Felting Paper

Over the past several years, I have been exploring hand papermaking in tandem with traditional craft practices by women such as felting, weaving, and embroidery. These are not natural or comfortable pairings: in this case, hand needle felting on prairie-grass papers made from Midwest plants creates fragile, pierced paper. Through these unusual material intersections of wool, dirt, dye and grass, I am thinking through these practices as they metaphorically transform in contemporary cultural contexts. I am inspired by the writer Anna Tsing suggests such unexpected “encounters” might inspire our imagination to conceive new ways of living in a changing world.