Paper Art
Willowby Crafts
Having just completed an origami workshop and installation at Larmer Tree Festival, I thought I’d write something about our fabulous paper art resources in the library!
When it comes to paper art, the possibilities seem endless. From origami and paper cutting, to sculpture, paper craft and even paper making! For me, I absolutely love how its fragility and delicacy can be formed into strong sculptural forms, and yet also intricately detailed pieces of art.
Here are some of my favourites from the shelves and where to find more…
Paper Cutting (736.98, Library 2):
‘Come Heavy Sleep’ by Eileen White
Paper cutting stems from China and is a traditional folk art. I adore the lace effect of paper cutting and the amount of detail which goes in to it, such as the work of Karen Bit Vejle. I love its use in story telling and last Summer saw just that when a model in a body painting competition was accessorised with a paper cut cloak. Her theme was Red Riding Hood and the intricate stencil work in the cloak told the story of her wolfy adventure!
Eileen White is a Winchester based artist who works with paper, as well as textiles and printmaking. Some of her paper cut work was featured in the exhibition, ‘Cutting Edge: contemporary paper art’ at Mottisfont Abbey, Romsey. A number of hand cut, lengths of paper hung with a light shining through, creating a web of shadows.
‘Map Book’ by Eileen can be found in our Artists’ Book’s Collection.
Paper Sculpture (736.982, Library 2):
Some paper sculpture is not only stunning and impressive, but it’s amazing how strong this fragile resource can actually be. Some of my favourite paper sculptures are with books(!), but also large sculptural forms.
In Library 2 you can find ‘Fairy-tale Princess: seven classic stories from the Enchanted Forest’ (741.642 BLA) by Su Blackwell. A collection of seven fairytales where scenes have been sculpted to tell the stories. Su featured in the exhibition ‘The First Cut: Paper Art at the cutting edge’ at SeaCity Museum, Southampton, for which you can find the exhibition catalogue at 736.98 COR in Library 2.
The paper & mixed media sculptures of Odani Motohiko are simply amazing. Seeming as light as air and suspended, with fly away swirls giving them life and movement.
Paper Craft (745.54, Library 2)
A wide genre indeed! We have numerous resources from packaging and card-making to pop-up and making your own paper.
In our Artists’ Book Collection, we have Tracey Bush’s ‘British Butterflies’. Having scrap booked with numerous ephemera items over the years, Tracey reconstructed the materials and images into Lepidoptera, collections of butterflies and moths, a symbol of change and transformation. We also have some of Tracey’s other Artists’ books such as ‘The Thames ph Book’ and ‘Nine Wild Plants’.
Origami (736.982, Library 2):
The ancient and traditional Japanese art of Origami always has a ‘wow’ factor for me. The technique of folding paper to create object forms becomes a somewhat magical mathematical puzzle! I love the way you follow a pattern and it can look absolutely nothing like what you are trying to achieve and then suddenly, it starts to appear. Our origami resources range from simple folds to large scale sculptural art.
To access our Library catalogue – WebCat
Our LibGuides pages can be found here
This is our last blog post whilst we take a summer break and we’ll be back at the start of term in September. We wish you all a wonderful and hopefully sunny Summer!
Robynne Willowby, July 2016