HAND PAPERMAKING

NEWSLETTER number 154  April 2026

Contributors: Tamara Valdez, Karen Trask, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Sid Berger.

Sponsors: Penland School of Craft, The Papertrail, Helen Hibert Studio, Women's Studio Workshop.

Hand Papermaking Newsletter is published quarterly. Annual subscriptions to Hand Papermaking magazine, which includes the quarterly newsletter, cost $70 per year in the US; $80 in Canada and Mexico; $105 elsewhere. Two-year subscriptions are $130 in the US; $150 in Canada/Mexico; $200 elsewhere. Institutional subscriptions are $95 per year in the US, $125 outside the US. To receive a printed copy of the newsletter, add $30 to your yearly subscription. A stand-alone electronic subscription to the newsletter, which excludes issues of the magazine, is now available for $10 per year. Payment in US dollars is required. Visa/Mastercard/Paypal is accepted. For more subscription information:

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The deadline for the next newsletter (July 2026) is May 15, 2026. We encourage letters from our subscribers on any topic. We also solicit comments on articles in Hand Papermaking magazine, questions or remarks for newsletter columnists, and news of special events or activities. The newsletter is supported by our sponsors (listed above). If you would like to support Hand Papermaking through a sponsorship, contact us at rosa@handpapermaking.org.

Hand Papermaking is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organi-zation. Staff: Rosa Chang, Executive Director; Mina Takahashi, Magazine Editor; Sophia Hotzler, Newsletter Editor/News & Social Media Manager; Karen Kopacz, Designer. Board of Directors: Steph Rue, Emily Duong, Gretchen Schermerhorn, Sanaz Haghani, Anne Q McKeown, Jerushia Graham, Veronica Pham, Andrea Sherrill Evans, Jenna Bonistalli, Jill Bramwell, Giselle Simom, Robert Chapman, Jaime C Knight.

Co-founders: Amanda Degener and Michael Durgin.

Dear Valued Hand Papermaking Subscriber,

As we approach the 40th anniversary of Hand Papermaking, we are excited to share a new chapter for the magazine, which is one that broadens access while staying grounded in the material experience of papermaking.

Beginning in Summer 2026, we will introduce a digital edition of Hand Papermaking as part of our print subscription. This new offering is designed to complement, not replace, the print magazine. While the digital edition will increase accessibility and allow for greater reach and engagement, we firmly believe that the print version remains the fullest expression of the magazine, especially through its distinctive handmade paper samples, which cannot be replicated on a screen.

This addition reflects several of our core values as an organization which includes adapting to how research and reading take place today, improving accessibility and interactivity to make our content more widely usable, and broadening the reach of papermaking knowledge to support scholarship and shared learning.

Starting June 2026, your subscription will include, as always, two print issues and four quarterly digital newsletters, plus access to the digital edition of the magazine.

Now for the practical reality of our news: to reflect the continuing increases in shipping and printing costs, we will be adjusting our rates for the first time in four years. For our international subscribers, we have been absorbing skyrocketing shipping charges and costs of re-deliveries due to struggling postal infrastructure everywhere; to ensure continued access, we will begin offering a "digital-only" option to our international, individual subscribers.

Our new rates (in US$) as of June 1, 2026 will be:

Print + Digital (US) - 1 year: $78; 2 years: $140

Print + Digital (International) - 1 year: $125; 2 years: $225

Print + Digital (Institutional) - US: $105/year; International: $142/year

Digital-Only (International, Individual Subscribers) - $65/year

Single Issue Print - US: $50; International: $75

Hand Papermaking Newsletter (standalone, quarterly) - Digital: $15/year; Print: $35/year

All pricing includes shipping and handling

We see these changes as an exciting step forward, and one that allows us to share the richness of hand papermaking with a broader audience while continuing to produce the thoughtful, tactile publication you know and value.

             —Gretchen Schermerhorn
 Board Chair

                 Jenna Bonistalli

                 Chair, Digital Magazine Committee

‍

meet the maker

Paper Installation: The Shadow of the Earth

In this recurring feature, Karen Trask shares her words on an outdoor paper installation piece. Despite harsh weather, the installation remains largely intact and continues to evolve.

Through sun, rain, sleet, and now snow, almost nine months later, the handmade papers on the façade of Produit Rien, a small arts studio building in Montreal, Canada are holding strong with little sign of letting go any time soon. This installation, entitled The Shadow of the Earth, was presented in Fall 2025 in the project space of Produit Rien as part of a community project about the neighbourhood.

In 2019, my partner Paul Litherland and I bought a small industrial building, formerly housing PRODUITS ALIMENTAIRES ORIENTAL(E)S, the first tofu manufacturer in Montreal. Looking for a name for our new studio, we removed some letters from the sign above the door of the building to read: PRODUIT RIEN in French, with the approximate meaning in English–make nothing. The vinyl adhesive letters of that original sign are slowly fading and have shrunk almost to nothing! The building is home to our two studios and a project space for artists to rent. Since opening its doors in April 2020 in the midst of COVID, Produit Rien has presented over eighty different projects including visual arts, experimental music, performance, poetry readings, dance, book launches, films, and community initiatives. Notably, the group exhibition “Voisiner / Neighbouring” featured seventy- five works by fifty professional and amateur artists living within a 400-meter radius of the space.

I am a visual artist working primarily in sculpture, performance, and video. Always imagining novel ways to explore the potential of paper, covering the façade of our small, functional, one-story, white-brick studio building with paper seemed like a challenge worth taking on.

In early June 2025, I began testing various paper types and pigments. I tried couching brick-sized papers directly onto the white-glazed, brick surfaces and others I attached with rice glue. After a few weeks and some serious rain storms, I was convinced of the durability of the papers and the feasibility of my project: to cover each brick of the building with pigmented papers in a gradient of colours ranging from dark grey through pink, yellow, white, and blue. This outdoor paper installation would be part of the project Taking Alexandra Marconi, an exploration by artists in the community about the neighbourhood.

The Shadow of the Earth is a representation of a real phenomenon also known as an umbra. On a cloudless day, when the sun is below the horizon, either just before rising or just after setting, it will briefly project a shadow of the earth on the opposite horizon. Recognizing the fact that Produit Rien is located in a mixed residential and industrial zone in the middle of Montreal, Paul and I decided to use the façade of the building as a canvas to reflect the sky and the horizon, something too often lost behind the high walls of a city.

I always have a reserve of leftover bits of handmade papers from previous projects. The majority of the fibers I used for The Shadow of the Earth were a mix of abaca, gampi, cotton, and flax. Each day involved testing colours, counting the number of bricks and making the papers needed to cover the specified rows of bricks. Each brick was covered with a thin sheet of handmade pigmented paper made to measure. I started on ground level with the blue-grey shadow colours and slowly worked my way up, making the papers and rice glue as needed. A synthetic sizing was added during the making of the papers and was also applied externally to the finished papers on the bricks. Halfway through the project, considering the logistics of ladders and not wanting to damage papers already installed, I decided to work from the top down with the sky-blue colour. The making of the installation took almost two months–the better part of the summer.

There are only two bricks in the entranceway of the building that seem to systematically reject its paper face. I have reglued and replaced one of the papers twice, but half curls up and the other half remains stubbornly holding on. Some of the white cotton-based papers are showing signs of wear along the top edges, as well as the grey ones on ground level, but otherwise all remains pretty much intact! Paul thought it would last maybe a couple of months, but now he’s rethinking that The Shadow of the Earth could be with us for a few years yet!

We watch and wonder how this work evolves with weather and time.

— Karen Trask

Karen Trask is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal. She holds a fine arts degree from the University of Waterloo and a master’s in sculpture/fibres from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. With her partner Paul Litherland, Trask co-directs the project space Produit Rien. Her work has been presented internationally in exhibitions and film festivals, including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and venues in Canada and Japan. Her paper sculptures have twice received the paper prize at the Biennale du dessin, de l’estampe et du papier in Alma, Quebec.Instagram: karenltrask

paper research

Illustrating Mavena: Miró on Handmade Paper

In this feature, Tamara Valdez explores how Joan Miró’s collaboration on Mavena transforms handmade paper into an active artistic partner, embedding material, history, and place into the work itself.

While researching in the library of the Miró Foundation in Barcelona, I came across Mavena (1960) by the Croatian surrealist poet Radovan Ivsic, a rare book illustrated by Joan Miró. The loose sheets are printed on handmade Auvergne paper from Moulin Richard de Bas, flecked with petals, grasses, and fern tips. Before reading the stanzas, you encounter the paper itself: textured, irregular, with deckled edges, each visibly formed by hand. The embedded plant matter carries a subtle trace of color and life across the pages. The sheet does not sit quietly beneath the images; it converses with them.

Miró’s Catalan roots likely attuned him to the importance of handmade paper, from historical mills like those at Capellades, a sensibility he carried with him into his years in France. His relationship to France was shaped by the long shadow of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. During his exile in France, he found in French papermaking traditions not only extraordinary craftsmanship but a material aligned with his sensibility: experimental, tactile, alive. At Moulin Richard de Bas, paper was still made slowly, sheet by sheet. Miró’s floating lines and bursts of color drift alongside Ivsic’s stanzas, hovering over and teasing the plant-flecked paper, while his signature closes the final page in a playful sequence of colored crayons.

This impulse to seek out collaborators, to let material guide the work continues. American artist Robert Rauschenberg pursued close collaborations with papermakers at Moulin Richard de Bas in the 1970s, while more recently Mexican artist Mariana Castillo Deball has maintained an ongoing collaboration with master papermaker Gangolf Ulbricht in Berlin, both recognizing, as Miró did, that paper carries geography, labor, and history within its fibers.

To collaborate with paper is to enter a relationship with place, tradition, and the hands that form the sheet. In Mavena, Miró reminds us that paper is never merely a support. It is a partner in making.

        — Tamara Valdez

Tamara Valdez is a 2025–2026 Fulbright Fellow in Spain at the Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades, where she researches Catalonia’s papermaking history and living traditions. She holds an MFA from the University of Illinois Chicago.

decorated papers

Douglas Cockerell

Longtime newsletter contributor Sid Berger continues his documentation of decorated papers. In this feature Sid highlights Douglas Cockerell and his son Sydney Cockerell.

I have been offering this column for almost 20 years, and I am startled to realize that over all this time I have ignored one of the most famous decorated-paper makers of all time: Douglas Cockerell (and later his son, Sydney Cockerell). When one thinks of the history of marbling in the 20th century, the Cockerell papers should leap to mind.

A point I have made a number of times here is that those new to the art must first learn the basics: preparing the size, the pigments, and the papers; understanding the properties and effects of ox gall; the effective use of the tools that yield the patterns; the best way to lay a sheet onto the size; and so forth; and then the standard decorative techniques or patterns (Not all marbled sheets have patterns; some have randomly splattered drops of pigment). Once new marblers can achieve some consistency in, and control over, all these variables, and once they can produce sheets consistently to the desires of their customers or users, they can then branch out into creating patterns that are their own. It is one thing to see a lovely sheet of, say, nonpareil- or peacock-patterned marbling (patterns made by hosts of marblers), and another to see a sheet that, by its pattern alone, reveals who the marbler is. If this recognition is one measure of success in a marbler’s career, then Douglas Cockerell is an eminently successful marbler. From across a room, an observer can often say, “That is a Cockerell pattern.”

The company was started by Douglas Cockerell in 1897, and by the 1920s Douglas’s son Sydney was on board. From then on, the company was Douglas Cockerell and Son, a bindery that produced many of the cover papers their customers craved.

One of the amazing things about Cockerell papers is the immense number of volumes bound in them—for their covers or endsheets. To achieve such widespread acclaim, the company needed to produce huge numbers of papers with consistency in pattern, since their customers wanted uniformity in the look of the editions they were binding. That is, if a press produced, say, 250 copies of a book and wanted them all bound in one of the Cockerell papers, the firm had to supply enough sheets of a single pattern so that all books would look the same.

In true marbling, no two sheets are identical. But with the techniques that the Cockerells came up with, they could produce literally thousands of sheets that were so close in pattern that few could tell one sheet from another. The concept to achieve this was simple, but only after the Cockerells came up with the method.

Once the marbling bath was in place, the artist used a rake (configured into a large rectangle made of four pieces of wood, with cross-bracing), with a number of pegs protruding at regular spaces from the bracing. The rake would be made in a predetermined size, depending on the size of the sheets to be marbled and the size of the bath (the marbler’s “tray”) on which the sheets were decorated. The rake had, for instance, five rows of pegs, with six or seven pegs in each row. When the pegs were dipped into the pigment source, the tips of each peg would pick up a single color of pigment. Then all the pegs, in one simple “dipping,” would touch the surface of the size, depositing a single drop of color onto the size. Only one color was needed for some patterns, but a second and subsequent rake could be used to add other colors to the final pattern. So several rakes might be used on a sheet with a five-color pattern. The droplets of color were placed precisely in the same position from one sheet to another. Then the marbler would comb the pigments into the desired pattern. Consistency of pigment placement combined with consistency of comb movement, would produce one sheet after another with almost identical patterns.

The individuality of the patterns that the Cockerell Bindery created, along with the sharpness of the lines, the elegant colors, and the repeatability of the design, made these some of the most in-demand decorated papers of the 20th century. On top of this is the fact that the pattern, in its ability to be created for as many sheets as the user would order, could be made in any color combination desired. That is, it was easy to accommodate the buyer’s preferred color combination with any of the standard Cockerell patterns.

Rosamond Loring says of marbling in her day: “The most outstanding maker of marbled papers is Douglas Cockerell, the well-known English bookbinder, who has a marbling establishment at Letchworth, England. The papers designed and executed there are without equal. The perfect technique with which the patterns are handled, the lovely colors, and the perfection with which one sheet matches another make these papers the envy of marblers and the joy of the fine binder. Many of them are marbled on a thin, tough brown paper which is easy to handle, and which often serves as a ground color for the patterns. Mr. Sydney Cockerell, a son, has a school for marblers and is himself an expert.” 1.

One of the employees of the Cockerell Bindery, William Chapman, who marbled papers for more than 40 years, took over the business when the two Cockerells were no longer on the marbling and binding scene and kept the operation going, producing the same patterns that had been the mainstays of the company for decades. Remarkably, with all the variations in colors that they used, the Cockerells and Chapman created about 150 patterns, many immediately recognizable as theirs. While some designs are relatively universal, like peacock, nonpareil, Stormont, Italian vein, and Spanish wave (sometimes given variant names), some are clearly the brainchildren of one firm. That is the case with many of the Cockerell papers. Whether they were done by Douglas, Sydney, William Chapman, or others who worked for the company, they were nonetheless clearly their own creations, and for that reason they were copyrightable. Without the tools and special techniques that the Cockerells developed, other marblers would have had a devil of a time trying to mimic their patterns; and the proprietary nature of the Cockerell patterns made it unlikely that a “Cockerell pattern” could have been produced outside their company.

An untold number of older books and pamphlets were bound in these lovely papers. But since unused accumulations of Cockerell papers are still around, it is still possible to see modern volumes adorned with the same patterned sheets. They are perhaps the most recognized sheets in marbling history.

1.  Rosamond B. Loring, Decorated Book Papers, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952), 30–31.

— Sid Berger

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.

a paper conversation

Papermaking Meets Craft Education

In this feature, we hear from artist and papermaker, Gretchen Schermerhorn, who also serves as Hand Papermaking's Board Chair and the Executive Director of Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft.

Hand Papermaking Newsletter (HPN): Tell us a little about yourself. We always love hearing how people first got the papermaking bug. How did your journey into papermaking begin?

Gretchen Schermerhorn (GS): My love of handmade paper began during graduate school at Arizona State University, where I was studying as a printmaker. At the time, I’ll be honest, I didn’t have much intention beyond thinking it was exciting to be able to make my own paper for my prints. What began as curiosity quickly deepened.

I was inspired by the work of my professors Kathryn Maxwell and Dan Mayer, who regularly integrated handmade paper, both two-dimensional and sculptural, into their prints and book arts. Most influential, however, was my papermaking professor, John Risseeuw, whose teaching and work had a lasting impact on my practice.

John impressed upon me and my peers that hand papermaking is not just a way to create a custom substrate—tailored in color, thickness, size, and shape—but also a powerful avenue for content. His 1991 broadside, The Bill of Rights, created with Dan Mayer, exemplifies this. The work joins material and meaning by printing the text on paper made from cotton American flags and blue jeans. In the piece, the phrase “Congress shall make no law” is hand-lettered, and the very act of cutting up a flag to create the pulp reinforces the conceptual weight of the work.

One of the most awe-inspiring projects for me was his Paper Landmine Print Project—a series of broadsides printed on paper made from clothing donated by landmine victims, plant fibers gathered from minefields, and currency from countries involved in the production and use of landmines.

Studying with John marked a turning point in my practice. I shifted from being a printmaker who appreciated paper to one who understood paper as a material capable of carrying its own conceptual meaning.

My thesis exhibition, Construction Paper, explored this idea through a series of wearable, printed paper garments. The paper used for these works was inspired by the composition of U.S. currency, a blend of 75% cotton and 25% linen, chosen for its strength, flexibility, and durability. Conceptually, the work examined how clothing communicates identity, how what we wear conveys who we are, or who we aspire to be, and how those signals can be both constructed and intentional.

HPN: You are Hand Papermaking’s new Board Chair. What inspired you to get involved with the organization, and what drew you to take on this leadership role?

GS: I’ve been a subscriber to Hand Papermaking Magazine for nearly 20 years; and I think many of us know that feeling of excitement when the it arrives in our mailbox. The magazine has been an important part of my journey–it enriched my education as I was learning about paper and papermaking, and it continues to be something I bring with me when out teaching as a source of reference and inspiration. During COVID, it also served as a meaningful point of connection to a broader community, and it remains something I turn to for ideas and encouragement.

When the opportunity arose to serve on the board, I felt both honored and excited to give back to an organization that has meant so much to me.

I’m also deeply committed to ensuring that the art of hand papermaking continues to carry forward to the next generation. I remember attending a Friends of Dard Hunter (Now NAHP) conference in Minneapolis in 2003, when a woman, probably in her sixties or seventies, approached me and said how glad she was to see younger papermakers in the room. More than twenty years later, I find myself sharing that same sentiment.

In an increasingly digital world, hand papermaking offers a direct, physical connection to material, process, and time. It asks us to slow down, to engage our senses, and to experience making in a way that is becoming increasingly rare. That feels important to carry forward, and it’s a big part of why I’m committed to this role.

HPN: You’re the Executive Director of Pocosin Arts School of Fine Crafts. Can you tell us a bit about the space and the role it plays in supporting artists and craft education?

GS: Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft is located in Columbia, North Carolina, in a rural coastal landscape that is truly shaped by the experience of being here. Surrounded by a wildlife refuge and set along a wide river, the campus offers daily encounters with the natural world—you might see river otters, turtles, and even the occasional dolphin.

We offer residencies, workshops, and community programming across ceramics, metals, wood, and other craft disciplines. What makes Pocosin Arts special is the combination of time, space, and community that we’re able to provide to artists, along with some of the strongest facilities and equipment for these disciplines on the East Coast.

A cornerstone of our program is the 9-month Emerging Artist Residency, which is designed to support artists at a pivotal moment in their development. Residents receive dedicated studio space, housing, a monthly stipend and access to our facilities, along with opportunities to teach, assist in workshops, and engage with the local community. It’s an immersive experience that allows artists to deepen their practice, exhibit work and build professional skills.

We also see ourselves as a bridge between artists and our local community. Through community classes (which are offered on a pay-what-you can model) and events, we’re working to make craft accessible and relevant to people who may not have had prior exposure to it.

At its core, Pocosin Arts is about supporting the full arc of creative practice—from learning a new skill, to developing a body of work, to connecting with others through making.

I’m also excited to share that through community events and other programs, we’ve begun integrating hand papermaking into our offerings at Pocosin. My goal is to keep expanding this, and, this summer, we’re especially looking forward to welcoming paper artists including Jamie Capps, who will be teaching Washi: Exploring the Art of Japanese Papermaking, and Nicole Uzzell, who will lead Handmade Paper Mobiles. We’re also offering paper-adjacent workshops such as Text(Tiles): The Stitched Word with Nick DeFord and Coptic Bound Cyanotype Book with Barbara Justice.

      — Gretchen Schermerhorn

Gretchen Schermerhorn is a printmaker and papermaker whose work is shaped by close observation of the natural world. She received her MFA in Printmaking from Arizona State University and has since completed artist residencies at the Penland School of Craft, the Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago, Seacourt Print Workshop in Northern Ireland, California State University, and the Robert Rauschenberg Residency in Florida. Her prints, installations, and works on paper have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work is included in the Montgomery County Public Art Trust, Anne Arundel Community College’s print collection, and the Janet Turner Print Collection. She has received individual artist awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Schermerhorn has taught workshops at Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Snow Farm–The New England Craft Program, and the Women’s Studio Workshop. She currently serves as Executive Director of Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft in Columbia, North Carolina.

listings

PUBLICATIONS

Weaving With Paper by Helen Hiebert. Paper artist Helen Hiebert shares 30 unique paper weaving projects with step-by-step instruction and inspirational prompts for developing a daily practice. Combine fiber art with papercraft techniques, and paper weaving emerges as accessible, sustainable, and fun. Each project in the book includes a prompt, a technique, step-by-step instructions with photographs, and examples that inspire you to repurpose, recycle , and reuse papers you may already have: maps, postcards, journals, holiday cards. Because paper weaving does not require specialized equipment such as a loom, this art form is for everyone. Prompts and thoughtful questions are designed to help you find your own creative path, and inspiring stories and profiles of a range of contemporary paper weavers are woven throughout the book. For more information, visit https://helenhiebertstudio.com/product/weaving-with-paper/

WORKSHOPS

An exciting workshop at Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft will happen July 2026. Handmade Paper Mobiles. In this workshop you will work with papermaker/sculptor Nicole Uzzell, students will blend balance, motion and abstraction into paper mobiles. By utilizing overbeaten fibers, the handmade paper will be transparent to capture the light creating expressive moving sculptures. Students will learn to construct armatures from wire, found objects/natural materials and the point of suspension. Students will make sheets of paper and work with the pulp itself. Surface design will be applied using natural dyes. For more information, and to check out other upcoming workshops, visit https://pocosinarts.org/product/session-6-handmade-paper-mobiles-2/

Check out Painting with Paper Pulp, May 16, 10am-4pm at Wildcraft. This experimental workshop led by Jenn Woodward, or Pulp & Deckle paper making studio, does all three. Students will explore how to make pigmented paper pulp to create a full palette of colors, and how to use those wet fibers as a kind of paint. Students will learn the process for making both smooth and textured paper pulp, as well as techniques for mark-making, creating shapes of color, building layered images and how to retain negative space within a composition. For more information, and to check out other workshops, visit https://wildcraftstudioschool.com/paper-pulp-painting.html#content

A few exciting workshops at Atelier Retailles are happening soon! The first, Miniature Tapestry with Amber Giovanni. In collaboration with the artist Ambre Giovanni, the workshop restailles invites you to meet the artist and discover her world by taking part in this hand appliqué workshop. A gentle, playful, and meditative sensory experience combining cutting, assembling, and embroidery. Each participant will create a 6 x 8 inch textile artwork depicting a Quebec animal in its natural habitat, using fabric scraps from the Atelier Retailles. Among the available designs are a polar bear on the ice floe, a humpback whale in the ocean, and a squirrel in the forest.For this workshop, all materials are included. Participants are invited to experiment with this artistic approach by creating their own tapestries using our fabric scraps in a variety of colors. No experience required, all materials included, taught in French. The next, Recycled paper making + making your own sieve with the Sharpened Ones. This is a fantastic recycled paper-making workshop in collaboration with Les Affûtés in Mile-Ex. Together, we're bringing a "like the pros" approach to "do it yourself"!  Les Affûtés is a circular economy company with values ​​similar to ours, and this collaboration is absolutely Handmade in Heaven! Note: it is a double session workshop. For more information on both of these workshops, visit https://www.atelierretailles.com/workshops

A few workshops at Kalamazoo Book Arts Center are coming up. Handmade Paper Techniques: Watermarks is happening Saturday, July 25. A watermark is a translucent design, logo, or pattern embedded during the papermaking process. Visible when held up to light, watermarks have historically been used as a security or authenticity feature, but can also be a beautifully subtle artist’s mark. This class is for beginners as well as those with experience pulling sheets of handmade cotton paper, looking to add new techniques to their repertoire! Thorough instruction will be given on the process, materials, and techniques of making paper with cotton pulp, using pigmented pulp to add color and design to your papers, and the technique of creating watermarks. For more information, and to check out other upcoming workshops, visit https://kalbookarts.org/workshops/watermarks/

EVENTS

The next North American Hand Papermakers (NAHP) conference, Rooted in Fiber, will be held September 24-27, in Baltimore, Maryland. North American Hand Papermakers invites you to Rooted in Fiber, our annual conference featuring demos, workshops, lectures, and discussions led by Papermaking artists, scholars and practitioners. Rooted in Fiber focuses on relationships with the fibers that connect us. At this conference we will examine the literal and figurative connective strands that make us Papermakers, as well as the vitality that stems from interconnection. We dig into the radical roots of hand papermaking beyond a medium for making – in celebrating 40 Years of Hand Papermaking Magazine we come together planting seeds for paper, people, and beyond. For more information, and to stay up to date on any more upcoming news about this conference, visit https://www.northamericanhandpapermakers.org/rooted-in-fiber-2026

The Newport Paper & Book Arts Festival XXIX is happening April 23, 24, and 25. This fesitval celebrates papermaking and manipulation, surface design, book arts, collage, nature printing, mixed media, and more. Our 2026 festival will take place in Newport, Oregon and the surrounding communities. For more information, visit https://coastarts.org/newport-paper-book-arts-festival/

EXHIBITIONS

Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper will be on view until May 15, 2026 at Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Washi Transformed features work by nine contemporary Japanese artists: Hina Aoyama, Eriko Horiki, Kyoko Ibe, Yoshio Ikezaki, Kakuko Ishii, Yuko Kimura, Yuko Nishimura, Takaaki Tanaka, and Ayomi Yoshida. Through highly textured two-dimensional works, expressive sculptures, and dramatic installations, these artists explore the astonishing potential of this traditional medium with a range of techniques—from layering, weaving, and dyeing to shredding, folding, and cutting. The breathtaking creativity of these artistic visionaries deepens our understanding of how the past informs the present, and how it can build lasting cultural bridges out of something as seemingly simple and ephemeral as paper. For more information, visit https://mauiarts.org/exhibit-details/washi-transformed-new-expressions-in-japanese-paper

The Art of Paper will be on view at the Zuckerman Museum of Art, until May 1, 2026. Curated by Brett Littman with Susan Gosin and Cynthia Nourse Thompson, the exhibition features 66 works by leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Helen Frankenthaler, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon and others who have redefined handmade paper as an expressive artistic medium. The thoughtful selection of works chronicles the pioneering achievements within the discipline and reveals how the field of handmade paper art was a natural advancement of and response to the historic relationship between print and paper. Drawn exclusively from the renowned collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, the exhibition highlights the inventive intersections of papermaking, printmaking and collaborative artistic practice.

OPPORTUNITIES

The Art Summer Institute is happening at the Women's Studio Workshop! The Summer Art Institute (SAI) at Women’s Studio Workshop is a time for you to focus on your work, become energized and inspired, learn new skills, and meet a new community of like-minded artists. Your instructors are leaders in their fields, have extraordinary skill and a passion to share their knowledge of materials and methods. Our goal is to offer you an opportunity to hone your abilities and have a transformative art experience. For more information, visit this link https://wsworkshop.org/summer-art-institute/

The Second Washi Tour, set for
November 16–30, 2026, Japan. In-depth hands-on experience, small group, Maximum 8 people. 4 villages, hot-spring, Kanazawa and Kyoto. For details visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/11z-ceYrd89KLh9XJFKMF5ZgVyn5kCxQ6/view?fbclid=IwY2xjawP-01JleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETJYUGNYWXBBeWxyaHpYSmJCc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnhbkNrWxRliVqrBWyQupNd6e4qG4-2DmyqLAA_3G6Wu0c6Rb5w16z79idw6_aem_dY9F7g-zaX5hZ-diF1Rz9g or contact izuharu@gmail.com

We want to promote your projects! If you have any news, upcoming events, or open opportunities let us know at newsletter@hand-papermaking.org

special thanks to our donors

Hand Papermaking acknowledges recent contri-
butors to our nonprofit 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, and other ways to support us.

benefactors: Mark Tomasko, Beck Whitehead

patrons: Tom Balbo, Lisa Cirando, Sid Berger &
Michèle Cloonan, Sue Gosin, Darin Murphy, Erik Saarmaa, Michelle Samour, Kenneth Tyler

underwriters: Yousef Ahmed, John Cirando, Vijay Dhawan, Lois & Gordon James, Ingrid Rose

sponsors: Eric Avery, Tom & Lore Burger, Kerri Cushman, Susan Mackin Dolan, Devie Dragone,
Michael Durgin, Michael Fallon, Jane Farmer, Kim Grummer, Helen Hiebert, Robyn Johnson &
Peter Newland, Debora Mayer, Marcia Morse, Robert Specker, H. Paul Sullivan, Mina Takahashi, Aviva Weiner, Kathy Wosika

donors: May Babcock, Alisa Banks, Tom Bannister, Sarah Louise Brayer, Ann Cicale, Amanda Degener, John Dietel, Karla & Jim Elling, David Engle, Jerry Exline, Helen Frederick, Lori Goodman, Richard Haynes, Margaret Heineman, Shireen Holman, Kyoko Ibe, Jamie Kamph, Enid Keyser, June Linowitz, Julie McLaughlin, Sharon Morris, Jeannine Mulan, Anela Oh, Elaine Nishizu, Nancy Pike, Alta Price, Joy Purcell, Renee Rogers, Annabelle Shrieve, Thomas Siciliano, Kathleen Stevenson, Bernie Vinzani, April Vollmer, Paul Wong

supporters: Marlene Adler, John Babcock, Timothy Barrett, Kathryn Clark, Nancy Cohen, Marian Dirda, Iris Dozer, Tatiana Ginsberg, Mabel Grummer,  Guild of Papermakers, Lisa Haque, Robert Hauser, Viviane Ivanova, Kristin Kavanagh, Susan Kanowith-Klein, David Kimball, Steve Kostell, Lea Basile-Lazarus, Aimee Lee, Winifred Lutz, MP Marion, Edwin Martin, Lynne Mattot, Ann McKeown, Tim Moore & Pati Scobey, Catherine Nash, Nancy Pobanz, Melissa Potter, Brian Queen, Dianne Reeves, Carolyn Riley, Michele Rothenberger, Pamela Wood

friends: Jack Becker, Anne Beckett, Lee Cooper, Elizabeth Curren, Dorothy Field, Lucia Harrison, Margaret Miller, Deborah Sternberg-Service, Don Widmer

in-kind donations: Janet De Boer, John Gerard, Dard Hunter III, Microsoft Corporate Citizenship, Steve Miller

contributors to our 2025 auction fundraising event: Amanda Degener, Frances JJ, James Ojascastro, Lesley Dill, Dieu Donné, Round Top Paper, Ilze Dilane, Heike Berl, Kyoko Ibe, Amy Richard, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Paper Circle, The Befuddled Press, Tom Balbo, Arnold Grummer's Papermaking, Sophia Hotzler, Susan Mackin Dolan, Red Hot Fibre, Carriage House Paper, Janus Press, Cave Paper, Tasniya Tarmin, Lynn Sures, Darin Murphy, Hook Pottery Paper, Aimee Lee, Botanical Colors, Washi Arts, Lois James, Helen Hiebert.

AND THANKS TOO TO OUR SPONSORS

Arnold Grummer’s, the Papertrail Handmade Paper & Book Arts, Penland School of Craft, The Robert C. Williams Papermaking Museum, Carriage House Papers and Dieu Donné.

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