Rivers

I transform foraged river plants, using innovative papermaking techniques to fuse watery pulp into textured paper pulp paintings—works that witness rivers in New England.


 
 
 
 

Big River

29 x 17 inches each, pulp painting from Phragmites australis, flax, pigments.

When kayaking the Big River this fall, all I could think was "it's so beautiful here." It feels like a place out of time, so dangerously close to I-95 (in fact you paddle through a dark tunnel under it at one point). The management area is a haven for endangered plants, and the river has a special hum to it.

How did this come to be? In 1965 the state of Rhode Island condemned the land and pushed out its occupants in order to build a reservoir. Environmental groups opposed the reservoir, and then the build never happened.

There's cattail, but there's also common reed (Phragmites australis), a so-called "invasive" plant. I used phragmites fiber that I already had from elsewhere to fuse paper pulp into these paintings inspired by the voice of the Big River.

My artwork acts as witness to rivers, a way for people to know the psychology, hidden ecologies, and histories of place through papermaking art.

 
 
 

River Reverence

29 x 17 inches each, pulp painting from Canada rush, flax, pigments.

These works evokes water movement, living plants, the play of light and color, and the changing nature of rivers—finding solace and healing alongside quiet rivers.

 
 
 

Blackstone River Suite

12 inches diameter, handmade paper pulp painting from linen rag, cotton rag, variable milfoil, common reed, Japanese knotweed, river sediment.

Explorations of dam sites and their materials, including sediment and fibers from so-called “invasive” plant species. They are part of the Ebb and Flow V installation.

 
 
 

Shoreline Studies

42 x 22 inches, handmade paper pulptype from Japanese knotweed, recycled paper scrap.

Based off of observational sketches of coastal and shoreline sites in Rhode Island, and using handmade paper from recycled paper scrap and Japanese Knotweed, a problematic plant species commonly found near waterways at these sites. ‘Pulptype’ is a technique I discovered, which is informed by both the printmaking and hand papermaking processes—it uses only handmade paper pulp, and results in works that resemble monotypes or woodcuts.

Exhibited at

  • RISD Faculty Exhibition, RISD Museum of Art, Providence RI

  • 5th Connecticut Printmaking Invitational, Real Art Ways, Hartford CT

  • AS220 Project Space Gallery, Providence RI

  • 8th International Printmaking Biennial of Duoro, Igreja Matriz de Alijo, Portugal

  • Baum Gallery Art Museum, Conway AR