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Copyright © 2003 Rona Conti
Artmaking in Handmade PaperThe handmade paper pieces you are viewing are not paint on paper but are made up of paper pulp itself, applied and layered collage like in a myriad of ways so that they become all of a piece. While the process is very direct and spontaneous, it requires a great deal of equipment and preparation before, during, and after the making of the artwork. An artist wishing to work in this medium, creating what is sometimes called "pulp painting", must find one of the few existing special studios in which to do this work. As an artist working primarily in paint, I was first introduced to hand papermaking in 1984 at a workshop at Rugg Road Handmade Papers in Boston, MA. The tactile and sensuous quality of the paper pulp, the compelling texture and light of the white sheets, the glorious color of the pulps, and the myriad possibilities of process, enthralled me immediately. Soon after, I began working in the studio solo. Choosing my palette in advance, dreaming images, arriving to the sight of the colored pulps laid out like a huge crayon box, I found myself excitedly and completely absorbed in the directness and spontaneity of the process. I became more and more drawn to my explorations in paper, returning many times to Rugg Road, exhibiting paperworks alongside my abstract paintings. The surface of paper and that of canvas elicited distinct and separate responses. The paper allowed for immediacy as images presented themselves and were transformed intuitively onto paper surface. In the mid 90's , I began to explore how I might realize a dream which had its beginnings in my studies of ceramics and painting in college, a dream formed while reading about, seeing, and being inspired by Japanese art, particularly calligraphy, in the superior collections at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Thus, in 1998 I spent the first of several years living northwest of Tokyo in the foothills of the Japan Alps. Japan was a revelation in more ways than I had even imagined. I embraced the culture while teaching English and was able to find a calligraphy master teacher, the main goal of my journey. With Kobayashi Sensei's encouragement and sponsorship, I was able to spend another year in Japan on a cultural visa for the sole purpose of studying calligraphy.* (see separate statement on The Process of Calligraphy) If any one thing defines Japan, my spiritual home, it is paper. During that first year, while I explored washi and reveled in its myriad uses, a brief search did not unearth artists who worked in pulp painting "American" style. My search yielded only one artist, an American who had lived in Kyoto for many years, but who, I later discovered, returned to the United States to do her work. It seemed karmic when I discovered her work in New York City at Dieu Donne Papermill where I also began to work. At Dieu Donne, I explored new ways of image making, sometimes incorporating my calligraphy. Now, alongside strong color, there are works of greater subtlety and defined form. Hanging scrolls and paper pieces sized according to Japanese tradition expand my oeuvres. My explorations are ongoing and seem to me the perfect marriage of my continued studies in calligraphy and works in handmade paper. Rona Conti Boston, Massachusetts October 2003 |