), 20.
5. Barrett, 316.
Both video monitor and ancient press provide insights into the techniques used for producing papyrus paper, at The Paper Museum on the island of Ortigia, in Syracuse, Sicily.
The author is delighted to be able to see and hold a live papyrus plant in Syracuse, Sicily.
LISTINGS
Listings for specific workshops and other
events in the following categories are offered
free of charge on a space-available basis.
Contact each facility directly for additional
information or a full schedule. The deadline f
or the April 2020 newsletter is February 15.
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA, (215)
887-4882, www.abingtonartcenter.org.
Classes, workshops, and exhibitions in a
variety of media.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts,
Gatlinburg, TN, (865) 436-5860, www.arrowmont.
org. Classes and workshops in a variety
of disciplines, including papermaking. Visit
https://www.arrowmont.org/workshops-classes/
for information about the school’s series
of National Workshops that run from April
through early November.
Sneak peek of the 2020 Workshop series:
Paper Arts and Installation, May 24–30,
with Kristina Arnold
Paper Arts, Oct. 4–10, with Gretchen
Schermerhorn
Paper Baskets, Oct. 4–10, with Jackie Abrams
Paper Arts, Nov. 1–7, with Nicole Uzzell
Paper Arts: Joomchi, Nov. 1–7, with Jiyoung
Chung.
The Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada,
(403) 762-6100 or (403) 762-6180, www.-
banffcentre.ca. Artist residencies in fully
equipped papermaking studio and other
disciplines. Contact wendy_tokaryk@banffcentre.
ca for registration info.
Book Arts Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, (310)
722-9004, www.-bookartsla.org. Classes in
printing, bookbinding, and other crafts in
the Culver City neighborhood.
Brainbridge Artisan Resource Network,
Brainbridge Island, WA, (206) 842-4475,
https://bainbridgebarn.org/. Community art
center with classes and open studios in a
variety of art fields, including book arts and
printmaking.
John C. Campbell Folk School, Brasstown,
NC, (704) 837-2775, www.folkschool.org.
Classes in papermaking and other crafts in
the mountains of western North Carolina.
Paper: Cleaning, Washing & Repair, Feb.
14–16, with Dea Sasso. Learn methods of
dry-cleaning paper; how to wash, buffer,
and deacidify paper; three types of paper
repair; and encapsulation of documents
Papercutting: An International Craft
(Scandinavian Week), March 8–14, with
Lind Miller. Create cards, pictures, and 3D
projects with a variety of papers using
small scissors (provided) or a craft knife.
Paper Conservation, Apr. 24–26, with Gian
Frontini. Learn the basics of paper conservation
and restoration: paper composition,
properties of old paper, and how they
relate to conservation.
Carriage House Paper. Brooklyn, NY, (718)
599-7857, www.carriagehousepaper.com.
Short, specialized, intensive workshops;
private teaching sessions; artist collaborations;
and group programs offered
throughout the year at a fully equipped
papermaking studio.
Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, (212)
481-0295, centerforbookarts.org. The Center
for Book Arts is a contemporary arts organization
dedicated to the art of the book through
exhibitions, classes, public programming,
literary presentations, opportunities for artists
and writers, publications, and collections.
Jiseung—
Paper to Rope to Basket, March
7–8, with Aimee Lee. Students will learn
jiseung, an old Korean tradition of
twisting strips of paper into cord and
weaving it like baskets.
Cottage Industry Technology Center, 20 Russet
St., SSS Village, Marikina City, Philippines.
Workshops, demonstrations, and technical
consultancy in a variety of crafts and livelihoods,
including hand papermaking and related crafts.
Contact Loreto D. Apilado at Lor-Eto.DA@-
gmail.com or bookends-here2002@yahoo.com
or (632) 942-3974.
Dieu Donné Papermill, Brooklyn, NY, (212)
226-0573, www.dieudonne.org. Beginning
and advanced papermaking classes. Open
studio sessions and community studio
memberships also available.
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle,
ME, (207) 348-2306, www.haystack-mtn.org.
Haystack offers workshops in various disciplines,
including papermaking and book arts.
For more information, visit www.haystack-mtn.
org/programs.
Helen Hiebert Paper Studio, Red Cliff, CO,
www.helenhiebertstudio.com. Helen holds
regular papermaking workshops at her studio
in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, online,
and around the world. For her upcoming schedule,
visit http://helenhiebertstudio.com/-
calendar/.
Hook Pottery Paper, LaPorte, IN, (219) 362-
9478, hookpotterypaper@comcast.net,
www.hookpotterypaper.com. Hook Pottery
Paper consists of a clay studio; a combined
book, paper, and print studio; and a gallery
shop. For information on residencies, workshops,
and experiences at Hook Pottery Paper,
visit www.hookpotterypaper.com/classes/.
Inter-Ocean Curiosity Studio, Englewood,
CO, (303) 789-0282. For more information on
papermaking workshops with Ray Tomasso,
contact him at ray@raytomasso.com or (303)
552-8256.
Jane Ingram Allen Studio, Santa Rosa, CA,
(857) 234-2432, info@janeingramallen.com.
For more information on papermaking workshops,
individual consulting, and private use of her papermaking studio, visit janeingramallen.
wordpress.com.
Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Kalamazoo,
MI, (269) 373-4938, info@kalbookarts.org,
www.kalbookarts.org. The Center offers
classes in book printing and binding, printmaking,
hand papermaking, and creative writing.
Karen Hanmer Book Arts, Glenview, IL. A private
studio in north suburban Chicago offering
workshops and private instruction to practitioners
and dedicated hobbyists, focusing
on a solid foundation in traditional binding
skills. For more information, visit www.karenhanmer.
com/-teaching/index.html
March Let There Be Light! Feb. 8–9, with
Kim Hosken Eberstein. In just two days,
you will create a lamp covered with your
own handmade paper.
Kitchen Scrap Papermaking, March 9, with
Lorrie Grainger Abdo. Take this crash course
in papermaking to create beautiful sheets
of natural fibers and inclusions (that can
all be found in your kitchen!).
Paint with Paper? Yes! Apr. 18–19, with Kim
Hosken Eberstein. Are you an image
maker? A painter? This two-day class will
allow you to explore paper pulp as a
paint medium.
Maiwa School of Textiles, Vancouver, British
Columbia, (604) 669-3939, www.schooloftextiles.
com. Maiwa School of Textiles offers
an international roster of instructors. Learn from
some of the most skilled hands working in
textiles today. For information about upcoming
workshops, visit www.schooloftextiles.com.
Papermaking with Natural Dyes, Apr. 27–30,
with Radha Pandey. Students will learn
how traditional fibres used in Indo-Islamic
papermaking are prepared, and how materials
and tools were adapted through time.
The Book of North Country Shifu, May 6–10,
with Velma Bolyard. This course presents
Velma’s take on a traditional Japanese
technique; students will make, spin, weave,
and write on paper with stitch and color.
Massachusetts School of Art and Design,
Boston, MA, (617) 879-7200, pce.massart.edu.
MassArt’s Professional and Continuing Education
offers courses and workshops in fine
art and design, professional design certificates,
summer immersive programming, and more.
Minah Song Art Services, Arlington, VA,
(646) 352-3828, Paper conservation studio
in the Washington DC metro area which
offers workshops.
Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis,
MN, (612) 215-2520, www.mnbookarts.org.
A visual arts center that celebrates the art of
the book, from letterpress printing to hand
papermaking. The Center offers youth and
adult classes, exhibitions, artist residencies,
studio memberships, and more.
March Making Simple Paper Lanterns and
Vessels, Jan. 18 and 25, with Regula Ruselle.
Learn the skills to make simple lanterns
and vessels with handmade paper.
19th-Century Book Cloth with Natural
Dyes, March 21, with India Johnson. The
workshop focuses on using natural dyes
in recreating 19th-century book cloth,
but participants will also learn to use
XSL pigments, which are more suitable
for conservation applications.
Introduction to Western Papermaking, Thursdays
Apr. 2–May 7, with Bridget O’Malley.
Learn the tools, terminology, and procedures
of Western-style papermaking.
Paper: An Ancient Medium in East Asian
Contemporary Art, Apr. 19 and 26, with
Peng Wu. The class will start with a brief
survey of paper as a historically significant
medium and its presence in Asian contemporary
art and design. Two sessions
of hands-on papermaking will allow for
open-minded experimentation and play.
Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory
and Educational Foundation, Cleveland, OH,
(216) 361-9255, www.morganconservatory.-
org. The Morgan Conservatory Open Studio
program provides artists and students access
to studio space and equipment; gives them with an opportunity to create art in areas of
papermaking, letterpress printing, and bookbinding;
and presents regular workshops in
papermaking, printing, book arts, and mixed
technique. For more information, visit
www.morganconservatory.org/open-studio.
Mixed Technique Papermaking, Feb. 15–16,
with Tom Balbo. In this experimental art
lab geared towards the creation of individual
artworks, you can arrive with a
pre-planned idea or leave yourself open
to the possibilities.
Western Papermaking and Pulp Painting,
March 7–8, with Anna Tararova. In this
workshop students will learn every step
of the papermaking process as well as
painting with many thin layers of finely
beaten cotton pulp.
Papermakers of Victoria, at Box Hill Community
Arts Centre, Whitehorse, Victoria,
Australia, phone 9885 2479. Workshop and
exhibition information can be found at www.-
papermakers.org.au.
Introduction to Papermaking, Feb. 9, with
Barb Adams. This workshop will introduce
you to the skill of hand papermaking
with recycled pulp of different colours.
Watermarks, May 17, with Gail Stiffe. Learn
about the history of watermarks and how
to make permanent and temporary watermarks
for your own moulds.
The Papertrail, New Dundee, Ontario, Canada,
(800) 421-6826, www.papertrail.ca. Classes
taught in English or French in papermaking,
marbling, and related arts, and studio rental
scheduled on an as-needed basis.
PapierWespe (PaperWasp), Klimschgasse 2/1,
Vienna, Austria, (0676) 77-33-153, office-
@papierwespe.at, www.papierwespe.at. Workshops
in English and German taught by paper
specialists in downtown Vienna. For information
about upcoming workshops at PapierWespe,
visit www.papierwespe.at/workshops.
Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, (828) 765-
2359, www.penland.org, offers a full program
of craft workshops, including papermaking and
paper arts. For information on upcoming
workshops in paper and book arts, visit http://-
penland.org/workshops/books-paper/.
Paper of Place, Apr. 5–11, with Frank Brannon.
In this workshop, we’ll intertwine the process
of hand papermaking with an understanding
of its wide-ranging history.
Pyramid Atlantic, Hyattsville, MD, (301) 608-
9101, www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org,
offers workshops in papermaking, printmaking,
and book arts. For more information
on upcoming classes, visit https://www.
pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/workshops.
Book Repair for the Personal Library, Jan.
11 or 12, with Linda Rollins. In this workshop,
you will learn how to assess and explore
simple repair options that can be tackled at
home and with easy-to-source and relatively
inexpensive tools and equipment.
Make a Stack of Paper, Jan. 15, with William
Burke. Come to this Make + Take and
walk away with a pack of 20 sheets of
elegant handmade paper.
Watermarks Techniques, Jan. 19 and 26,
with Jovana Ivezic. In this workshop the
students will learn about the art of watermarks
and how to make them.
Handmade Paper Valentines, Jan. 25, with
Jeana Foley. Join us in the Paper Studio
to transform a hunka, hunka watery pulp
into a whole lotta love with custom-created,
heart-shaped moulds.
Paper Monoprints, Feb. 22–23, with Georgia
Deal. This workshop covers the many
exciting possibilities when using pulp as
a print medium to make unique works
on handmade paper.
Pulpy Experimentations, March 7, with
Christy Ball. Go beyond the basics of pulling
a single sheet of paper by experimenting
with new techniques using the traditional
mould and deckle.
Robert C. Williams Paper Museum. Atlanta,
GA, (404) 894-5726, http://paper.gatech.
edu. The EXPLORE! series consists of nine
educational workshops dedicated to the art and science of paper. Perfect for homeschoolers
or anyone looking to experience the diverse
potential of paper. For upcoming workshops
and other programming, visit paper.gatech.
edu/upcoming-workshops.
San Diego Book Arts, 8680 Washington Ave.,
La Mesa, CA 91942, www.sandiegobookarts.
com. The mission of San Diego Book Arts
is to serve as an educational and creative
resource for the community and to advance
the book as a vital contemporary art form.
For information on upcoming classes, visit
www.sandiegobookarts.com/classes/.
San Francisco Center for the Book, San
Francisco, CA, (415) 565-0545, www.sfcb.org.
Book arts classes, workshops, events, and
exhibitions year-round. For information on
upcoming classes, visit sfcb.org/workshops.
Introduction to Japanese Style Papermaking,
Feb. 4, with Michelle Wilson. Students in
this workshop will learn to make thin yet
strong paper in the Japanese tradition.
Korean Paper Magic: Bark, Thread, Weave &
Color, Apr. 20–24, with Aimee Lee. Come
prepared for intensive hand work in a
cooperative and collaborative classroom, and
leave with a multitude of techniques, samples,
and stories from a rich paper culture.
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, OR,
(541) 994-5485. www.sitkacenter.org. The Sitka
Center offers workshops, residencies, and
community events at its facility near Cascade
Head and the Salmon River estuary in Oregon.
For information on upcoming workshops,
visit https://www.sitkacenter.org/workshop/-
workshopslist.
Snow Farm: The New England Craft Program,
Williamsburg, MA, (413) 268-3101. www.snowfarm.
org. Workshops at Snow Farm span eight
subject areas, including printmaking and
paper/book arts. For more information, visit
www.snowfarm.org/workshops/class-listings.
The World of Korean Paper, May 17–23, with
Aimee Lee. Explore a myriad of Korean techniques
for making and transforming paper
known as hanji.
The Soapbox: Community Print Shop & Zine
Library, Philadelphia, PA, info@phillysoapbox.
org, www.phillysoapbox.org, offers studio space,
a zine library, and other resources for anyone
interested in print-, book-, and zine-making.
For upcoming workshops, visitwww.phillysoapbox.
org/events.
The Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh,
PA, (412) 261-7003, www.contemporarycraft.
org. Classes in fiber, book art, and other media
in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District. Information
about upcoming workshops can be
found at http://contemporarycraft.org/education/.
Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX, (210)
224-1848, www.swschool.org. Classes at the Picante
Paper Studio. Individual papermaking classes
can be scheduled for one person or a group. Studio
time, consultation, and instruction available. For
more information on upcoming papermaking
workshops, visit https://www.swschool.org/
_community-classes/adults/papermaking.
Decorative Paper for Books and More, Jan. 25,
with Keri Miki-Lani Schroeder. This one-day
workshop will introduce the art of marbled
and paste papers for all kinds of creations
from books to wrapping paper and wallpaper.
Exploring Three-Dimensional Papermaking,
Feb. 1–2, with Ingrid Tegn.r. Learn how
to form sheets as well as how to embed
a variety of materials between the sheet
layers to create 3D shapes.
Mitsumata in Japanese Papermaking & Watermarks,
Feb. 22–23, with Lindsay Nakashima.
Explore using mitsumata in papermaking,
and then dabble with burnishing it over photopolymer
plates to create watermarks.
Textile Art Center, New York City, New York.
http://textileartscenter.com/ NYC–based resource center for textile art which offers
classes, workshops, open studio rentals,
and events. For information on upcoming
workshops, visit http://textileartscenter.com/
index.php?route=classes/category.
West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex,
U.K., (0)1243 811301, short.course@westdean.
org.uk, www.westdean.org.uk. West
Dean College of Arts and Conservation in
West Sussex provides course work and degrees
in creative arts and conservation fields, including
papermaking, bookbinding, and printmaking.
Papermaking Unearthed: Artworks Informed
by Landscape, Feb. 16–20, with Jane Ponsford.
Explore the landscape through papermaking
using natural dyes, iron, clay, and chalk.
Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY, (845)
658-9133, info@wsworkshop.org, www.wsworkshop.org. The Women’s Studio Workshop rents
studio spaces in etching, papermaking, letterpress,
silkscreen, book arts, and ceramics.
Visit www.ws-workshop.org/rent-studios/for
current rates and details.
Sneak peek of the 2020 Summer Art
Institute, held July–August:
The Power of Electro-Etching, with Malgorzata
Oakes
Painting with Pulp: Beyond Papermaking,
with Candy Alexandra Gonz.lez
Let’s Make Hanji: Korean Papermaking, with
Aimee Lee
Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board: Techniques
in Paper Casting, with Sarah Rose Lejeune
Handmade Paper and Encaustic, with
Laura Moriarty.
EVENTS
The College Book Art Association invites you
to New Orleans to discuss the “Intersections”
of present-day book arts: Where we’ve been,
where we’re going, and whose paths are crossing
now. The 2020 CBAA Conference takes place
at The Ace Hotel in New Orleans on January
2–4. For more information, visit www.collegebookart.
org/2020-New-Orleans.
The Focus on Book Arts (FOBA) conference is
a five-day celebration of book and paper arts
workshops held biennially on the campus of
Pacific University in charming Forest Grove,
Oregon, just west of Portland. The FOBA
conference attracts over 200 book and paper
artists from around the world and offers five
full days of workshops taught by renowned,
professional instructors in the fields of bookbinding,
book arts, printing, decorative papers,
and papermaking, along with a Trade Show,
Artists’ Shop, and a Faculty-Staff Exhibition.
The event is an excellent opportunity for
community, networking, and learning new
skills. This fourteenth FOBA conference
takes place June 26–30, 2019. If you need
more information visit https://focusonbookarts.
org/sneak-peeks-2019 or contact workshopchair@
focusonbookarts.org.
The Institute of Preservation and Conservation
at the Bavarian State Library in Munich, Germany
is hosting East Meets West: Traditional Japanese
Techniques for Paper Conservation. This workshop
runs Aug. 24–27 and invites professionals
in the field of paper conservation to gain a
deeper insight into the knowledge of the methods
and materials of Japanese traditional conservation
techniques and their adaptions. For
more information, contact IBR-Sekretariat@
bsb-muenchen.de or Rosemary.Marin-Loebard
@bsb-muenchen.de.
Radha Pandey is leading an India Book Arts
and Culture 2020 tour Dec. 19, 2020–January
2, 2021. This intimate two-week tour of India
offers a peek into the studios of various working
artists and craftspeople in printmaking,
papermaking, and dyeing. For more information
visit www.radhapandey.com/tours.
EXHIBITIONS
The Contemporary Craft Satellite Gallery in
Pittsburgh, PA, is showing Crafting Conversations:
A call and response to our changing climate now
through January 15. Curated by Ann Rosenthal
and paper artist Katy DeMent, Crafting Conversations
includes fifteen artists or artist groups
whose work suggests how we can shift our
thinking and actions to create a more sustainable
relationship between humans and nonhuman
nature.
The Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking
at Georgia Tech University will present the
exhibition PLACE: community, environment,
cogitate from May 1 to August 1 and will feature
three artists—Chad Hayward, Lea Larzarus,
and Andrea Peterson—who explore the
idea of situation, region, and circumstance
through their own personal lens. All of the
works in the show utilize pigmented paper
pulp to create imagery. For more information,
visit paper.gatech.-edu/place-community-
environment-cogitate.
The OPEN • SET competition and exhibition
sponsored by the American Academy of
Bookbinding, and featuring finely crafted
design bookbindings, will be traveling
throughout the United States in 2020. For
information on upcoming exhibition venues
and dates, visit www.bookbinding-academy.
org/open-set/.
CALLS FOR ENTRIES
Maria Pisano from Memory Press, MGP Studio
Arts, is looking for recent work from New
England artists created on themes of immigration,
displacement, or the environment for
an upcoming exhibition. For more information,
visit www.mariagpisano.com, or contact
mgpstudio@aol.com.
The 8th Annual National Juried Exhibition at the
Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, which
will be on view March 27–April 25, is open
for submissions until February 1. Jurors are
Theresa Bembnister from the Akron Art Museum
and paper artist Aimee Lee. All submitted
artwork must consist of at least 50% paper
and must not exceed 60 inches in any direction.
For more information, visit www.
morganconservatory.org/morgan-market.
The tenth Lucca International Biennale of
Paper is seeking submissions for its international
indoor event to be held in Lucca, Italy
Aug. 2–Sept. 27, 2020. The theme of this year’s
Biennale is “Fear and Desire.” Submissions
are due Jan. 31. For more information, visit
www.luccabiennale.com.
Treewhispers is an ongoing installation of flat
handmade paper rounds with tree stories,
poetry, and art. The project continues to seek
contributions. The project was started by
Pamela Paulsrud and Marilyn Sward and
continues to seek contributions. For more
information, visit http://treewhispers.com/here.
OPPORTUNITIES
The Arrowmont Artists-in-Residence Program
is accepting applicants until February 1. Each
year, five artists working in different media
are selected to participate in the 11-month
program, which begins mid-June and continues
through late May of the following year. For
more information, visit www.arrowmont.org/-
artist-in-residence/.
The Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW) in
Rosendale, NY, (845) 658-9133, info@wsworkshop.
org, www.wsworkshop.org, has available
the following upcoming artist residencies.
All applications are due April 1.
The Art-in-Education Workspace Residency
at the Women’s Studio Workshop is
for artists with teaching experience, a
knowledge of intaglio, silkscreen, or
hand papermaking, and an interest in
working with public school students.
For more information, visit wsworkshop.-
org/residencies/art-in-ed-workspaceresidency/.
The Studio Workspace Residency is open
to artists who want 4-6 weeks of concentrated
work time in any of our studios:
etching, papermaking, letterpress, silkscreen,
book arts, photography, or ceramics. For more information, visit
wsworkshop.org/residencies/studioworkspace-
residency/.
The Art Department at the University of
Nevada Reno has announced a Book Arts
Fellowship. The purpose of this fellowship
is to give emerging artists the opportunity to
work at Black Rock Press, and gain experience
at an established academic book and publication
arts program. It is a part-time paid
opportunity that also facilitates the creative
work and advancement of the fellow over a
2-year period of time. Applications are due
February 10. For more information visit
www.collegebookart.org/Employment-
Opportunities.
The University of Iowa Center for the Book
(UICB) invites applications for a Lecturer or
Associate Professor of Instruction/Practice
in Papermaking, for a two-year, non-tenure
track position, beginning August 2020.
Evaluation of applications will begin January
15, 2020 and continue until the position
is filled. For more information, visit jobs.-
uiowa.edu/faculty/view/73819.
The Pollination Project seeks to unleash the
goodness in every person by offering seed
grants to social-change agents who seek to
spread compassion in their communities
and in the world for the benefit of all. Pollination
Project Seed Grants are open to
individuals and community groups in all
disciplines. Applications accepted on a
rolling basis. For more information, visit
https://thepollinationproject.org/fundingguidelines-
for-grants/.
PUBLICATIONS, FILMS, VIDEOS
European Hand Papermaking: Traditions, Tools,
and Techniques, by Timothy D. Barrett has
just been released by the Legacy Press. In
this important and long-awaited book,
Barrett offers a comprehensive “how-to” book
about traditional European hand papermaking
aimed at a variety of audiences: artisans and
craftspeople wishing to make paper or to
manufacture papermaking tools and equipment,
paper and book conservators seeking
detailed information about paper-production
techniques, and other readers with a desire
to understand the intricacies of the craft.
European Hand Papermaking is the companion
volume to Barrett’s Japanese Papermaking:
Traditions, Tools and Techniques. For more
information, visit http://thelegacypress.com/
barrett-papermaking.html.
Mark Lander’s papermaking videos on
YouTube are soothing as they are educational.
Mark has so far posted seven videos
of various length on subjects like paper
fibers, paper beaters, pigments, moulds, and
the like. You can check out the ongoing
series on his Youtube channel at: www.youtube.
com/user/landergallery/videos.
Podcast time! Paper Talk is an ongoing series
of interviews by Helen Hiebert featuring
artists and professionals who are working in
the field of hand papermaking. Subscribe to
Paper Talk in iTunes.
MISCELLANEOUS
Seeking interns: Jim Croft, a bookbinder
and papermaker who lives in the foothills
of the Bitterroot Mountains in rural north
Idaho, is seeking interns to help make books
from raw materials. Particular focus will
be on rebuilding a water-powered paper
stamper. Also ongoing: flax, hemp, and
cotton fiber processing; and medieval
bookbinding using wooden boards and
clasps. Interns have access to an extra woodheated
cabin with a board shear, guillotine,
and fiber cutter. More information
is available at http://cargocollective.com/-
oldway/Story-Place. To inquire about this
internship opportunity, snail mail (Jim
Croft, PO Box 211,
Santa, ID 83866) is
by far the quickest
and most reliable
way.
Taller Leñateros is
Mexico’s first and
only Tzotzil Maya
bookbinding and papermaking
collective.
Founded in 1975
by the Mexican-
American poet
Ambar Past,
the workshop is
dedicated to documenting
and disseminating
the
endangered Tzotzil
language, culture, and
oral history. See their
entry in Atlas Obscura,
and visit their
website at www.tallerlenateros.
com/index.
php to learn more.
The inaugural
Chantry Library Subject
Bibliographies
focuses on South Asian Paper. Compiled by Jasdip Singh Dhillon,
featuring familiar names such as Dard Hunter
and Edo Loeber, the Subject Bibliographies aim
to support the work of conservators by providing
curated information through up-to-date lists
of key sources about a given subject, chosen by
a specialist. Visit chantrylibrary.org/chantrylibrary-
subject-bibliographies-2/ to learn more.
CLASSIFIEDS
Classifieds in the Hand Papermaking Newsletter
cost $2 per word, with a 10-word minimum.
Payment is due in advance of publication.
Unbleached Philippine Abaca $6.00 lb. For
samples, please send SASE to Ifugao Papercraft,
6477 E. Grayson, St., Inverness, FL 34452.
Need affordable paper for workshops? We
offer authentic hanji, lokta, washi, and xuan.
Mention this ad for 10% discount, paperwoman@
paperconnection.com.
Cotton Linter Pulp. All quantities available.
Call Gold’s Artworks, Inc. (910) 739-9605.
HAND PAPERMAKING
loves to hear from readers:
newseditor@handpapermaking.org
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR DONORS
Hand Papermaking acknowledges these recent
contributors to our non-profit programs. All
donations are greatly appreciated and tax
deductible. Our tax ID number is 52-1436849.
Call or write for information on annual giving
levels, automatic monthly gifts, or about adding
Hand Papermaking to your estate plan.
benefactors: Lisa Cirando, Susan Gosin
patrons: Tom Balbo, Sid Berger & Mich.le
Cloonan, Colin Browne, Joan Hall, Mark
Tomasko
underwriters: Fifth Floor Foundation, Lois
& Gordon James, Susan Butler Plum, Ingrid
Rose, Michele Samour, Mary C. Schlosser,
Beck Whitehead, Teri Williams
sponsors: Tom & Lore Burger, Gail Deery,
Iris L. Dozer, Michael Durgin, Michael Fallon,
Jane Farmer, Helen Frederick, Tatiana Ginsberg,
Helen Hiebert, Steve Kostell, Beth Levin, Rare
Book School, Laura Merrick Roe, Alfreda &
Christian Murck, Jean Stufflebeem, Mina
Takahashi, Iping King Wei, Aviva Weiner
donors: Mary Ashton, Simon Blattner, Tara
Bloyd, Shuwen Cao, John Cirando, Nancy
Cohen, Kerri Cushman, Amanda Degener,
Marian Dirda, Susan Mackin Dolan, Linda
Draper, Mona Dukess, David Lance Goines,
Kyoko Ibe, Winsome Jobling, Sally Wood
Johnson, Sarah Johnson, Jamie Kamph, David
Kimball, Mary Lannin, Dirk Lee, Winifred
utz, Katie MacGregor, Mary Lou Manor, Anne
Q. McKeown, Julie McLaughlin, Darin Murphy,
Peter Newland & Robyn Johnson, Elaine Akiko
Nishizu, Mary O’Shaughnessy, Nancy Pobanz,
Melissa Potter, Brian Queen, Jackie Radford,
Renee Rogers, Kathleen Stevenson, Betty Sweren,
Szilvia E. Szmuk-Tanenbaum, Claire Van Vliet
supporters: Christine Aaron, John Babcock,
Jack Becker, Bob & Annie Cicale, Elizabeth
Curren, Georgia Deal, John Dietel, Sara Gilfert,
Lori B. Goodman, Mabel Grummer, Karla &
Jim Elling, Robert Hauser, Stephan Heideman,
Mildred Monat Isaacs, Kristin Kavanagh, Ellen
Mears Kennedy, Betty L. Kjelson, Aimee Lee,
M. P. Marion, Edwin Martin, Lynne Matott,
Lane Maurer, Ceci Cole McInturff, Anne Miller,
Catherine Nash, Carrie Norton, Dianne L.
Reeves, Michele Combs Rothenberger, Kim
Schiedermayer, Peter Sowiski, Deborah Stone,
Elise Thoron, Irene Tichenor, Mansheng Wang,
Pamela Wood, Kathy Wosika, Therese Zemlin
friends: Annie Alexander, Christopher Eley,
Kathryn Menard, Judith Glazer Raymo, Bonnie
Reisman, Sally Rose
in-kind: Adobe Systems Inc., Celene Aubry
& Hatch Show Print, Tom Balbo, Tom Bannister,
Janet De Boer, Nicole Donnelly, Peter Ford, John
Gerard, Shireen Holman, Dard Hunter III,
Microsoft Corporate Citizenship, Alta Price,
Steve Miller
founding contributors to the
hand papermaking endowment: 49er
Books, Shirah Miriam (Mimi) Aumann,
Cathleen A. Baker, Tom Balbo, Timothy
Barrett, Sidney Berger & Mich.le Cloonan,
Tom & Lore Burger, Jeffrey Cooper, Jeanne
M. Drewes, Jane M. Farmer, Fifth Floor
Foundation, Helen Frederick, Sara Gilfert,
Tatiana Ginsberg, Susan Gosin, Joan Hall,
Lois & Gordon James, Sally Wood Johnson,
David Kimball, Elaine Koretsky, Karen
Kunc, Barbara Lippman, Winifred Lutz,
Susan Mackin-Dolan, David Marshall, Peter
Newland Fund of the Greater Everett Community
Foundation, Margaret Prentice,
Preservation Technologies L.P., Michelle
Samour, Peter Sowiski, Marilyn Sward,
Betty Sweren, Gibby Waitzkin, Tom Weideman,
Beck Whitehead, Paul Wong & John
Colella, Pamela S. Wood
contributors to the hand papermaking
portfolio archive fund: Tom Balbo,
Simon Blattner, Tom & Lore Burger, Jeffrey
Cooper, Susan Mackin Dolan, Drachen
Foundation, Michael M. Hagan, Joan
Hall, Joyce Kierejczyk, Betty Kjelson, Ann
Marshall, honoring David Marshall, Julie
Reichert, Laura Merrick Roe, Richard
Schimmelpfeng, Mary Schlosser, Mina
Takahashi, Aviva Weiner, Beck Whitehead