pulp painting

Papermaking is one of the many things I have tried my hand at in the past few months at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (PAAC). And then a few weeks back Gretchen Schermerhorn (Artistic Director at PAAC) introduced me to pulp painting, a technique that involves the use of coloured paper pulp on damp handmade base sheets.

For pulp painting you need two things: pulp paint and base sheets. The first is your medium, the second is the surface you paint on. Pulp paint is very fine pulp that is made by beating fibers in a Hollander beater for a few hours before adding pigments. You also add something called formation aid that helps with better flow and bonding.

For the base sheets, I used abaca fibers that I beat for a couple hours. I then used a mould and deckle (a wooden frame with a screen and another frame that sits on the mould to hold the pulp) to make sheets, which you then couch on a damp pellon (polyester sheet). You build layers of sheets and pellons to create a post, which then goes into a hydraulic press to remove excess water. (If you want to know more about how paper is made, you can check out a cool video on papermaking and a glossary of common papermaking definitions here.)

You 'paint' by pouring pulp paint on the base sheet in layers. It's a lovely loose way of painting since the pulp paint is quite watery. You can also create specific shapes by making pellon stencils. You can be Pollockesque or Frankenthaleresque or (even better) do your own thing. The basic idea is that the pulp paint sits on the surface of the base sheet, layer after layer, and then fuses with it. Once you are done painting, you put all the sheets in the hydraulic press to get the excess water out. The last stage is putting these sheets in the drying box.

Below are some of my pulp paintings experiments. More to come for sure.

silent conversations
pulp paint on handmade paper, 17x22" 2016

rebirth
pulp paint on handmade paper, 15x18" 2016

degrees of separation
pulp paint on handmade paper, 17x22" 2016

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pulp paint on handmade paper, 18x15" 2016

PAAC 2015 fall studio internship

Exciting news. I have been selected for the 2015 Fall Studio Internship at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (PAAC). Pyramid Atlantic is a non-profit contemporary art center with printmaking, paper making and book arts studios. PAAC offers an internship program every semester. The program gives interns the opportunity to understand the operations of a non-profit art center and gain studio experience. Interns assist teachers and artists in the printmaking, paper making and book art studios, and help out with everyday activities like studio upkeep, exhibitions, events, workshops etc. Interns also work on their own projects. I'm really excited to be the Fall Intern this year. I look forward to working at PAAC with teachers and artists, getting back to printmaking and learning new art forms.

The first couple of weeks is an orientation to the processes and equipment in each of the studios. I am now learning the basics of paper making under the guidance of Gretchen Schermerhorn, the Artistic Director at PAAC. Fascinating stuff.

PAAC is located in downtown Silver Spring. The art center offers many workshops taught by experienced teachers. The beautiful PAAC building (a lovely red) has two levels. The lower level of the building has the print room, paper making studio, bindery, letterpress studio, dark room, screen printing studio, the office area and artist studios. Upstairs is the 2nd floor gallery and a few more artist studios. The art center is home to many artists and this brings me to the best part about this internship - the opportunity to meet other artists, see the work they are doing and learn from them.

Watch this space for weekly updates about my adventures at PAAC. Until then, have a creative week!

paac building in downtown silver spring

the print room - ready for the day

 the bindery

letterpress studio

stairs to the 2nd floor gallery

fabric for paper making

sketches and ideas for printmaking