The Mind’s Eye: Natural Places in Paper
The Mind's Eye: Natural Places in Paper started as a public art project that involved nearly 200 Rhode Island seniors and CareLink staff members in the creation of handmade paper books during the summer of 2017. In 2019, The Mind’s Eye came to the North Country Senior Community in New Hampshire through the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, and reached over 130 elderly.
Inspired by natural places, this project uses paper pulp made from local plants to create circular book pages. Seniors are asked to think of outdoor places they have been, and something they enjoyed about their natural place, and create ‘paper pulp paintings’ in response. Their memory can be as simple as the ocean water surface, trees in full bloom, or the perfect blue sky. I also collect their writings recollecting or sharing their natural place. Pulp paintings are artworks that are made entirely of paper, by applying different colored pulps.
Once the paper is dry, I print their writings on select pages, and hand-bind the papers into the books. The books are suspended, and displayed in a stand-alone, collapsible and portable format, allowing the artwork to be displayed in many locations and spaces such as libraries, lobbies, and community rooms. This mobile public artwork is also interactive—viewers are invited to lift the pages to read the writings and view the pulp paintings.
The Mind’s Eye: Natural Places in Paper, 25 pulp painting books made from pigment, linen rag, cotton paper scrap, Japanese knotweed, Codium fragile, corn husk, each book 7 in. x ¼ in. and installation 7ft x 2ft x 6ft.
MEMORIES text (North Country New Hampshire)
PRESS
One Step at a Time, Pawtucket Times, July 2017
The Creative Process on Display, Woonsocket Call, 2017
CareLink Celebrates 20 Years Helping Rhode Island Elderly, Johnston Sunrise, 2017
20 Years of Linking Elder Care Resources, Rhody Beat, 2017
This project was generously supported by amazing assistants, CareLink, and the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire.