New Installation for the Fitchburg Art Museum 'Paper Town' Exhibition
Ebb and Flow IX: Nashua River, 2023, paper pulp from water chestnut pondweed (Trapa natans), Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica), abaca, natural pigments from goldenrod, indigo,, natural iron oxide ink, black, walnut dye, 9 ft x 18 ft x 2 in.
I’m honored and excited to be part of the new Paper Town exhibition at the Fitchburg Art Museum. In addition to showing my sculptural works Rome Point Seaweed Constructions and Water Chestnut Series, I created a new iteration of the Ebb and Flow installations, this time based on the Nashua River watershed denitrification maps and its industrial paper mill history. For fiber, I used the displaced pondweed Trapa natans, which is a problem plant in the area. Also, it was a first for me to use only natural and foraged colors; I experimented with making my own dyes, iron oxide pigment, inks, and lake pigments. Look for an artist talk in the spring!