Blackstone River Suite

A group of 24 circular handmade papers and cyanotypes, created in response to the nearby Blackstone River that spans from Massachusetts into Rhode Island, its industrial textile history, plant ecologies, and current status. I began by researching the areas history and visiting 7 different dam sites along the river where I sketched, photographed, and collected shoreline sediment and problematic plant species for paper fiber.

Blackstone River Suite acts as a type of taxonomy of the sites and the installation Ebb and Flow V. Cyanotype prints with text and imagery identify dam sites, fibers, and plant species, while river mud papers and pulp paintings are explorations of the material.

Blackstone River Suite, 4.5 ft x 15 ft., 24 prints at 12” diameter, Cyanotype, pulp painting, handmade paper from linen rag, cotton rag, variable milfoil, common reed, Japanese knotweed, river sediment. 2018.

• Exhibited at Machines with Magnets Gallery, Pawtucket RI

• Support the Blackstone River Watershed Council, whose mission is to “restore, enhance and preserve the physical, historical and cultural integrity of the Blackstone River, its watershed and its eco-system, through public advocacy, education, recreation, stewardship and the promotion of our unique Blackstone Valley resource.”