Category: Paper

Projects in the Long Term

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At an artist networking event I attended on the weekend I was reminded of a piece of work by Germaine Koh I encountered years ago called, Knitwork. It’s an on-going project she’s been doing since 1992 where she unravels used garments and then re-knits the yarn into one long continuous object.

I’m attracted to this idea of working on a project that grows over time. I’ve been thinking about my flowerbursts as something I want to keep working on and adding to over the long-term, and see where it could end up in two years, or even ten. To date there are about 180 of them, in three different colours. What if there were 500 of them?!

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In some ways the flowerburst installation is like working on a quilt, or making a blanket from crocheted granny squares, because it’s also made up of small pieces that combine to become something larger. I like finding these similarities to textiles in my work, though the major difference is the installation doesn’t ever need to be finished and it doesn’t have a functional purpose.

I should look around for other artist projects that are long term in this way. It’s not something I’d seriously considered previously with my own work because I so often work towards a deadline or end goal.

Paper Succulents

Last week in the studio I spend time on making tiny succulents. I bought new paper to work with and made a few in green. A day later while looking through Instagram I suddenly realized how “on trend” succulents are at the moment, especially paper ones. Ugh.

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Now I’m not sure where to go with this. I don’t want to be part of a trend, but maybe I am getting sidetracked anyway. I set out wanting to explore organic plant-like shapes and forms, but not create literal versions of anything specific.

But I do love how succulents look when there is a huge cluster of them. Oh the repetition!

Prototypes and Sketches in Paper

On my days working in the studio this week I’ve continued to work on a variety of paper prototypes. I’m trying to explore different forms, and how to shape them. I am impatient to finish something, so I decided to play around with some of them in a shadow box frame to get a sense of how to bring them all together. These are some of the sketches I made.

Paper sketches

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They’re ending up more pretty and flowery than I’d intended, but it’s still early days. There are some rounded three dimensional shapes I have no idea how to make so far, and I feel this is the key to making pieces for this series. I hope I can figure it out.

A Three Dimensional Sketchbook

I wanted to share this image because I love the way it looks. This is the view I enjoy of the table in my studio and I add to it as I create more prototypes. These pieces are sketches to work through ideas so it’s entirely appropriate for them to sit atop a sketchbook.

Sketchbook view

I am ready to move on from the brainstorming phase and begin making finished pieces.

Expanding the Paper Repertoire

Over the Christmas break I was determined to spend time in the studio exploring ideas for a new series of work in the new year. I did not manage to get in there at all because Boris and I ended up being out of town most of the time. I did take materials with me, again with this determination to work, but I never quite got around to it. I actually find it incredibly difficult to work outside of my studio because most other places are not ideal for laborious paper cutting.

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When the first Monday of January rolled around I finally got to work, and the pieces pictured here are some of the “sketches” I put together. I’m trying to stay away from focusing on finished work because what I really need to do is play, explore, and work through ideas. It feels like I am evolving how I work with paper.

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The pieces I have in my head are three dimensional and made from multiple pieces of paper. I’ll share more as they come together and evolve further. I like what I see in these early stages.

Work in Progress: Playing with Paper Pieces

I’ve been feeling stuck lately so last week in the studio I gave myself time and permission to play. I’ve been wanting to make compositions of three dimensional paper cut elements, and this is the idea I chose to explore. I pulled out a bunch of coloured paper left over from other projects and used these as my materials.

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I’m exploring different shapes and started with the white piece above. I want the elements to feel organic and fit together somehow. These are all very small at the moment, only a few inches long and wide, but eventually I want to work larger.

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I like where these experiments are going, and I will do more work with them after the Christmas holidays. I’m excited to create new and interesting work in the new year.

A Quick Drawing Fix

In a desperate need to make new work, last week I set aside a bit of time to draw. I didn’t really care about the results, as I just desperately needed the process. I drew a square outline in pencil to guide me, and then drew line after line in white gel pen. It was so satisfying to do this!

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The finished drawing is 5″ x 5″ on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of black card stock.

Rabbit Mask From Wintercroft

Last week I shared the Raven mask I made from paper using a template purchased from Wintercroft. I also made this rabbit mask for Boris to wear to an event we attended on Halloween.

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The rabbit mask was a bit of a collaborative process between Boris and me. He cut the pieces and I took over from there. I drew the designs using silver gel pen before scoring the folds and putting it together. I loved doing the drawings on this one.

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I didn’t get around to doing an elaborate photo shoot of us wearing the masks, but here we are for a quick photo with the shower curtain as the background. The masks brought out the crazy eyes in both of us.

Raven Mask from Wintercroft

In preparation for Halloween night I decided to make myself a paper mask using a template purchased from Wintercroft. They are a couple based in the UK that design geometric paper masks of animals, devils, dragons, etc. and sell the templates online for people to make themselves. I bought the Woodland Animal set because I wanted to make something for Boris as well.

Of course I made the bird for myself. I used black card and decorated the pieces with metallic gel pen before putting it all together. It looks really cool.

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I’ll share a photo of myself in the mask once I get some elastic to strap it to my head.

Work In Progress: Flowerbursts in More Colours

Here’s an idea I’ve been thinking about for awhile, what if I made more flowerburst pieces in different colours and made it an even larger installation. Sounds like a good project to work on while I’m thinking about something new.

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There are around one hundred blue pieces in the original installation, and I’ve shown it twice this way. I like the idea of it becoming larger with multiple colours. Last week I painted some paper with yellow and red acrylic ink and started cutting more pieces. I have close to twenty of them already.

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I don’t have a deadline or anything for this. I wanted to get working on something again and this was the project that drew me the most. It’s my version of crocheting granny squares.