Watermarks

I made paper today for the first time in a LONG time. It felt good. I'm working on the design for a sheet that will be used in a collaborative project with my art group. The design is supposed to be a dinner plate, but I like how it also reads as a flower and even a sundial.

Tassie

Tasmania was the true destination on this trip -- where I attended the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists congress.

I stayed with paper artist Jan Marinos in Sisters Beach, a little community right on the water. I had a nice run each morning on the beach, but I don't jog with my camera and we were so busy that we were never there when it was daylight! This picture of me is in Burnie, where the congress was held. It would be a bit more interesting if the penguins had waddled up on the shore while I was standing there... oh well.

Burnie is home of Creative Paper Tasmania, an inspiring papermaking facility which is home to these paper people and Wombat Poo Paper, which you might have heard about on NPR last month ago. During my stay in Tasmania, everyone kept telling me about the wildlife they'd been seeing. I didn't see a thing (including the penguins) until the last couple of days when I finally saw wombat and two wallabys. 

I was honored to have my film, The Secret Life of Paper in a Tasmania-wide art festival called 10 Days on the Island. Here I am sitting next to the artist Ruth Faerber, a printmaker who uses handmade paper in her relief prints who also had a show opening that evening.

 As part of the festival, I was asked to speak at the opening of this installation of cardboard tubes by the artist Tracy Luff, which was at city hall. I spoke after the mayor of Burnie.

At the Congress, I presented my film, Water Paper Time, gave a talk, and also had a table at the paper market. I met a lot of interesting Australian papermakers and paper artists, and I attended a field trip to Cradle Mountain where I did a workshop with the artist John Wolesley. He's a charming fellow who takes paper (not handmade) out into the Australian bush, where he rubs it over plants, puts it in puddles and even buries it to add markings to the sheets. He responds by drawing and painting on the marred sheets. We had a good time talking about the nature of paper. 

I got to hang out with some of my American paper pals in Tasmania, too. Paper artist Lynn Sures did a pulp painting demonstration on this huge sheet of poured paper.

Sydney

It was quite a journey from Portland to Sydney. The trans-Pacific flight was 14 hours from Los Angeles and the time change is 18 hours ahead. When I arrived, my host, Jean Riley from Primrose Paperworks picked me up and took me and took me to visit Primrose before we went she dropped me off at Cremorne Manor, the lovely guest house where I stayed the first two nights and caught up on some sleep.

Just to prove that I was really there, a picture of the Sydney Opera House which I took from a ferry.

I taught a weekend workshop on lampmaking at Primrose over the weekend. This is Marta's little shadow lantern. I had a lively group of students who all made wonderful objects. And by the way, Helen is a very common name in Australia. I met at least five Helen's :).

Holding Space Photos

I had the installation photographed by Dan Kvitka. The colors at dusk were amazing. Dan had a little fun with his panoramic camera.

Here is an image to give you a sense of scale.