Story paper?

If you have read this blog from the very beginning, you might have caught on that I adore these paper sculptures that I make. They are possibly my very favorite art form that I have ever made, and I can’t explain why, though I have tried. (Mr. Papermaker is not really crazy about them and is always mildly surprised when I sell one!)

Today, I finished one that I have been working on for quite a while and I am keeping it for myself. Here it is:

(Making these sculptures is my way of procrastinating when I am not in the mood to “work.” Rather than creating art for other people, my form of procrastination is to make art for myself.) I have never given a name to my paper sculptures but today I was thinking I should. The name should encompass something about stories, like Story Paper, except that’s not a very exciting name. You might never know it by looking at one quickly, but they have a world of stories in them. The papers I use to make them are from years of my life. I think of so many memories when I look at the papers. I recently came across this flower composition that I made years ago for a line of cards:

I can remember where I was in when I made this line. I was in my first studio, a little closet of a room that I shared with a good friend who made glass mosaics. The studio was in a ramshackle house with artists renting spaces in every nook and cranny. But it felt special because our work had to be approved to be accepted in. It was in a questionable neighborhood but we thought we were so very special to have a corner there, where we split the $30/month rental fee for the room so we could have a place where we could let the creativity fly, commune with other artists, get inspiration and feedback, and not have to clean up our mess at the end of the day. Many happy, creative hours were spent there. Anyway, that’s a very long sidebar just to say that I came across this little paper flower collage recently, smiled at the recollection of my days at that first studio, then rolled it up and stuck it in. I know exactly where it is and I will remember those studio days every time I see it. So many other papers in the sculpture hold such memories for me. You can see what I mean when you look at a side view of them to see all the nuances of each piece of paper, the texture, colors, inclusions. You may not know the stories but I hope that people sense them living in those sheets of paper. I feel everyone should decorate their homes with art that is appealing to look at and create conversation, but also has a deeper emotional connection, whether private or obvious, with those viewing the piece.

I have been trying to make a series of them to hang in my studio, a large set of 9 of them that could be hung like a sculptural quilt, each one with a different color focus. But I keep selling them before I can get a collection together. So, as I say every time I make one, I am keeping this one. But this time I really mean it.