Shows
The Art BizRelying on Intermittent Daily Practices for Creative Progress with Helen Hiebert (ep. 213)Host Alyson Stanfield discusses the benefits and strategies of a daily creative practice with Helen Hiebert, who constructs installations, sculptures, films, artists' books, and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. This conversation acknowledges the value of a daily practice, but Helen is a strong advocate for what she calls "intermittent daily practices." If sticking to a daily routine forever feels daunting, her approach might resonate with you. There's also a dive into Helen's realization that as a teacher, she could maintain the same class structure while creatively evolving the content to...
2025-01-1648 min
Paper TalkHelen HiebertHelen Hiebert is the author of six instructional books on papermaking and papercrafts and is widely respected as a generous teacher and mentor. Working from her studio in Colorado, Helen hosts classes and retreats, and extends her outreach by teaching online. Her weekly Sunday Paper Blog keeps the field up-to-date regarding a wide range of paper artists and paper-related news. Her monthly Paper Talk podcast series features recorded interviews with papermakers, paper artists, paper engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs. Helen’s contributions as an artist, author, and teacher have had a significant and important impact on the papermaking community.
2022-12-091h 15Paper TalkSara Garden ArmstrongSara Garden Armstrong is a visual artist whose decades-long practice embraces a wide range of scales and techniques, from large site-specific sculpture to artist’s books. Lyrical, nature-based biomorphic abstraction characterizes the work, focusing on life processes and systems. It addresses organic change and transformation, while exploring properties of materials. Armstrong received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Alabama and a Master of Art Education from UAB. After living in New York City for 36 years, in 2017 she returned to Birmingham, where she currently lives and works.
2022-09-0253 minPaper TalkRussell MaretRussell Maret is a book artist and letter designer working in New York City. He began printing in San Francisco as a teenager before apprenticing with Peter Koch in Berkeley and Firefly Press in Somerville, Massachusetts. He set up his own press at the Center for Book Arts, New York in 1993 and has been printing and publishing ever since. In 1996 Russell began teaching himself to design letterforms, leading to a twelve year study of letterforms before he completed his first typeface in 2008. In 2011, he began working to convert some of his type designs into new metal typefaces for letterpress...
2022-08-091h 09Paper TalkTom BalboTom Balbo has spent most of his life in and around Cleveland, Ohio. His earliest work was primarily in ceramics and printmaking. As his interest in papermaking grew, his work turned towards expressing his artistic creativity in this area. Over the past 40 years, Balbo's work has been exhibited and shown in a large number of shows and galleries, and he has garnered numerous awards and critical attention for his artwork. In 2008, Balbo founded The Morgan Art of Paper Conservatory and Educational Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio along with other local artists. He continue to work in paper, printmaking, and ceramics...
2022-07-161h 05
Paper TalkMarianne R. PetitMarianne R. Petit is an artist and educator whose work explores fairy tales, anatomical obsessions, graphic and narrative medicine, as well as collective storytelling practices through mechanical books that combine animation and paper craft. Her interests are in combining technology, traditional book arts, and sequential storytelling to create new forms of narrative for the 21st century. Her movable books can be found in numerous museum and library collections. Her artwork has appeared internationally in festivals and exhibitions, been featured in publications such as Hyperallergic, Make, and Wired, and broadcast on IFC and PBS.
2022-06-2557 minPaper TalkOwen GildersleeveOwen Gildersleeve is an artist specializing in handcrafted illustration, set design & art direction. His unique style honed over the past 12 years brings graphic designs to life through layers of hand-cut paper and a playful use of depth & shadow. His practice ranges from intricate illustrations, to large-scale sets and installations, teaming up with the likes of Apple, LUSH, Penguin Books & NASA.
2022-06-031h 13Paper TalkGill WilsonGill Wilson's background is rooted in craft practice, and she has had a papermaking studio for over 30 years. She studied papermaking in Japan after University. Since then, she has been a university lecturer and has worked as an advisor for Arts Council England. She was the manager of the Harley Gallery and is currently a director of Gallerytop.
2022-05-1151 minPaper TalkCathryn MillerCathryn Miller has had an interest in making things out of paper since early childhood, and still believes that anything —except, perhaps, internal combustion engines— can be made out of paper. After being sidetracked in adult life by a short career as a theatrical designer, then a twenty year career as a textile artist, Miller returned to playing with paper in 1994. Since then, as Byopia Press, Miller has published limited editions of conventional books and produced multiple artist’s books, altered books, and paper toys. Through the Byopia Press weekly blog, she offers frequent DIY projects for readers as well a...
2022-04-231h 12Paper TalkRock PaperMolly Grosse is co-founder of Rock Paper Store and an artist who works in a variety of mediums. Prior to founding Rock Paper Store, she worked as a wedding photographer, and her initial explorations with the paper were wedding products, like party favor boxes, invitations or waterproof flowers. Now we’ll be talking about what Rock Paper is, but once Molly dove into the process of making this paper from rocks (which her mother invented), she began exploring the best way to mix colors and create interesting combinations. She had an aha moment when she realized that the unique co...
2022-04-0249 minPaper TalkRead IslandI interviewed Nicole Magistro, the author/publisher and Alice Feagan, the illustrator of the picture book, Read Island. Join a very brave girl and her furry friends on an adventure to Read Island! Through the power of imagination and the pleasure of reading, this curious trio set sail for a magical island made of books. On their way they discover a joyful collection of animals converging by sea and land, just in time for an unforgettable story hour.
Nicole Magistro is the author and publisher of Read Island. She is a professional reader and amateur mother who...
2022-03-121h 08Paper TalkKelli AndersonKelli Anderson is a designer and paper engineer whose work operates in the space between conceptual art, graphic design, and tech. Her whimsical books have featured a working paper planetarium, a pop-up pinhole camera, and a paper record player. Whenever she can, she uses humble, lo-fi materials to expose the invisible magic of the world and make abstract concepts real and tangible. Anderson's work puts forth the idea that lo-fi, handheld experiences can challenge the notion of tech as an inaccessible black box. Her first book, a functional pop-up camera titled, “This Book is a Camera,” was published by the...
2022-02-191h 18Paper TalkMaro VandorouMaro Vandorou is a visual artist of Greek origin, who is living and working in California. Her formal training has a strong interdisciplinary character informed by studies in the visual arts, interaction design, literature, psychology, digital and computer technologies. Her work explores the process of transformation through installations of original photographic material, writings, and artists’ books. Her tools of choice are film cameras, Gampi – a rare Japanese handmade paper – and platinum–palladium printing.
2022-01-291h 07Paper TalkDeborah BalmuthAs Storey’s publisher and editorial director, Deborah Balmuth heads up efforts to acquire and publish outstanding, long-lasting nonfiction books that support Story Publishing’s mission of promoting personal independence in harmony with the environment. She works with a group of passionate editors who seek out promotable authors with deep, hands-on knowledge and wisdom on topics ranging from gardening and farming to crafts, cooking, building, outdoor living, natural well-being, and creativity for both adults and children. Since joining Storey in 1993, Deborah has conceived and edited many best-selling titles that reflect her personal interests in herbal medicine, crafts, and nature jour...
2022-01-091h 26Paper TalkRadha PandeyRadha Pandey is a papermaker and letterpress printer. She earned her MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she studied Letterpress printing, Bookbinding, and Papermaking with a focus on Western, Eastern and Indo-Islamic Papermaking techniques. Her artist’s books are held in numerous public collections, she has lectured and taught workshops on Indo-Islamic papermaking around the world, and she is currently working on an artists book inspired by Mughal miniature paintings of botanicals from the 17th century. Radha splits her time between India, where she grew up and Norway, where she and her...
2021-12-171h 01Paper TalkSusan KristofersonSusan Kristoferson specializes in surface design processes on paper such as itajime (Japanese fold, clamp, and dye) and hand painted paste papers, She lives and works in Turner Valley, Alberta, in Canada, on hilltop with a view of the foothills and Rockies along with her husband and a small farm of chickens and sheep. Kristoferson is inspired by the long-distance view from her home and studio where she creates unique landscape “paintings” and abstract images using the papers she has made, painted, dyed, and collected during the past 40+ years.
2021-11-261h 05Paper TalkJerushia GrahamJerushia Graham is the Museum Coordinator for the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking and a working artist. Graham is interested in creating spaces for socially-minded introspection and empathy through her artwork, workshops, and curatorial projects. The Atlanta-based printmaker, papermaker, book artist, and fiber artist who exhibits both nationally and internationally, and is a member of the Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color, the Movable Book Society, and the North American Hand Papermakers. Graham served as the first VP of Exhibitions/Curatorial for the North American Hand Papermakers (2020-2021) She has also been a guest curator for the Zora Neale Hurst...
2021-11-061h 14Paper TalkNicholas CladisNicholas Cladis is an interdisciplinary artist and papermaker who lives and works in Iowa City, IA. He is the papermaking specialist at the University of Iowa Center for the Book, where he lectures and manages the Oakdale paper research facility. Cladis is an active researcher and practitioner of traditional and non-traditional papermaking processes. For six years he lived and worked in Echizen, Japan — an area with over 1,500 years of papermaking history — and continues to maintain an active relationship with the papermaking community there. He regularly contributes to the Future of Craft Villages research group at Fukui Prefectural University, and serv...
2021-10-161h 03Paper TalkMiri GolanEntrepreneur, educator and origami artist Miri Golan hopes to use her installations as a catalyst to unite people of different religious and cultural backgrounds. Many of her works use the book as a symbol of education, wisdom, and spirituality—ideas that can be used to help bring people on opposite sides of conflicts together. Her sculptures incorporate a variety of spiritual texts in unexpected ways and suggest that despite religious differences, people are fundamentally the same.
She is the founder of the Israeli Origami Center and Folding Together, an organization that encourages Israeli and Palestinian children and ad...
2021-09-251h 14Paper TalkJune TylerJune Tyler has been a visual artist for over 40 years and been involved in papermaking for 32 years. Her studio, Pondside Pulp and Paper was established in 1995 in Norwich, NY, where she has offered workshops during the summer and fall months. Tyler has spent most of her professional career teaching at various colleges, as well as offering workshops at her studio and other venues. Tyler likes to work in a variety of media: Painting, drawing, printmaking, artist books, papermaking, sculpture and mixed media, depending on the idea or imagery she is pondering at the time. Her work has been shown...
2021-09-0453 minPaper TalkPaul JacksonPaul Jackson is a professional paper artist, paper engineer, writer and teacher since 1983, who specializes in origami and the folded arts. Jackson has written more than 40 books, the first of which were origami books for adults and children, and his more recent books have been about the application of folding techniques into design, a subject he has taught in more than 80 Universities and Colleges in 13 countries, to design students of many disciplines, including Fashion, Architecture, Ceramics, Jewelery, Product Design and Textiles. Jackson was born in England and moved to Israel when he married the Israeli origami artist and educator, M...
2021-08-141h 22Paper TalkAmy RichardAmy Richard is a native of Miami, Florida. After working for many years as an artist/illustrator, science writer and educator, a fascination with hand papermaking processes led her to complete an MFA in Book Arts at the University of Iowa. Her focus was on Japanese-style papermaking, along with the history, traditions, and the spiritual/ healing aspects of the practice. Heavily influenced by the cycles of life, much of Richard’s work is a response to the metaphysical energy exhibited in nature, particularly within the detritus or "relics" that remain after life is gone. Using the inner bark [bast fi...
2021-07-231h 08Paper TalkAndie ThramsSierra Nevada-based visual artist Andie Thrams uses watercolors in wildland forests to create paintings and artist’s books that explore mystery, reverence, and delight, while grappling with vanishing habitats. Merging the lineages of illuminated manuscripts and natural history field journals with a contemporary art and science awareness, her imagery weaves intricate botanical detail into rich layers of shape, color, and hand-lettered text to evoke the complex interconnections within ecosystems of the Greater West.
Find the show notes for this episode here.
2021-07-031h 04Paper TalkJackie RadfordJackie Radford is a papermaker and bookbinder working in her studio near Charlotte, NC. Radford’s work is heavily influenced by the texture and sensory nature of the materials she works with — she needs to feel them as much as see them. During the COVID pandemic, she immersed herself in making paper with pure cotton rag, pulling over 5,000 sheets of handmade paper. The slow, meditative practice of papermaking provided an anchor during the turbulence of a global pandemic, and she is now busy trying to keep up with orders on Etsy.
2021-06-121h 06Paper TalkMatthew ReinhartMatthew Reinhart is a world-renowned children's book author, illustrator and paper engineer, known best for cutting and folding paper into gravity-defying pops in his acclaimed pop-up books.
2021-05-221h 18Paper TalkMindell DubanskyMindell Dubansky is head of the Sherman Fairchild Center for Book Conservation, Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is Preservation Librarian and book conservator. She writes on the book arts, particularly in the areas of 19th century publisher’s bindings, hand papermaking, bookbinding, the history of book-shaped objects and American decorative paper arts.
2021-04-291h 11Paper TalkErica Spitzer RasmussenErica Spitzer Rasmussen is an artist who creates handmade paper garments and small editions of hand-bound books. Her current work explores family stories and issues of identity. Her work has been featured in such magazines as FiberArts, Surface Design Journal, American Craft and Hand Papermaking. Rasmussen teaches studio arts as a full professor at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota (USA). Her artwork is exhibited and collected internationally.
2021-04-101h 00Paper TalkKelsey PikeKelsey Pike is a production papermaker based in Kansas City, Missouri. She learned papermaking and started her brand Sustainable Paper And Craft while attending the local art institute in 2010 and since then she’s sold over 100 thousand sheets of paper. She specializes in papers specifically designed for artists and makers, made from recycled fabric and other sustainable fibers. She’s currently searching for a long term apprentice who will work with her in the studio for the next few years to learn the tedious and back-breaking process.
2021-03-201h 00Paper TalkJohn SullivanJohn Sullivan started Logos Graphics 46 years ago when he moved to San Francisco, CA. The shop transitioned from offset lithography to letterpress in 2000, and it was letterpress printing that sparked Sullivan's interest in the subtleties of paper. As digital presses captured a larger portion of the print market. there was a narrowing of paper texture, color and thickness. Ten years ago Sullivan started saving the off-cuts from Cranes Lettra 100% cotton paper, then beating, coloring and forming that cotton pulp into new paper for short run broadsides. Five years ago, he added a CNC router to the shop, which opened...
2021-02-251h 09Paper TalkPaula Beardell KriegPaula Beardell Krieg is an artist and educator who uses paper for drawings, decoration, and building. She loves to explore the internal structure of books, including the patterns of folds, the sewing and knotting of bindings, and how everything fits together. Krieg’s work lies at the intersection of art and math, using color and line to illuminate symmetries and geometry in and on paper. She often collaborates with classroom teachers to design projects for arts-in-education classes and writes about her work in classrooms, as well as her own adventures with paper.
2021-01-231h 19
Reach the Stars PodcastEp 22: "Creative Consistency" with Helen HiebertThis week on the podcast, I got to talk with one of my great inspirations in life, papermaking guru, Helen Hiebert!! She is a master papermaker, paper crafting genius and general all-around capital-A Artist! If you've ever purchased a book on papermaking, there's a good chance that she wrote it...her book was my textbook in college! Helen takes us through her journey into creating a paper business while moving around the country and raising a family. We also talk about pandemic life and how it has affected our businesses (for good and bad), and about how...
2021-01-0948 minPaper TalkNicole Donnelly - Part 2This is Part 2 of my interview with Nicole Donnelly. Find Part 1 here.
Nicole Donnelly is a hand papermaker and visual artist specializing in sculptural paper artworks and invasive plant papers. She is the President of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA), 2015-2021; and the founder of the creative papermaking studio paperTHINKtank. She is master papermaker for The Brodsky Center at PAFA (2019- present) and for The Brandywine Workshop & Archives (2018-present). She teaches paper and book arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and other institutions.
2021-01-0247 minPaper TalkNicole DonnellyNicole Donnelly is a hand papermaker and visual artist specializing in sculptural paper artworks and invasive plant papers. She is the President of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA), 2015-2021; and the founder of the creative papermaking studio paperTHINKtank. She is master papermaker for The Brodsky Center at PAFA (2019- present) and for The Brandywine Workshop & Archives (2018-present). She teaches paper and book arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and other institutions.
2020-12-2750 minPaper TalkRosston MeyerRosston Meyer is a designer, paper engineer and publisher who creates pop up books under the name Poposition Press. Working mostly with contemporary visual artists, Rosston has self published over 20 pop up books, cards and pop up art prints since he started Poposition in 2013. Published titles include The Pop Up Art Book, The Necronomicon Pop Up Book and Dimensional Cannabis: The Pop Up Book of Marijauna which is a collaboration with six different paper engineers. He is one of just a handful of people in the world that self publishes pop up books, entirely managing each project from design...
2020-12-031h 01Paper TalkSusan Joy ShareSusan Joy Share is an Alaska based visual artist, bookbinder and performer. Her passion for the book form, its structural variations, materials and potential for movement blends with her interest in sculpture, painting, sewing and collage. Susan creates an array of wearable books, figures and architectural forms. Her innovative, early performances with foldout sculpture connected the book with the human body.
2020-11-1452 minPaper TalkMeg BlackMeg Black is an artist and art historian who studies historical works of art and connects her work to the great artists who have come down to us through the ages. The subject of her work is nature and its impact on our sensory experience, and she studies how artists have recorded nature, and considers these approaches in her own designs. She doesn’t try to copy the natural world as she sees it but, rather, as she feels it. Black’s paintings and wall reliefs are made with abaca, a fiber that she is constantly discovering the potential for a...
2020-10-2458 minPaper TalkHelen FrederickHELEN FREDERICK is recognized as a distinguished artist, curator, educator, coordinator of international projects, and as founder of Pyramid Atlantic, a center for contemporary printmaking, hand papermaking, and the art of the book. As an advocate for, and an active participant in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area arts scene, she has served on the directorial boards of alternative art spaces, various local and national boards and national peer-review panels. Her work has been exhibited at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, Japan, and is in collections of the Whitney...
2020-10-0248 minPaper TalkEugenie BarronEugenie Barron was born in 1952, growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. She studied art and anthropology at the University of Missouri, Columbia campus before becoming a piano tuner/technician as well as studying hand papermaking as a craft and an artist. In 1979 she moved to New York City to study with Douglass Morse Howell and further her interest in papermaking. There she developed her skills, lecturing, curating, and teaching, primarily in the city and around the Hudson Valley of NY, where she has maintained several homes and working studios. She is currently semi-retired in Catskill, NY, yet she tries...
2020-09-1056 min
Paper TalkBéatrice CoronBeatrice Coron is a French-born artist who has been living and working in NYC for more than 30 years. I met Beatrice at the Center For Book Arts in NYC when we both took classes and participated in events there in the 1990’s. We talk about how Beatrice developed her unique paper cutting style, which has gotten her everything from illustration gigs to public art commissions in other materials, based on her paper cuts. She discusses her favorite papers and cutting knife, and how she goes back and forth between hand cutting and design on the computer. A theme that se...
2020-08-221h 02
Paper TalkCathleen BakerCathleen Baker began her journey with paper as the paper conservator for the Courtauld Institute Galleries in London, when handling the old papers in the documents she was preserving sparked an interest in paper. Among many other interesting projects, Baker wrote the biography of Dard Hunter, which involved moving into his home in Chillicothe, Ohio (which his grandson now owns). Baker publishes her own work, along with award-winning books about the history and technologies of papermaking, printing, and bookbinding by others under her imprint, The Legacy Press. Enjoy our conversation! Continue reading Cathleen Baker
2020-08-011h 11
Paper TalkPamela PaulsrudPamela Paulsrud is a Chicago artist who began papermaking to examine and exploring the creative process from inception to completion. From the formation of sheets, to working with fibers in its various degrees, she was led to create spontaneous marks within the pulp, and the medium became an art unto itself and now offers her a multidisciplinary approach in her exploration of capturing sound, or resonance in paper with sound wave phenomena. We talk about the Treewhispers project that Pam and Marilyn Sward started in the year 2000 after Pam conceived of it on a bike ride (her daily practice) and...
2020-07-111h 09
Paper TalkPam ThornePam Thorne lives in Burnie, Tasmania, on an island south of Australia. Pam is best known for creating, with her artistic partner Ruth Rees, a series of life size papier-mache sculptures which are displayed in numerous locations around Tasmania. Pam is the concept originator of paper on skin, a biennial wearable paper art competition, Gala Event and exhibition. In 2012 Pam was Burnie’s Citizen of the year. Continue reading Pam Thorne
2020-06-181h 00
Paper TalkDouglass Howell, a Conversation with Elisabeth Howell KingDouglass Howell is probably the first person to have used hand papermaking as an artistic medium as early as the 1940’s, creating what he called Papetries which were shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery in NYC. Howell mentored several people, who went on to establish papermaking studios and paper programs at the university level. His daughter, Elisabeth Howell King, tells me about his life with paper. Continue reading Douglass Howell, a Conversation with Elisabeth Howell King
2020-05-301h 09
Paper TalkSarah BrayerSarah Brayer is an American artist living in Kyoto, Japan. I met Sarah back in the 1990’s, when she would come to make work at Dieu Donné Papermill, a hand papermaking studio in NYC where I was working. Sarah talks about how she traveled to Japan after studying art at Connecticut College and ended up making Kyoto her home. She works in printmaking and papermaking, and we discuss her early interest in Japanese covered door panels called fusuma. She ended up discovering Imadate, Echizen where they make these panels, and she has been creating her own large-scale poured-paper images there sin...
2020-05-0837 min
Paper TalkIoana StoianToday, I’m talking with Ioana Stoian, a british-born artist currently lives and works in Minneapolis. When I met Ioana there a few years ago, she gifted me a black t-shirt with the word ARTIST in white and all caps across the front. We began our conversation talking about self identifying as an artist – that was fun! Ioana got interested in hands-on learning during a five year decorative painting apprenticeship in France, and that interest led her to travel to Japan, where she discovered the art of paper folding. She was inspired to create her own designs, which she has publ...
2020-04-161h 17
Paper TalkRichard FlavinRichard Flavin did the illustrations of Japanese papermaking in Tim Barrett’s book of the same title. Richard grew up in Boston, and he learned about woodblock printing and handmade paper when he was in the army in Korea and traveled to Japan, where he has lived and worked since 1970. We met to talk about his work with paper in the gallery that he and his textile artist wife Ryoko Haraguchi, run. Continue reading Richard Flavin
2020-03-281h 01
Paper TalkRobbin Ami SilverbergRobbin Silverberg is a paper and book artist in Brooklyn, NY. I have long admired Robbin’s content-rich artist’s books, that show off her unique papermaking techniques. We had a lovely meandering conversation about her first paper sculptures, how she started creating artist’s books while living in Vienna, Austria but didn’t even realize they were a genre. She returned to NYC when she discovered there were others making artists books – she’d found her tribe. Robbin currently has a 30-year retrospective at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and she took me on an audio tour, describing some of the works ha...
2020-03-051h 16
Paper TalkMichael LaFosseMichael LaFosse runs Origamido studio outside of Boston with Richard Alexander. This is a really unique studio, because not only do they create, fold and teach unique origami techniques, but they also produce handmade papers designed specifically for folding and origami. Michael and I talk about how he discovered origami as a child, first learning to fold a paper airplane with his uncle, and then by chance seeing one episode of a black and white TV show about origami. We chat about how he developed his style and how he teaches beginner to master level origami at Origamido Studio, as...
2020-02-131h 05
Paper TalkPaperPaulYou can listen to this episode by clicking on the white arrow above, or subscribe to the Paper Talk podcast in iTunes so you never miss an episode. If you enjoy the show, tell a friend about it! Thank you so much.PaperPaul is a self-employed illustrator, graphic designer and web designer from the Netherlands. His interest in paper engineering started Continue reading PaperPaul
2020-01-2536 min
Paper TalkMatt ShlianMatt Shlian is a paper engineer whose work is rooted in print media, book arts and commercial design. We talk about the trajectory of his career – from immersing himself in various media first at Alfred University and then at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, to working as a visiting research scholar at the University of Michigan, where he collaborated with scientists using paper techniques he developed. Matt works with art consultants and galleries worldwide to place his artwork, which is created using technology and a lot of handwork. And we talk about the balancing act of making work, hiring employees to...
2020-01-0458 min
Paper TalkRobert J. LangRobert Lang is a leader in the field of paper folding – he uses mathematics to advance origami folding techniques for applications in technology – like folding a giant telescope into a compact form so that it can travel to space. We chat about his journey, from discovering origami as a child and devouring books on the subject, to coming up with his own designs and methods for folding, to developing a computer program called Treemaker, to help with complex folding structures that has led to consulting jobs around the world. Continue reading Robert J. Lang
2019-12-061h 01
Paper TalkJanna Willoughby-LohrJanna Willoughby-Lohr runs Papercraft Miracles, an eco-friendly handmade paper company in Buffalo, New York. We chat about how life can throw you a curveball, and you can choose how to react. This quote, from Janna’s instagram, will give you an inkling about how she reacts: “This is your Sunday evening reminder that you can handle whatever this week throws at you”. We talk about Janna’s handmade paper stationery products, that include custom wedding invitations, seed bombs, paper flowers and planning tools; and how she is shaping her business – she’s the recipient of the Prestigious Ignite Buffalo Grant and was rece...
2019-11-151h 06
Paper TalkKathryn & Howard ClarkHoward & Kathryn Clark founded Twinrocker Handmade Paper, a legendary papermaking studio in Brookston, Indiana, in 1971. We talk about how the two of them met in graduate school at Wayne State University in Detroit cleaning silkscreens, (how sweet) and how they were introduced to papermaking by Aris Katroulis, a Tamarind trained printer who was exposed to paper by Laurence Barker, who was also in Detroit teaching at Cranbook. Kathy says she thought there were papermaking studios everywhere, since there were two in Detroit! After Grad school, they moved to San Francisco, where Kathy was the first woman to print at a...
2019-10-291h 30
Paper TalkStephanie HareStephanie Hare runs Share Studios in Philadelphia. Stephanie has one of the most beautiful instagrams about paper that I’ve seen, featuring images of fiber in water, equipment and sheets of handmade paper in luscious colors. Check it out at instagram.com/share.studios. We had a lovely chat about how Stephanie’s business has evolved since she learned to make paper after college in Maine, while working in a gallery specializing in handmade paper and paper lights. She tells me how she has built a strong online following, first for her lights and then her stationery products. We talk abou...
2019-10-0344 min
Paper TalkMadeleine DurhamMadeleine Durham is an artist in Santa Fe, New Mexico who was introduced to paste painting when she studied painting and book arts at Santa Fe Community College. One day when she applied paste to a sheet of paper with a brush, she noticed a line that her brush created on the sheet of paper. She tells me how she’d probably created similar lines lots of times, but something happened that day that inspired her unique and gorgeous style of paste painting. We chat about a couple of unique commissioned papers she’s created, where she travels to sell her...
2019-09-1235 min
Paper TalkMelanie BraunerMelanie Brauner is an artist in the Pacific Northwest who makes lovely hand dipped paper & metal jewelry. She grew up around artists, makers and craftspeople, and she never questioned whether she could be an artist and make a living. She learned to make paper with me at the Oregon College of Art & Craft, where she studied book arts and metals. We talk about how her business took off after she started wearing her jewelry around campus – people were buying the pieces she was wearing – and how she’s built a super successful jewelry business with her work in over 50 retail shops...
2019-08-2348 min
Paper TalkJocelyn ChateauvertJocelyn Chateauvert is a paper artist in South Carolina who manipulates abaca and flax in astounding ways. She discovered hand papermaking while getting an MFA in metals and jewelry at the University of Iowa. We talk about how she started out combining paper and metal, two seemingly disparate materials. Jocelyn then tells me how her work has evolved from jewelry and body adornment, to sculpture, installation, and lighting, and how she has come up with a vocabulary for the more than 50 unique techniques she has developed for manipulating paper. Continue reading Jocelyn Chateauvert
2019-08-0246 min
Paper TalkDrew MatottDrew Matott, like so many papermakers I talk to, stumbled upon the medium by chance, when he was at Buffalo State College, where he wanted to study film. He is the co-founder of Combat Paper and the founder of Peace Paper Project, programs which involve turning meaningful pieces of old clothing into handmade paper. We chat about the unique business model of Peace Paper. and the most recent developments, including a DIY Hollander beater and St Pauli Paper, a new papermaking studio in Hamburg, Germany. Enjoy our conversation! Continue reading Drew Matott
2019-07-131h 20
Paper TalkPapillon PapersVernon & Madeleine Weiring, a father-daughter team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently launched their company Papillon Papers. I fell in love with some of the gorgeous decorated papers I’ve seen on their website and wanted to learn more about them, especially after reading that they call themselves design archeologists – how cool is that? – they dig through the past to find designs and decorated papers and resurrect them. In this episode we talk about how they look through old books, mostly from the 19th century, seeking decorative end paper designs that appeal to them, and then bring theses sheets that have b...
2019-06-2043 min
Paper TalkSarah HorowitzSarah Horowitz is a printmaker based in Leavenworth, Washington, who also makes drawings and artist’s books. We talk about how her parents fostered her artistic interests by always providing her with access to materials and art classes as she was growing up. She attended Hampshire College in Massachussetts, where she ended up focusing on printmaking. After college, she honed her printmaking skills at studios in Switzerland and Scotland before returning to the Northeast, where she got involved with the book arts community. Eventually, she ended up on the West Coast when she was looking for a community print shop to...
2019-06-011h 00
Paper TalkNancy CohenNancy Cohen is a New Jersey artist who was introduced to handmade paper during a residency program at Dieu Donne Papermill in New York City in the early 1990’s. She became entranced with paper as a material, and she talks about the similarities and differences she finds between paper and glass, a material she also works with. Nancy creates all of her work without a papermaking studio – she brings wet sheets that she makes at Dieu Donne back to her own studio – and she is pushing the medium in really interesting ways. We discuss the life cycles of her installations, which...
2019-05-0940 min
Paper TalkLynn SuresLynn Sures is a Maryland-based artist who works with handmade paper in a variety of ways. Lynn tells me how she first discovered that paper was made by hand while reading the book Papermaking by Dard hunter, and that she assumed that nobody on earth made paper by hand anymore (she was wrong!). We talk about her teaching philosophy and her work with pulp painting. And we discuss the paper she makes to draw on (she says if you make your own paper, it isn’t scary to draw on a blank sheet). She describes one paper she took to Af...
2019-04-1950 min
Paper TalkPeter DahmenPeter Dahmen is an artist and designer based in Dortmund, Germany. I discovered Peter’s work on the internet, which is how he has become well known in the field of pop-ups, and has connected with clients around the world. We talk about the first pop-up book he saw in a bookstore as a child, how that interest was rekindled about 10 years later when he was studying communication design at the university, and how he became a youtube sensation 20 years later! Peter describes some really interesting projects he’s been involved in – from designing a pop-up wall for a car manufa...
2019-03-301h 07
Paper TalkLeigh SuggsI met Leigh Suggs 10 years ago when she took a sculptural papermaking class with me at The Penland School in North Carolina. We talk about her upbringing with a mom who was an art professor, how she didn’t think she’d ever be an artist, but how her life just kept going in that direction and today she makes a living making paper art. She tells me about the process of applying to grad school and finding the right fit, both in terms of funding and discipline. And of course we chat about her work, which involves optical trickery. She’...
2019-03-091h 01
Paper TalkCraig AnczelowitzCraig Ancelowitz is an artist and designer affiliated with Awagami Papermill in Japan. I first met Craig over 25 years ago in New York City, when he was a paper buyer for Kate’s Paperie. We talk about Craig’s work in product development, which took him from Kate’s to ABC Carpet and then to Thailand and Japan. Continue reading Craig Anczelowitz
2019-02-1655 min
Paper TalkAimee LeeAimee got interested in paper when she took a class about artist’s books at Oberlin College. She went on to focus on papermaking at Columbia College Chicago where she got her masters degree. It was there that she got interested in the history of papermaking, and when she learned how hand papermaking travelled from China to Korea to Japan – she got curious about hanji, Korean paper – Aimee grew up in New York City as the child of Korean immigrants – but she discovered that there wasn’t much information out there about papermaking in Korea. Continue reading Aimee Lee
2019-01-261h 02
Paper TalkArnold & Mabel GrummerIn this episode, I'm talking with Mabel Grummer, the wife of Arnold Grummer. Their daughter Kim Schiedermayer is with us too. We talked about Grummer’s career, which eventually led to the family business that Kim still runs today and provides papermaking kits and supplies for educators and artists. Continue reading Arnold & Mabel Grummer
2019-01-0545 min
Paper TalkRachel HazellRachel Hazell divides her time between Edinborough and the isle of Iona in Scotland. We discuss how she teaches five or so workshops in cities around the world (Venice, Iona, Paris anyone)? These sound absolutely delightful – I’ve seen photos of some of the book and paper shops she frequents. Rachel is perhaps the first book artist to offer an online class – you’ll hear about her two popular courses: Paper Love and Book Love as we chat about some of the advantages of taking an online class. And we talk about Rachel’s brand new book: Bound: 15 beautiful bookbinding projects...
2018-12-1441 min
Paper TalkLaurence BarkerLaurence Barker is an influencer in the field of Hand Papermaking. Born in 1930, Barker went to Principia College and got his MFA from Cranbrook, where he also ended up teaching from 1960 – 1970 and ran the first classes in hand papermaking at the college level in the US. Several students (and others who visited that studio) went on to become luminaries in the field of hand papermaking. A theme that came up time and again during our conversation was the way Barker followed his intuition. After college, he wrote to Stanley Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris about the potential of studying with hi...
2018-11-221h 01
Paper TalkHedi Kyle & Ulla WarcholIn this episode, I talk with Hedi Kyle and Ulla Warchol about their new book called The Art of the Fold. We talk about Hedi’s childhood in postwar Germany, when she made paper dolls and paper chains, among other things and how she ended up in the US after her studies in Germany. Ulla is Hedi’s daughter and grew up in and around Hedi’s studios in the Bay Area and New York City, where she went to the Cooper Union to study architecture. We talk about how this book came about, the process of creating the book – Ulla ren...
2018-10-301h 13
Paper TalkPaper For WaterPaper For Water is a non-profit organization that raises money to build wells around the world so that everyone will have access to clean water. Listen to Isabelle and Katherine describe how they started the organization with a goal of raising $500 by folding origami ornaments and accepting donations for them when they were 5 and 8 years old. They ended up raising $10,000 and never looked back. Paper for Water has now raised more than $1.3M and has helped fund over 150 water projects in fourteen countries. Trinity talks about how she invented the Candy Dish, which is featured in the 2019 Twelve Months of...
2018-10-1146 min
Paper TalkMelissa Jay CraigMelissa Jay Craig is a Chicago artist. In this episode, she explains how her first artist’s residency coincided with having just learned about papermaking, and how instead of lugging 400 books to the residency to create the type of work she had been making, she took just two books and some kozo fiber and was able to cast paper-shaped books instead. We discuss a nomadic artistic life comprised of a period in which she traveled around the country doing residencies and teaching gigs. And we touch on one of her works, S/Edition, that ended up going viral by being fe...
2018-09-2140 min
Paper TalkMatt SimpsonMatt Simpson is founder and CEO of Green Banana Paper in Micronesia. We talk about how Matt ended up on this remote island as a teacher, his desire to stay there and surf, and how he put two and two together when he realized that all of his students were leaving the island to find work and that the banana fiber that had been used to make clothing in the distant past could also be made into paper. Listen to how Green Banana Paper creates jobs through sustainable practices on the tiny island of Kosrae, with a people population of 6000...
2018-08-1351 min
Paper TalkMelissa PotterThrough her practice, which includes art making, writing, curating and teaching, Melissa Potter focuses on traditions that are endangered, underpaid and under-recognized due to industrialization, war, gender bias, and globalization. In this episode, we discuss her Quaker upbringing in New Jersey that instilled her desire to be an activist, how she has expanded upon The Papermaker’s Garden (that I initiated at Dieu Donné Papermill in the mid 90’s) and has continued to develop it as a socially engaged practice. We also discuss her career path – as an advocate for artists at the New York Foundation for the Arts, her work th...
2018-07-1936 min
The Art BizTransform Your Many Creative Ideas into Multiple Income Streams: Helen Hiebert (#18)Ten years ago, Helen Hiebert didn't think of her art as a business. Her shift of mindset changed everything and she now makes her living as a working artist. Rather than feeling icky about having a "business," she embraced it and learned to channel some of her creativity into making money from her talents. In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, Helen and I discuss: Her 5 income streams, and the percentage of income she receives from each How she approaches online content creation How her blog - The Sunday Paper - and podcast - Paper Ta...
2018-07-1951 min
Paper TalkTom LeechIn this episode, Tom Leech tells us about his early memory of the smell of paper, when his missionary aunt sent him toys from Japan wrapped in Japanese paper; his first experience with papermaking when he studied sculpture and printmaking with Winifred Lutz; and how his interest in environmentalism led him to make recycled paper at 18,000 feet on Mt. Everest. He also tells us about reintroducing monks at a monastery in Tibet to hand papermaking and how the word ‘recycled’ wasn’t translatable so the closest they could come was to call it reincarnated paper. At that point, everyone at the mo...
2018-06-1543 min
Paper TalkPat & Peter GentenaarToday I’m talking with husband and wife Pat Gentenaar Torley & Peter Gentenaar in the town of Delft in The Netherlands. Peter & Pat met in the late 60’s at the California College of Arts & Crafts (now California College of the Arts) in Oakland and settled in the Netherlands shortly afterwards. Peter talks about how the struggle to make three dimensional prints led him to envision making his own paper, and how an introduction to commercial papermaking at the Royal Dutch Paper Factory got him started. Pat talks about how studying fiber arts at CCA with well-known fiber artist Trude Gueromonprez ulti...
2018-05-1852 min
Paper TalkMina TakahashiIn this episode, Mina Takahashi reveals how a college internship in Philadelphia planted the seed for her career in hand papermaking, she talks about a key moment when a Japanese papermaker showed her his hands and she understood what it means to dedicate yourself to a process, material and way of life, and she discusses her visit to a Thai village where they made hospital gowns out of handmade paper. We also talk about her work as an advocate and promoter for hand papermaking as an artistic medium as director of Dieu Donne Papermill and her current position as editor...
2018-04-1844 min
Paper TalkSusan GosinIn this episode, Sue Gosin discusses her childhood in a commercial papermaking family and her desire to get away from paper. But she saw paper in a new light during her college years at the university of Madison and shortly afterwards moved to NYC to start a paper studio in a loft in Soho in 1976. She tells the story of how the mill almost fell through the floor when they first turned on the Hollander beater and how she met the painter Howard Hodgkin when he walked into her bathroom. We talk about how young the field of hand papermaking...
2018-03-1538 min
Paper TalkPriscilla RobinsonPriscilla Robinson is an artist who divides her time between studios in Austin, Texas and Taos, New Mexico. In the early 1980’s she began working with handmade paper, when she was exhibiting abstract paintings in Santa Fe. Her work has been shown internationally, she exhibits regularly in national and international galleries and she has created commissions for Boston University, Chevron, Vanderbilt University, and Kaiser Permanente to name a few. Continue reading Priscilla Robinson
2018-02-1639 min
Paper TalkBeck WhiteheadBeck Whitehead is a San Antonio artist who served as Chair of Papermaking and Book Arts at the Southwest School of Art until 2016. In addition she has taught workshops in papermaking around the country and in Canada. Exhibitions include the Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago and the Robert C. Williams American Museum of papermaking in Atlanta. Continue reading Beck Whitehead
2018-01-1039 min
Paper TalkShawn SheehyShawn Sheehy has been teaching book arts courses and workshops on the national level since 2001. His broadsides and artist book editions have been collected by numerous prestigious institutions, including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, University of Chicago, Library of Congress, UCLA, and Harvard. Sheehy's trade pop-up book Welcome to the Neighborwood (a mass-market version of his artist book) was released in 2015, winning numerous awards. He's currently at work on his next trade book—a mass-market version of his artist book Beyond the Sixth Extinction—and it will be released through Candlewick in Autumn 2018. He holds an MFA in the Book Arts from Colu...
2017-11-2234 min
Paper TalkJenn WoodwardJennifer J. Woodward is an artist and small business owner living and working in Portland, OR. With a background focused on mixed media installation, drawing and papermaking, Jenn is currently exploring the relationship between local and sustainable materials and the themes of empathy, identity and mindfulness in her art practice. Continue reading Jenn Woodward
2017-10-2728 min
Paper TalkJenny PintoFrom being a TV commercial producer and director in bombay, Jenny Pinto moved to bangalore 20 years ago where she now lives and has a studio where she and her team make paper from banana and lokta fibres. She also designs and produces a range of lights from both paper and papercrete. Her interest in sustainable materials and practices urges her to keep exploring. Continue reading Jenny Pinto
2017-09-2746 min
Paper TalkOblation Papers & PressOblation Papers & Press is an urban paper mill, letterpress print shop, hand-bindery and fine paper boutique. Our in-house team of designers releases roughly 30 new items annually, inspired by music, quirky conversation, toys, textiles, travel, food, architecture, literature and historical objects. Continue reading Oblation Papers & Press
2017-08-1626 min
Paper TalkRay TomassoRay Tomasso lives in Colorado where he works as a professional fine artist exhibiting and appearing in corporate, public and private collections internationally. Continue reading Ray Tomasso
2017-07-1754 min
Paper TalkMichelle WilsonMichelle Wilson is a printmaker, papermaking, book, installation, and social practice artist. Her practice includes frequent collaborations with other artists, in particular her ongoing projects Book Bombs (with Mary Tasillo) and the Rhinoceros Project (with Anne Beck). Wilson currently teaches printmaking at San Jose State University and Stanford University. Continue reading Michelle Wilson
2017-06-0715 min
Paper TalkMary HeebnerI interviewed Mary Heebner at the CODEX Book Fair in Berkeley, so pardon the background noise and distractions! What I find fascinating about her work is the way that she takes her understanding of paper and the papermaking process and collaborates with experts to create the papers for her books. It is a lovely organic process. Continue reading Mary Heebner
2017-04-2522 min
Paper TalkJillian BruscheraJillian Bruschera is an interdisciplinary artist and arts-activist creating works in visual art, writing, public installation, body performance, and social practice. Alternating between a studio and a social practice, handmade recycled paper is a primary material for installation, assemblage and performance. Continue reading Jillian Bruschera
2017-03-1631 min
Paper TalkJill PowersJill Powers creates environmental art, mixed media sculpture, and installation fiber art with unusual natural materials. Her primary art material is bark fiber, which she has developed as a contemporary art medium. Jill is on Visual Art faculty at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Jill has shown her work internationally, and her work is in private, corporate, and museum collections. Continue reading Jill Powers
2017-02-1925 min
Paper TalkSusan Mackin DolanSusan Mackin Dolan was born in a small town in Maine near the northern end of the Appalachian Trail. She received her MFA at the University of Colorado Boulder, in printmaking and papermaking. In 1984 she helped establish the first papermaking studio in south Texas, Picante Papers, at the Southwest School of Art and was the original Chairperson. Continue reading Susan Mackin Dolan
2017-01-1931 min
Paper TalkSimon Barcham GreenSimon Barcham Green is the sixth generation of the family that ran Hayle Mill, Maidstone from 1812 to 1987. He has a BSc in Paper Science from the University of Manchester and worked in half a dozen machine mills before joining the family business where he introduced the first alkaline sized mould-made water color and hand-made papers in the world. Continue reading Simon Barcham Green
2016-12-0348 min
Paper TalkMary HarkMary Hark, Associate Professor in Design Studies, affiliated with African Studies & Art, teaches papermaking and textile design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is invited to conduct workshops and lecture at Art Centers and Universities internationally. She is the proprietor of HARK! Handmade Paper where she produces limited editions of high quality handmade papers in collaboration with book designers and artists, as well as paper artworks that have been exhibited internationally. Continue reading Mary Hark
2016-11-0340 min
Paper TalkAmanda DegenerAmanda Degener graduated from Bennington College and then received an MFA from Yale School of Art. Her work is in countless private collections including Library of Congress, Walker Art Center, and Cowles Media Company and she has collaborated with many talented artists from coast to coast. In 1984 she moved her paper studio to the not-yet-opened Minnesota Center for Book Arts where she was a Founder, their first Artist in Residence and later, their first Artistic Director. Cave Paper was the recipient of the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library 2012 Minnesota Book Artist Award sponsored by Lerner Publishing Group based...
2016-10-0532 min
Paper TalkBridget O’MalleyBridget O'Malley is a master papermaker and co-owner of Cave Paper Inc., a handmade paper mill specializing in natural dyed flax papers. She is an adjunct professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She offers book, paper, and print workshops around the country. Her artwork focuses on forms found in nature, and bringing those to life through the interplay of print, paper, and sculpture. Continue reading Bridget O’Malley
2016-09-0121 min
Paper TalkEden MarekEden Marek is a unicycle-riding, soccer ball-wielding artist from Ames, Iowa. She has a B.A. in Studio Art from Grinnell College, where she graduated in 2015. Eden works in sculpture, hand papermaking, and sound art, preferring to combine all three when possible. A recipient of the Faulconer Gallery Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship, she remained at Grinnell College for a year to assist with the Artists@Grinnell Residency Program, help coach the Grinnell Women's Soccer Team, and collaborate with sound artist and composer Abby Aresty. Continue reading Eden Marek
2016-07-3123 min
Paper TalkAndrea PetersonAndrea Peterson is an internationally exhibiting artist and educator. Her work is multifaceted exploring all types of paper fibers and processes and includes paper works, prints, artist books, and environmental installation pieces. She combines paper arts, printmaking and book arts to make works that address human relationship to the environment. Continue reading Andrea Peterson
2016-07-0132 min
Paper TalkTimothy BarrettTimothy Barrett is a professor in the University of Iowa Center for the Book and the School of Library and Information Science. He was director of the Center between 1996 and 2002 and became director again in the fall of 2012. His recent research can be found here and by searching “Chancery Papermaking” on YouTube. Continue reading Timothy Barrett
2016-06-0435 min
Paper TalkTatiana GinsbergTatiana Ginsberg makes drawings, prints, installations, and books, most of which use her own handmade paper. She studied at the University of Iowa Center for the Book before spending two years in Japan researching naturally dyed papers under a Fulbright grant. Continue reading Tatiana Ginsberg
2016-05-0319 min
Paper TalkCatherine NashFebruary 13, 2016: Catherine Nash specializes in Japanese and Western hand papermaking, encaustic painting and mixed media drawing. She is a teaching artist who balances her studio work with artist-in-resident teaching, lectures and workshops internationally. Continue reading Catherine Nash
2016-04-2124 min