Paper Sculptures: “Celebrations”
8 ways of looking at a piece of paper was about challenging and training the eyes and mind to find new, unique and atypical ways of looking at a day to day object, or in this case the medium, which was an 8½ x 11 piece of paper. The goal was to manipulate the paper in creative ways without any additional props to form eight paper sculptures using any combination of techniques such as cutting, folding, crumpling, paper mache/casting, twisting etc. with the caveat of using every last bit of that paper as part of our sculpture, which meant repurposing the ‘waste’ bits as a part of the artwork/installation.
The last time I seriously crafted paper was probably over two decades ago, so I naturally reverted back to when I was a child and started off with some very basic methods, namely back and forth fan-folding and cutting slits, to see what resulted. I started this project in January, and so, the Lunar New year and the Indian Kite Festival were at the forefront of my mind, and that is what brought me to a celebration/festival theme. Some of the other techniques I used were casting, tight-rolling, cutting strips, cutting intricate shadow casting shapes, cutting streamer-like ribbon and, tight-rolling strips for winding in combination with some glue. I thoroughly enjoyed tight-rolling paper, it gives me a feeling of satisfaction and the quality of the paper was just right to then be manipulated into the shapes/textures I had envisioned.
Personal assessment:
- My biggest achievement with this project is the variety of techniques I explored. I didn’t have a plan, but since it was tactile, I listened to what my hands and fingers craved and my vision saw. As I crafted, the intermediate forms guided me to the direction.
- Rather than pushing myself to strive for perfection, but getting burned out and not being authentic (which often is the case,) I was happy I let myself do a few pieces that were not too demanding. Next, I have some involving average effort. The rattan ball, the Diwali lamp and the tree involved a good amount of work.
- My excitement around the photography was unexpected; I probably took close to a hundred photographs, and was blown away by how the photos layered a whole new level of artistry onto my work.
- The process around each sculpture transported me to a unique place of joy. The sketchbook was a pleasure to create as well – depicting each festival in a thematic way, along with a work that did not overpower the sculptures, was a fun challenge – I did this through quotes, poems and my personal artwork.
This project resurfaced for me some fundamental knowledge that gets lost along the way: less is more. It amazed me how each sculpture made of a single sheet of blank paper looked like a celebration, resulting from the work that went into it. It reminded me that it was about the energy + effort + exploration + enjoyment, rather than the medium and quantity or even quality of tools. Immediately following this project, for my children’s valentine day celebrations we crafted painted paper fans and bookmarks: this was my immediate takeaway – sharing with them what we could achieve from simple materials we had at home, rather than feed into consumerism. I hope to continue thinking in this way.
