Columbia College Chicago Papermaking

In the papermaking studio (formerly part of the The Center for Book and Paper Arts) at Columbia College Chicago, Melissa Potter develops collaborations with international and local visiting artists designed to engage with Columbia College Chicago graduate and undergraduate students and volunteers from Chicagoland institutions to expand the discourse and artistic production in the field of hand papermaking and artists’ books. Past projects have involved Venezuelan Yanomami community leader, Sheroanawë Hakihiiwë, Alison Knowles, the Guerrilla Girls, and Laura Anderson Barbata, to name a few.

The online exhibition featured in the video here documents the collaborative hand papermaking editions by Venezuelan Yanomami artist, Sheroanawë Hakihiiwë. They were created at the Center for Book, Paper & Print under the direction of Melissa Hilliard Potter, Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago.

American Institutional Indebtedness (Behind the Scenes) by Jonathan Castillo was produced through an independent study in the Columbia College Chicago papermaking studios. This video by Cody Schlabach features Castillo’s performative process of turning U.S. currency into handmade paper.

Paper mask, by Rossy Peralta, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic when classes quickly went online Spring 2020.

MFA in Book & Paper alumna, Selena Ingram’s thesis work, The Fragile Morphologies of Pulp Bodies, made in handmade paper cast in her apartment bathroom.

MFA in Book & Paper alumna, Mirjana Ursulesku, Echoes in the Dust, 2019. Photo solvent print on vinyl, 60 x 90 inches.

Guest artist, weaver Monika Neuland Thomas collaborates with Melissa Potter to teach weaving techniques in handmade paper.

Student, Philly Johnson stands underneath the work of Andrea Romero, who created a mobile weaving studio for her train commute.

Student, K Lange uses Asian papermaking techniques to transform paper into fabric to create a performance wearable.

Julia Pastrana: Becoming, a zine produced with Interdisciplinary Arts graduate students and artist Laura Anderson Barbata for the course, Art of Collaboration designed by Melissa Potter as part of the Revolution at Point Zero: Feminist Social Practice exhibition.

Book & Paper alumna, Boo Gilder creates papel picado-inspired pulp paintings for Laura Anderson Barbata.

Creating handmade banana paper with The Guerrilla Girls to engage in activist poster making with Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary Arts graduate students, a partnership with their exhibition, Not Ready to Make Nice at the Glass Curtain Gallery in Chicago.

Book & Paper alumna, Kaitlin Kostus (left) works on one of Sheroanawë Hakihiiwë's edition images.