Land Studies: New Work by May Babcock at AS220 Gallery
I’m happy to announce my latest show, Land Studies, a solo exhibition of my new papermaking work at the AS220 Project Space Gallery in Providence. It’s my first Rhode Island art show! Take a look at my new pulp paintings and sculptural papermaking installations based on sites around Rhode Island and coastal New England.
Installation view of the show. These are a series of 5 pulp paintings, measuring approximately 2′ x 4′. I used a base sheet of recycled pulps and Japanese Knotweed fiber. The black pulp is from rag, beaten to a very fine pulp. These are made entirely of paper pulp, but the technique I used isn’t truly ‘pulp painting.’ It’s more like a papermaking version of the monotype…
Shoreline Study #1 of the Seekonk River, 22″ x 42″, Paper Pulptype, 2014
This is Mission Espada, a pulp painting I created at the Picante Paper Studio in San Antonio.
Seekonk River Mud Constructions, 16″ x 8″ each, Variable Installation, Handmade River Mud Paper, 2013. River mud was added to the vat of pulp and water before sheet formation.
Constructions of Invasive Plants of Coastal New England, 16″ x 8″ each, Variable Installation, Handmade Paper from Phragmites Australis, Japanese Knotweed, and Codium Fragile.
Wintered Knotweed, 2014. These was beautiful, fibrous, knotweed plants I found retting at the river. I cooked them with caustic, and rinsed them with water before pounding them apart.