My first love - Paper

I collect paper like other women collect shoes. I have always been drawn to paper, first taking great pains to wrap presents, collect cards and paper of all kinds. Then I started making my own cards to share with my family and friends. As I became aware of mixed media, I found friends who shared my enthusiasm for paper. My good friend, Angela, however, has me beat in terms of collections. I have often spent many hours just fondling her paper while she just watched and smiled, often recounting where she found a certain paper.

When I first visited San Cristobal, Chiapas many years ago as part of a culinary trip with Culinary Adventures, I was fortunate to visit Taller Lenateros, a local paper collective started by Ambar Past. This is the room that I saw and it left such an impression that later when I was in San Miguel with Carla Sonheim and saw a book that was made from the collective, I shared my enthusiasm with Carla. When Carla stepped into the room in March, she was equally awed.

Our workshop there last month was equally as memorable. Carla and our gathering of artists visited the collective to make our own paper and, of course, bought some of their beautiful papers and books. 

While we waited for our paper to dry, we began our lessons on making imaginary animals using various techniques devised by Carla. It's always fun to see what she comes up with. I love artists who think outside the box and use materials differently then what they were meant for.

Some of us went a little crazy buying the animals sold by young children and mothers on the street. They made great references for our drawings. 

Here are some of our journals.  

One of the participants, Linda Gillespie, is a photographer and instead of making a journal with the rest of us, she made this visual journal. I hope that you enjoy it as much as we did. What a great way to remember our time together. Thank you, Linda!

Carla also posted about our trip. 

Below is a video that one of our students, Karli, made showing her finished journal. 

We also visited the Textile Museum and on our way back to Tuxtla, the Sumidero Canyon. 

Thank you to this new art tribe, for making my return visit to San Cristobal such a memorable one. Until the next Art Escape! Saludos.