Paperwork can be fun!

Excavation No. 1, 23 x 30 inches, ©2013 Deidre Adams
Handmade paper (cotton, abaca, and daylily fibers), pattern tissue, rayon thread, ink, acrylic paint

I have started another series I’m really excited about. This work started as just some experimentations, and it’s really still at that stage. But I’m having so much fun doing them, and after all, isn’t that a large part of what making art is all about? I’m still sorting out my thoughts regarding what these pieces are about, and I don’t even remember now what gave me the idea to do it other than seeing some things around my studio and challenging myself to figure out new ways to use them. It’s a process of layering lots of disparate kinds of paper, stitching them all together, and then going back with an X-acto knife and peeling back the layers to reveal different areas.

I’m inspired by a lot of things here: My photos of old walls with peeling stuff and layers revealed, old floors, maps. Not only that, but the evolution of things in a news story, the cycle in which day by day the layers are peeled back and more is revealed, showing that there is always more to a thing than meets the eye at first. I always love a process that involves both creation and destruction, building up and tearing down.

Here are some process photos:

And the next two in the series.

Excavation No. 2, 22 x 31 inches, ©2013 Deidre Adams
Handmade paper (cotton, abaca, and daylily fibers), pattern tissue, rayon thread, ink, acrylic paint

Excavation No. 3, 20 x 29 inches, ©2013 Deidre Adams
Handmade paper (cotton, abaca, and daylily fibers), pattern tissue, rayon thread, ink, acrylic paint

These works, plus other work from my Eye-Object-Plane series will be on display at the “Create” exhibit at the Lakewood (Colo.) Cultural Center through August 30th. More details will be forthcoming in the next post.