Practice 3 Studio Research from the Center for Book and Paper Arts Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue Starting in the Studios: A New Model for Exhibitions Abstract In the summer of 2012, the Center for Book and Paper Arts mounted Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue, which debuted newly commissioned artworks in handmade paper by thirteen artists. Leading an independent study, Jessica Cochran, curator, CBPA, and Melissa Potter, director, Book and Paper MFA program, worked with three Interdisciplinary Arts students, Elizabeth IsaksonDado, Hannah King and C.J. Mace, to organize the exhibition. Uniquely, this project bridged the Center offices, exhibition spaces, and papermaking studios: not only did the student team assist with curating, installing and marketing the exhibition, but also they produced handmade cotton and abaca paper to the specifications of each artist; this paper was used to create a project for the show. Curatorial team: Material Assumptions, June 15, 2012. This report describes the background and outcomes of this multi-layered exhibition project: what are the precedents for collaborative, commissiondriven exhibition making? What did the student curators learn about the logistics and mechanics of paper production? How did the use of handmade paper point artists in new directions? Center for Book and Paper Arts www.colum.edu/cbpa February, 2013 Curatorial meeting (left to right): Trisha Martin, Hannah King, Jessica Cochran, C.J. Mace, Elizabeth Isakson-Dado. Columbia College Chicago’s Interdisciplinary Arts Department was thrilled to collaborate with the internationally-acclaimed New York-based fine art paper studio Dieu Donné Papermill on our summer 2012 exhibition, Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue. To create an interdisciplinary learning opportunity, curator of exhibitions and programs for the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, Jessica Cochran, and I created a credit-bearing course for three current Book and Paper MFA candidates: Hannah King, Elizabeth Isakson-Dado, and C. J. Mace. They participated in all aspects of the exhibition including curation, direction, and hand papermaking production for exhibiting artists. Book and Paper program MFA thesis candidate Trisha Martin, generously donated her time and outstanding papermaking skills to the project as well. The project engaged the mission of the Interdisciplinary Arts Department, which encourages students to consider art in its relationship to practices, including collaboration, discourse building, and education. In the evolving contemporary art landscape, this approach offers new ways to shape and define the book and paper arts, and to consider their importance not only in cultural production, but also in historical and social contexts. Interdisciplinary Arts students produced handmade paper reflecting the aesthetic and conceptual concerns of thirteen individual artists featured in the exhibition. The projects ranged from large-scale translucent papers made from specialized fibers like abaca (a member of the banana plant family), to laminated cotton sheets with the thickness of chipboard. The work presented hand papermaking collaboration as an artistic exercise in and of itself, one in which the collaborator challenges us to consider where, how, and at what moment art is made through her ability to conceptualize and interpret in this medium. This paper production also highlighted the possibilities of the Center’s beautiful and well-equipped papermaking studio, one of just a few of its kind in the world. As part of student participation in the curatorial and organizational aspects of the exhibition, students created a blog and wrote curatorial essays featuring their experiences with the process, as well as theoretical and philosophical aspects related to the exhibition and their own work in the medium. Their work deepens the discourse in the field at large at a historical moment in which the relevance of analog artistic practice is considered in relation to digital media. It has been remarkable to watch students explore paper production, curation, and exhibition planning as extensions of their interdisciplinary art practice. A number of years before her untimely passing, Center for Book and Paper Arts founder Marilyn Sward worked with Dieu Donné founder, Sue Gosin and me on a program called the Master Papermaking Fellowship. It was a program intended to preserve and promote the hand papermaking medium as an art form through master and apprentice relationships at flagship studios throughout the country including both Dieu Donné and Columbia College Chicago. This project extends Marilyn’s dream for the Center and the field at large, and we were all tremendously proud to carry on that legacy with this remarkable exhibition opportunity. Above: Sheet forming on a mould in the CBPA paper studio resulted in papers that were specifically formulated for the exhibition’s artists. —Melissa Potter, Assistant Professor, Director of the Book and Paper MFA Program Installation view, Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue. Labor, Process, Dialogue: Hand Papermaking as Collaborative Model Collaboration, in its diffusion of individual authorship, places the emphasis less on the who and more on the what. For us, working together makes public a commitment to the process of exchange that goes on whether it is an individual or group effort. Most important, collaborating is more satisfying than working alone. —Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark, View, 1991 1 Collaboration is an integral part of hand papermaking in a studio environment, whether it is with master papermakers at a studio like Dieu Donné, or in my experience as a graduate student learning the craft as the basis for my own artwork. Many contemporary artists, like Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark, consider the process of collaboration increasingly important to a contemporary art practice because it fosters a dialogue that aids to a deeper connection to concept as well as to craft. As a way to focus more clearly on methodology behind the medium of paper, my co-curators Jessica Cochran, Hannah King, C. J. Mace, and I decided to work collaboratively, not only with each other, but also with the thirteen artists we chose to exhibit in Material Assumptions. We created paper in our studio that was directly tied to the concerns of each individual artwork, and through that specific attention we could provide the artist with a tailored raw material to serve as the impetus for their piece. This handmade connection—creating the visual starting point—drew us further into each artist’s intention; and as artists communicated their projects to us through proposals and emails, we gained a deeper sense of what the commissioned work would be, and how we would choose to arrange the work as curators in the gallery. Elizabeth Isakson-Dado at work in CBPA studios. Each stage of our collaboration became a complex conversation: choosing artists to participate in the show, finalizing the fibers to use in the handmade paper, weighing the choices the artists would have in finished sheets, devising a strategy to make samples so artists could easily understand the material, negotiating the need of each artist based on his or her vision and proposal— but, most of all, making all the various types and sizes of paper requested, by hand. We approached and executed these tasks with mutual responsibility, and the four of us quickly learned how to work together in a way that opened up the possibilities for the exhibition. It was a rare experience to work so closely with materials before the selected artists have made the finished work. Hannah, C. J., and I carefully beat the cotton and abaca fiber to the correct consistency, formed sheets of various thicknesses and sizes and chose the best method to dry the paper according to each artist’s proposal. The papermaking ritual became a collaborative model for us, and strengthened our relationship to the material through the labor of craft. My co-curators and I also engaged in a rigorous studio dialogue that shaped the final outcome of the exhibition, beginning at the material level. Each artist proposed working with paper in a different way, so our methods in the studio had to be flexible enough to change with each individual artist’s need. For example, we were acutely aware that the thin, translucent abaca we made for paper engineer Matt Shlian would directly affect his intricately folded origami forms. We chose to form Shlian’s paper in a large deckle box and then cut the pieces down to size, so the final product could be as consistently thin as possible. In my conversation with Ian Schneller, we discussed the specific need for thick, absorbent sheets of cotton paper to allow him to easily mold the paper into sculptural, audio horn speakers. We pulled Schneller’s paper by hand with a mould and deckle from un-sized cotton and created several extra sheets, An example of some of the paper pulp used to create paper specifically for the exhibition’s artists. Susan Goethel Campbell working with the paper made at CBPA. their intention, and hopefully, their connection to the work was deepened by our conversations with one another and our collaborative effort to supply our skilled craft. As Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark proclaimed in their artists’ statement for View, “In this, the work is both the labor and the thing.” For us, the process of exchange was the dialogue around making, and communicating that process from hand papermaker to artist to curator was integral to the success of the Material Assumptions exhibition. —Elizabeth Isakson Dado 1. Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark, View (Washington, D.C.: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, 1991). In Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art, A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings, compiled by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (Berkley: University of California Press, 1996), 625–26. Above: Matt Shlian holding one of his origami creations. in case he needed more room for trial and error with the new material. To accommodate proposals for large installations, including Susan Goethel Campbell’s matrix of detailed relief prints and Anna Tsantir’s wall of overlapping sheets of abaca, we had to dedicate an entire day in the studio to each artist and keep in constant communication about our progress. For Campbell’s piece, which required thirty 20” x 24” sheets, four of us worked at our own deckle box station to form cotton sheets identical in texture, with a fifth papermaker checking for the quality and consistency of the sheets. Tsantir’s proposal called for a large quantity as well as a custom size, so we built custom moulds that allowed us to form two sheets at once in an oversized deckle box, a process that took three of us to execute correctly each time, but greatly eased the total work load. Ultimately, the planning, consideration, and implementation of each artist’s request resulted in more than one hundred sheets of handmade paper, formed from 50 pounds of pulp, over the course of just five days. For me, Material Assumptions was an educational exercise and a dialogue through making that informed the final exhibition. As artists, Hannah, C. J., and I know that a connection to material is fundamental to the outcome of an artwork. Making paper for the participating artists brought us closer to understanding Above: Ian Schneller sculpting with the thick absorbent sheets created at CBPA expressly for his artistic process. Above: Elizabeth Isakson-Dado and C.J. Mace making artists’ paper for Material Assumptions. Above: Hannah King (left) prepares a mould and deckle; Beating another batch of pulp to make sheets for the exhibition’s artists. Installation view with works from the collection of Dieu Donné, New York (from left) by Polly Apfelbaum, Glenn Ligon, and Ian Cooper. Installation view with works by Susan Goethel Campbell (left) and Matthew Shlian (right). Installation view: From left, commissioned works by Deborah Boardman and Julie Schenkelberg alongside works by Jessica Stockholder and Chuck Close from the Dieu Donné Collection. Curating as Pedagogy, Paper as Dialogue The Center for Book and Paper Arts is perfectly situated within the Interdisciplinary Arts Department—our studios, classrooms, gallery, and offices steadily hum with graduate student and faculty activity; it is an energizing atmosphere, and we are happy to harness not only the students’ enthusiasm, but also their ideas and growing expertise. In January, 2012, Assistant Professor Melissa Potter and I initiated an independent study opportunity, for which graduate students could receive three credits for assisting me in the organization of our summer exhibition. From curatorial concept to marketing and installation, each student was granted creative agency in every stage of the process. I curated Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue with assistance from Elizabeth Isakson-Dado (MFA 2013), C. J. Mace (MFA 2012), and Hannah King (MFA 2013). Consulting with each artist, the curatorial assistants not only produced the paper, but also worked one-on-one with artists to determine the types, sizes, and fibers best suited to each project. In this model, knowledge flows both ways: our students are uniquely poised to share their sophisticated understanding of paper with contemporary artists; in turn they glean from each artist yet a new way the practice of hand papermaking can translate provocatively and meaningfully into ever-wider realms of art production and discourse. Artists have long immersed themselves in the practice of exhibition making through the creation of artist-run spaces. Increasingly, however, artists are feeling comfortable adapting more explicitly curatorial roles, within both an aesthetic and a professional dimension, hence the common use of the term, “artist as curator.” To that end, the impetus for adding a pedagogical layer to our exhibitions at the Center for Book and Paper Arts is as much about professional development for our graduate students as it is about artistic growth: professionally, I wanted to respond intuitively to the idosynchratic qualities of the paper fabricated for me by Hannah King. The cotton and abaca fibers hold gouache paint very differently, and I was challenged to remain nimble in my encounter with each sheet. — Deborah Boardman (see above and pg. 9) exhibitions are an important public vehicle for display, communication, and education, as we work to position hand papermaking within the field of interdisciplinary arts discourse. But for an artist working today, how can the collaborative act of curating someone else’s project translate into a more nuanced consideration of the way one’s own work exists in the white cube—and then in the world beyond it? Because we have placed handmade paper into the hands of visual artists for whom paper (much less handmade paper) may not be a primary material, the exhibition asks us to consider that handmadeness points not to a certain visual or aesthetic trope, but to realms of possibility. Generative exhibitions like this one, those that result in the production of new works, are essentially rooted in an open and curious approach meant to provide artists with support and resources to explore new ideas. At the same time, they leave ample room for chance, and in the process they complicate the role of the curators. Ranging from the most practical of potential issues to the more philosophical ones, we inevitably find ourselves asking— will each artist feel satisfied with her contribution? Will the resulting projects work cohesively within the space? What if the finished works feel unresolved, or unfinished? The same space, however, that allows for small failures and insecurity on the side of both curator and artist, also provides room for the extraordinary. The Center for Book and Paper Arts, like countless small alternative spaces, community arts centers and research-driven academic galleries, is a center that exists at a margin. We promote and teach complex practices that are often difficult to classify, and are non marketdriven and thus underrecognized by the art world. As such, it is our responsibility to create and offer models for exhibitions that foster experimental and horizontal flows of knowledge. In this case, from curator to student, student to artist, and artist back to student, we realized a productive dynamic in which, no matter how successful the final exhibition, the process is the outcome. Installation view: Works by Niall McClelland (left) and Annica Cuppetelli, and Cristobal Mendoza (right). Kate McQuillen, Skirt, 2012 Deborah Boardman, Untitled, gouache on abaca paper, 2012 For years I have I have been making my horn speakers from recycled newsprint, baking soda and dryer lint …by contrast, the handmade paper horns are pristine, stripped down to lines, and completely naked. Only hand-pulled paper can come close to this organic purity. —Ian Schneller (see below and pg. 9) Ian Schneller, White Hornlet with Abaca Paper, 2012 Dan Devening, Untitled, mixed media on cotton paper, 2012 Participants Melissa Potter Director, Assistant Professor Book and Paper Program, Interdisciplinary Arts Department Jessica Cochran Curator of Exhibitions and Programs Center for Book and Paper Arts Elizabeth Isakson-Dado Candidate, Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary MFA in Book and Paper Hannah King Candidate, Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary MFA in Book and Paper C.J. Mace, MFA, 2012 Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary MFA in Book and Paper Material Assumptions: Paper as Dialogue exhibition support Kathleen Flynn and Lauren Shaw Dieu Donné, New York Trisha Martin and Boo Guilder Columbia College Chicago Material Assumptions featured new works by the following artists: Deborah Boardman, Annica Cuppetelli & Cristobal Mendoza, Dan Devening, Susan Goethel Campbell, Daniel Luedtke, Niall McClelland, Kate McQuillen, Zoe Nelson, Julie Schenkelberg, Ian Schneller, Matthew Shlian, Anna Tsantir Additional works on view, courtesy Dieu Donné, New York, by: Polly Apfelbaum, Sonya Blesofsky, Mel Bochner, Nina Bovasso, Beth Campbell, Chuck Close, Ian Cooper, Matt Keegan, William Kentridge, Glenn Ligon, Jessica Stockholder, Richard Tuttle Visit the exhibition blog at materialassumptions.wordpress.com Practice 3 was edited by Jessica Cochran and Steve Woodall; template design by Clifton Meador; production design by Kathi Beste. Photography by John Boehm, Ahmed Hamad, Jeremy Jennings, and C.J. Mace. Practice 3 is available for download at www.colum.edu/bookandpaper Full-length exhibition catalog is available for sale or download at www.colum.edu/bookandpaper