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June 2017
Review PaperWorks: The Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists Student Art Gallery at Pima Community College West and Tohono Chul Park Education Building Reviewed by C.J. Shane |
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Before the Chinese invited paper, there was only parchment, papyrus, silk, and bamboo tablets to record information. Around 100 AD, Chinese official Cai Lun was tasked by the Han emperor to come up with some better way to keep official accounts. Paper had been produced on a small scale in China for some time, but Cai moved paper production to another level. Paper turned out to be such a great invention that it began being produced and used widely in China. Then paper and its method of manufacture began the long migration from China to Korea and Japan, then to India, on to Egypt and eventually to Italy when it arrived around 1250 AD.
Cai Lun
Artists, of course, have used paper for millennia for drawing and painting. True, folded paper (origami) has been around for centuries. But in the last 100 years, paper has become an art medium in its own right. We’ve seen an explosion of artworks created from paper, as well as on paper. Book arts, also known as artist’s books, have become a particular area of interest since the second half of the 20th century.
Thanks to a local Tucson-based arts organization, PaperWorks: The Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists, art on and of paper is well supported in southern Arizona, and in some very creative ways. For those of us interested in paper as an art medium, PaperWorks currently has three exhibits available for viewing in Tucson. The art works in the exhibits shows us just how diverse paper can be as an art medium.
The largest PaperWorks exhibit is up now at the Student Art Gallery on the second floor of the Administration/Welcome Center Building at Pima Community College West Campus. This diverse exhibit is available for viewing through September 1, and includes a wide range of paper options, including fine art prints, collage, oil pastel and ink paintings, digital imagery, and mixed media assemblage as well as artist’s books. A smaller exhibit of artist’s books is on display now at Tohono Chul Park’s Education Building, and will be up through June 27. The third exhibit, also of artist’s books, will be on display through June 30 on the main floor of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, downtown Tucson.
Let’s take a look at a few of the works by PaperWorks members which are all based on paper as an art medium. These works are from two of the exhibits – the one at Pima Community College, and the other at Tohono Chul Park. [click on images to enlarge]
Thanks to a local Tucson-based arts organization, PaperWorks: The Sonoran Collective for Paper and Book Artists, art on and of paper is well supported in southern Arizona, and in some very creative ways. For those of us interested in paper as an art medium, PaperWorks currently has three exhibits available for viewing in Tucson. The art works in the exhibits shows us just how diverse paper can be as an art medium.
The largest PaperWorks exhibit is up now at the Student Art Gallery on the second floor of the Administration/Welcome Center Building at Pima Community College West Campus. This diverse exhibit is available for viewing through September 1, and includes a wide range of paper options, including fine art prints, collage, oil pastel and ink paintings, digital imagery, and mixed media assemblage as well as artist’s books. A smaller exhibit of artist’s books is on display now at Tohono Chul Park’s Education Building, and will be up through June 27. The third exhibit, also of artist’s books, will be on display through June 30 on the main floor of the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, downtown Tucson.
Let’s take a look at a few of the works by PaperWorks members which are all based on paper as an art medium. These works are from two of the exhibits – the one at Pima Community College, and the other at Tohono Chul Park. [click on images to enlarge]
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Starting with a more traditional use of paper, we find Judy Bjorling’s lovely ink on paper titled Patterns. Miriam Otte has long incorporated fiber into her artwork. In her work Sundance, Otte creates a mixed media work that includes both paper and fiber mounted onto canvas. Her work Ghost Nest is especially effective. Bobbie Wilson, who serves as president of Paperworks, has created an encaustic on paper work titled Saguaro that shows the surface texture richness available to mixed-media artists working with paper. Her work Petroglyph achieves the same surface richness.
Artist’s books are well-represented in these exhibits. Take for example, Carol Morgan, who exhibits a traditional folded accordion book titled Fun and Folic but with special attention color and cutouts. On the other hand, Morgan’s Cracked takes us in a different direction, combining handmade paper and cloth into an artist’s book that begs attention. Vicki Donkersley’s traditional tunnel book structure is particularly suited to the subject of Sunset at Bryce Canyon, Utah. Vaness Dearing’s This Is a Grate Book very effectively combines digital images of street grates to create abstracted and compelling images. Artists have also transformed existing previously-published trade books into new artworks called “altered books.” Gretchen Bierbaum’s Say It to the Hand is an excellent example of this.
To learn more about these exhibits, and about PaperWorks and these exhibits, go to PaperWorks.