Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Process of Paper

Saturday night I processed the cooked fiber that I had collected from the Minnesota River Valley and pulled sheets of paper. Below is some of the documentation of that process.

the fiber after 4 hours of cooking in Soda Ash.

The fiber after 20 minutes of beating with a wooden mallet
(shown at the top of the image)

The formed sheet has barriers built into the mould to create long strips when pulled apart. The texture of the fibers will create the visual interest and content of the books

Friday, February 13, 2009

Minnesota River Valley

Two weekends ago I traveled an hour south west with MCAD Alumni, Isaac Berends and MCAD student, Allegra Denton. Each of us went for a variety of reasons, but mine was to collect more logs for my sculptural books. Along the way I also came upon some nice reeds that I will make paper out of to create the pages, as well as the content. Here are some photos of that trip:
We really didn't see this beaver, but I imagine it was his cousin or close family friend that chewed the tree that we saw.
These are the reeds I brought back with me from the area shown above. In the past three days I have been soaking them and then I cooked them with soda ash for 4 hours. I'll make the paper today, so hopefully by tomorow it will be dry.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Transformative Object


My mother, Deb, used to collect souvenir spoons from places she had visited. When I was a little girl, she showed me this collection and helped me start my own and let me hang mine proudly with hers on the wall of my childhood bedroom. When she and my father would take us on trips around America, she would help me choose a new spoon from gift shops to add to my collection, and soon my love for both the spoons and collecting grew.
Now, years later as my spoon collection has laid in a box somewhere in my parents basement, I thought of my mother and how the spoon as a symbol is actually quite a unique shape for a metaphore of how a daughter is transformed from her mother into a seperate person, but still connected.
I created this spoon tonight, my mother's life being mapped out in the bowl of the spoon in terms of important years of her life that she told me about. The portion of the spoon that connects the bowl to the handle shows where we were, and are, connected. My life continues on the handle of the spoon, leaving space at the end to continue my life's mapping until the day I might have a daughter.
I hope to make similar spoons for my mother and grandmother (Jewel Seeger) and her and my great grandmother (Mildred Becker).