About

I’m May Babcock, a papermaking artist using natural materials in New England. I grew up in rural Connecticut surrounded by forests, rivers and ponds, vegetable and flower gardens. I received scholarships to attend the University of Connecticut for a BFA in painting and printmaking, and went to Louisiana State University for my MFA and to learn papermaking.

As a multiracial artist of Taiwanese Chinese descent I never felt like I quite belonged. Exploring places such as rivers and beaches is a search for belonging, plant fibers, and connection with place.

Artist Statement

I’m a papermaking artist who uses foraged natural materials, bringing the voice of New England ecologies, waterways, and place into contemporary art.

I begin by sketching and researching specific watersheds and rivers, estuaries and shorelines. From each site, I collect abundant plants, seaweed, and sediment. As a multiracial artist of Taiwanese Chinese descent, witnessing place is a search for belonging. Working with so-called “invasive” plants creates connection too—they are resilient species from elsewhere that have adapted to thrive in already distressed sites.

In the studio, plants transform into paper. Innovative papermaking techniques fuse the watery fibers into paintings and sculptures. On site, the same natural materials become Earthworks and installations. This ecological art expresses the psychologies, flora, human histories, industrialization, and material realities of place.

Select Exhibitions + Public Art

RISD Museum of Art, Fitchburg Art Museum, New Bedford Whaling Museum, The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, The Center for Book Arts, Danforth Art Museum, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Louisiana State Museum, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, URI Providence Campus Gallery, Society of Arts & Crafts, World’s Fair Gallery. Public art: Brown University, Illinois State Museum, T.F. Green International Airport, the Rhode Island State House, Providence City Hall.

Education 

M.F.A. Louisiana State University, B.F.A. University of Connecticut (Summa Cum Laude)

Collections 

Boston Athenaeum, RISD Museum, Winifred Ross Reily Collection, AC Hotel Madison, Private collections.

Teaching

Rhode Island School of Design, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Brown University, Penland School of Crafts, Women's Studio Workshop, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Select Press + Publications

Art New England, Hand Papermaking Magazine, Rhode Island Monthly, International Association for Great Lakes Research, Motif Magazine, Providence Art & Letters, Cyanotype: The Blueprint in Contemporary Practice.

Select Awards

New England Foundation for the Arts Public Art Learning Grant, Citizen Citation for Environmental Education from the Mayor of Providence RI, National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellowship, NEA Our Town Grant unLOCK, Brown Arts Initiative Annual Mural Grant, Rhode Island Environmental Education Association Annual Summit Keynote Speaker, Rhode Island State Council for the Arts Project Grant, White Mountain National Forest Artist in Residence, Salve Regina University Artist in Residence, Cape Cod National Seashore / Peaked Hill Trust Artist in Residence, Guadalupe Mountains National Park Artist in Residence, Spring Island Artist in Residence, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Artist in Residence.

Outside the Studio

I was guest editor for the ‘Ecology and Paper’ issue of Hand Papermaking magazine.

I love plants (can’t you tell?), and am a URI Master Gardener and a Certified Invasive Plant Manager.

Main hobby: telling my partner how healthy lentils are every time we eat lentils.

You may also know me as the founder of Paperslurry.com.

For further reading:

• Read my Master’s Thesis, Latent Landscape

• Take a look at my full CV if you dare

• View reviews and press

Each series in my portfolio has more you can explore.