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| Self-Portrait with Cupcake, 2012 |
Many months ago I reflected on my new adventures with paper cutting and how eloquently it compliments my love of shadow puppetry. I admit that while puppetry is a true joy, I am finding my artist identity as a paper cutter. I am thankful for the feedback and support I have received from friends, family, and community arts leaders. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to show my work in the community. I feel honored that 4/5 pieces I have shown that were for sale have sold. That's 80% for you data geeks out there.
So let's start out this blog with the big thank you's that have been on my mind for some time.
- Thank you, Bridget, for lending me your self-healing mat so I could experiment with cutting on a better work surface. Thank you for your friendship and your inspiration.
- Thank you, Bridget (again), Levi, and Jen for being my creative companions in puppetry.
- Thank you, Jeff and John for for being the supportive partners that you are.
- Thank you, Jennifer, Noel, and Amelia for Beulahland (our first puppet show venue).
- Thank you, Ginnie. You have fostered a safe and beautiful space for local artists to show their work at The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes. Thank you for seeing my work on Facebook and encouraging me to show my work there. In addition, thank you for adopting my first few pieces in your very own home.
- Thank you, Alex and Raghav for inspiring and supporting more ridiculous adventures in puppetry.
- Thank you to those I know and do not know that have inspired, followed and offered feedback on these pursuits.
- Thank you to those I know and do not know that have purchased my paper cuts for yourselves and/or your loved ones. I am not sure if you wish to be publicly acknowledged, but you know who you are.
- Thank you all for being.
Reawakening as an artist this year has been an amazing journey, and I have not felt this "at home" with myself since I was 16. It is much more fun and powerful being an adult artist with patience and peacefulness than it is being an angsty teenage artist.
As I mentioned, this week I reunited with my first paper cut, The Intricate Mistake. So here's the story.
In my early attempts at college (studying art therapy, circa 1998), I attended Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, WI. I took a 2D design class with Sister X. I am not covering up her name. I honestly can't remember her name, but I remember her curly, gray permed hair. She looked like a typical nun. "Uh hmmm," was the sound she made every few seconds. At first, I thought she was expressing interest in listening or looking at some one's work. I realized soon after that "Uh hmmm" was a tic. "Uh hmmm, Uh hmmm, Uh hmmm," she sounded every few seconds. She taught me silk-screening and I remember falling in love with the Ben Shahn alphabet in her class.
Early in the semester we were handed two square pieces of paper, one black and one white. Armed with my exact-o, I felt inspired to paper cut a primitive woman. I remember cutting on my dorm room floor like it was yesterday. I remember feeling proud of what I did and thinking I would be able to make some cool silkscreen from it.
I returned to class and discovered immediately that I did the assignment incorrectly. I had made a mistake, an intricate one. I do not even know what the assignment was, but it was far simpler than what I had started to work on. She never intended to shut me down from paper cutting. Her feedback was that I did the assignment wrong. I can not 100% affirm that I swore off paper cutting due to that incident, but I can confirm that I never did a paper cut until 14 years later.
My friend, Matthew saw the paper cut and framed it in his apartment for many years. At my request, Matthew looked through his archives and found the Intricate Mistake this week. So here it is. A simple and very meaningful piece. Thank you for finding this, Matthew!
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| The Intricate Mistake (my first paper cut!), circa 1998 |
When I started paper cutting in June, I shared some of those initial paper cuts. The first one shown in this blog entry was originally drawing from what I remembered of The Intricate Mistake. I'm sure you can see the similarities.
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| First 2012 Paper Cut |
