From Paper to Print

I just returned from teaching a 5 day workshop called 'Paper to Print' at Women's Studio Workshop. Like the name of it implies, it was a hybrid papermaking and printmaking class. The first couple of days we pulp painted on rag, abaca, and flax papers. Later on in the week, we used those pulp painted papers for backgrounds for pronto plate lithographs and xerox transfers. My students were great and brought so much to the class! Some highlights:

The blender bike that Barb brought

Sumptuous food

and our amazing tech Terez, who is pictured here washing some freshly cooked iris.

Here are some more pictures of the workshop.

Artist of the week

Due to working at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, I'm lucky to have gotten to know and forged friendships with some amazing artists over the past four years.
Irene Chan is one of these people. We actually met for the first time over two years ago when we were both in an exhibition at Montpelier Art Center, and we carpooled to the opening. Time past, and we lost touch, but have recently reconnected. We try to meet up once a month and talk about art, go see plays, or just hang out and drink tea. Irene's pieces are smart, sometimes humorous, well crafted, and very provocative.
One of her particularly powerful pieces to me is a piece called YELLOWSKIN BRACELET.

It is a sculptural artist book to be worn on arm, and it tells the story of someone seeing a bright yellow bracelet and thinking it was the exact same color as her skin. Check out the video

Here is another in-progress piece that I'm particularly fond of:

LOOKJUSTLIKE BOOK
she will flip a flexagon book of Asian portraits that people say she “looks just like …”

To see more of Irene's work, go here

With a little help from my friends...

Lynette Spencer (new friend, papermaker/bookbinder) and I road-tripped up to Rosendale, NY last week to install my exhibition. We hammered it out in record time, leaving time to play around in New Paltz, have dinner with Ann and Tanya, and snoop around Hudson Valley Materials Exchange, before we had to head back to hot Washington, DC.
Thanks Lynette, you're the best!

Above--Lynette is hanging my paper branches over the stairwell. Just looking at this picture makes me uneasy.

Transmutations in Paper by Gretchen Schermerhorn
Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
July 2-August 2, 2010


Here are some more pictures of the installation