Paper Pulp As An Art Form

Papermaking, as a craft, has been around for some 2,000 years, and this interesting documentary profiles three artists (the jacket erroneously says "four") working in different ways with paper pulp. Steve Watson specializes in making handmade paper from a cotton rag that features a wide variety of unusual materials such as fibers from blue jeans. Helen Rinke creates paper and then embeds everyday household objects into the pulp, paints over the wet paper with oils and ends up with some striking original artwork. And Jan Greenberg uses a blender to get a fine mesh of cotton rag to use for both her handmade paper and art. The program concludes with a brief listing of supply houses for papermaking materials. For libraries with extensive arts and crafts sections, this is recommended. (See AIKIDO: WAY OF HARMONY for availability.)