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Paper Relief Works. Catalogue Text. 2005
In the autumn of 1986 Janet Boulton in collaboration with the lettering artist Pat Russell installed a paper making studio at 48 East St Helens in Abingdon Oxfordshire.
In spring 1986 I attended a two day paper making workshop held in the Art Department of Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University). This was directed by the artist Carl Farrow who at that time was Paperworks Fellow in the Bookworks Department.
On the first day we were introduced to the basic materials and procedures of paper making. The following day was given over to experiment: dyeing, embossing, embedding, collage etc... I took my watercolours to see how the pigment would interact with the wet pulp. To my delight I found that the colour could be held glaze-like within the paper without any undue loss of intensity.
In setting up the studio I was very attracted to the process but there were no preconceived ideas about the outcome - just wanting to find out about this relatively unexplored medium.
The process is illustrated in detail in the AI Magazine feature Janet Boulton Relief Pictures May 1994. Simply described, all the paper is formed from cotton linters (I have not explored the many methods and materials used to make fine papers). Firstly the linters is torn, pulped in gallons of water, and then transferred to the mould. From there, in a very liquid state it is placed in layers onto the relief image. I construct the image in various water resistant materials. As in printmaking it is made in reverse but also inside out. When the pulp is in place it is then pressed into the relief. Once dry, the casts are sized and painted with watercolour. Recently I have begun to dye the pulp and am using the resultant coloured papers for collage effects as in the Bird, Boat and Emblem Series.
In the same year as the workshop in Oxford the International Association of Hand Paper Makers and Artists was formed which gives an indication of how widespread the interest is. In this country I know only of Carol Farrow (London) and Jacki Parry (Glasgow) using paper pulp in a committed way. In America where most art colleges have a paper making facility there is a more lively scene.
Thinking back, our needlework classes at school almost exclusively favoured Jacobean embroidery and appliqué work. I liked the raised effects of padding and embossing. Perhaps more influential in my youth were the many hours spent looking at art works in village churches, especially at St Leonard's Stanton Fitzwarren in North Wiltshire. This small church abounds in stained glass and carved narrative and decorative wood panelling. It also contains a fine Norman font sculpted in bas-relief figures representing the Triumph of the Virtues. Not so far, I now realise from the Metafora series based on my experiences in Florence.
Still life in watercolour is my foremost interest and I have a number of subjects to which I return over and again. They are glass objects on a check ground, shelves with glass and cosmetic bottles, and dressing-table mirrors all reflecting events connected with light, landscape and people. Alongside these preoccupations there are works inspired by my ongoing study of Little Sparta (Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden in Scotland). So far these are entitled Birds, Boats and The Roman Garden.
When making these reliefs my thoughts are never far from the paintings of Georges Braque and the collage and relief works of Cubist art. As well as the still life pictures of Giorgio Morandi. Disciplines other than painting ceramics, lettering art, graphics and garden design have also become integrated with my life as an artist. For instance, the unaffected freedom of Lucie Rie's ceramics, from fine porcelain to her 'potato pots', is an inspiration. I greatly admire the originality and atmosphere of the pots of my contemporary Elizabeth Fritsch and the colour and letter forms of Pat Russell.
Decades. The Edinburgh College of Art Newsletter. Issue 10 Autumn/Winter 2009 |
Scottish Art News Issue 13 Spring 2010 |
The Times August 2009 |
The Scotsman August 2009 |
The Times Scottish Edition 25 August 09 |
The Oxford Times July 30 2009 |
The Spectator Review 15 August 2009 |
The Spectator Review 18 August 2007 |
Oxford Times Review 2006 |
The Spectator Review 2005 |
Paper Relief Works CATALOGUE TEXT |
All images on this website are copyright Janet Boulton and cannot be saved or reproduced without permission