Paper, paper and more paper!

Don't worry guys, it's just the title of this particular post. I'm not trying to use that as my three influences.

1. Papermaking

So this big piece I'm working on is finally starting to take shape, still in parts but I'm getting a sense of it now. The papermaking process, especially in the scale and amount that I'm doing takes some time, but I think it's gonna be cool. I love making it because the process is so simple and clean, but to do it well and get it to work, you've got to pay attention to what's happening to each sheet you make. I just dyed a big bunch of pulp in tea this week and it came out a sweet color. I also love it because there is no adhesive, the recycled paper becomes pulp and is then pressed together in a new arrangement. The fibers kind of fuse to themselves. If anyone's intersted, maybe I could do a demo for class. Let me know!

2. The Buddhist Monks at IUP!

Buddhism is still influencing my work, but it's becoming less literal. I think this is a good thing because it gives me more to work with.

I went today and yesterday to see the sand mandala that they are working on in the HUB and it's awesome. Definitely check it out if you had a chance. While I was watching them, I was thinking about how my work is beginning to show references to Catholicism and Buddhism, particularly the aforementioned piece. It's cool because I am Catholic, but there are fundamental aspect of Buddhism specifically that I feel more attached to. Ah, identity issues.

3. Reflection on life and death

Sounds so serious, but this was a big part of my life this week, and it has become not an influence for my work, but rather an influence to the way I view my practice.

As was mentioned in an earlier post, it does become easy to take ourselves and our work maybe too seriously. It makes sense why it happens...we spend so much time putting ourselves into this that we want it to be taken seriously. But maybe we lose some of our ability to make good work when we are so focused on making it good. I know I constantly try to fight that off.