PaperWorks: The Art and Science of an Extraordinary Material

www.berkshiremuseum.org

“The exhibition is part of the year-long recognition of the Museum’s 110th anniversary. Berkshire Museum was founded by Zenas Crane, a third-generation papermaker whose descendants are still making fine paper in the Berkshires. In fact, the portion of the exhibition that explores the history of paper around the world includes objects loaned by the Crane Museum of Papermaking.

The ways paper can be part of art-making are endless: it can be folded and twisted; it can be pierced or cut; it can be pulped and molded. Paper can be used as commonplace wrapping or packaging or as a green material in sustainable design; it can be engineered for use in exacting technology or hand-crafted into a rustic journal. PaperWorks includes delicate origami pieces, large-scale sculptures, re-purposed books, green design, works in vivid color or pure white, with every object telling a story.

Among the numerous artists represented in PaperWorks are sculptors, engineers, and technicians who manipulate, transform, and re-invent paper. Participating artists include Hina Aoyama, Dai Ban, Jaq Belcher, Doug Beube, Brian Chan, Beatrice Coron, Andrea Dezsö, Erik and Martin Demaine, Brian Dettmer, Eric Drury, Nick Georgiou, David Graas, Dylan Graham, Li Hongbo, Tina Hovsepian, Samantha Huang, Paul Jackson, Michael LaFosse, Guy Laramee, James A. Meyer, Yoshinobu Miyamoto, Daniel Murphy, Calvin Nicholls, Michele Oka Doner, Isaac Salazar, Matthew Shlian, Kiff Slemmons, Jen Stark, Richard Sweeney, Annie Vought, Thomas Witte, and Ian Wright. The exhibition includes cut-paper animation videos by award-winning artist Michel Ocelot as well as video works by Michael Crozier, Steven Briand, Zhe Zhang, and Simon Griesser of Salon Alpin.

In addition, unique and surprising objects made from paper include a nineteenth-century paper boat, paper dresses from the 1970s, exquisite Asian fans, cut-paper Aztec icons, jewelry, lighting, and furniture. Examples of unique and specialty papers have been provided by Onyx Specialty Papers and Potsdam Specialty Paper.”