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Memorial Library hosts prestigious exhibition highlighting papermaking, collaboration
Posted 4/3/2006
MADISON, Wis. -- As part of the 2006 Southern Graphics Council Conference, university libraries are hosting several exhibits, including "Paperwork: Books and Paper Collaborations," which is on display in Memorial Library's lobby April 1-14. The exhibit is curated by UW-Madison alumna and Wisconsin native Susan Gosin, founder of Dieu Donne Press and Dieu Donne Papermill in New York City.
"Paperwork: Books and Paper Collaborations" represents some of the collaborations in handmade paper, which began in Madison in the 1970s and continued for 30 years in New York City. The exhibition highlights the early and mature work of many UW-Madison graduates who were pioneering collaborators in the revival of hand papermaking and its applications in two and three-dimensional art.
"In the 1970s, Madison was a hotbed of experimentation in fine printmaking and hand papermaking," says Gosin, who received a Master of Fine Arts from the university in 1975. "Many legendary teachers such as UW-Madison Professors Emeriti Warrington Colescott, Walter Hamady and Bill Weege, to name just a few, encouraged cross-fertilization of disciplines and placed high value on collaboration in their own work as well as in their teaching."
Artists in the exhibition are represented by their art as well as by the work they have done on projects with other artists. Included in the exhibition is an early collaboration from 1978 between artist Alan Shields and publishers Joe Wilfer and Weege, created at Upper US Paper Mill in Oregon, Wis., and a second piece from 2000 by Shields created with assistance from Paul Wong for Dieu Donne's 25th anniversary.
"As the artistic director of Dieu Donne Papermill, Wong's artistic contribution as a papermaker, printer and book artist is evident in most of the work exhibited and featured in his own two and three-dimensional art," Gosin says.
Other art in the exhibit includes an early Chuck Close paper piece developed by Wilfer with Wong in 1982 and two more recent Close pieces also created at Dieu Donne with Ruth Lingen and Wong; a sculpture by Leslie Dill; a book and two-dimensional art by Richard Tuttle; and a paper pulp by Nancy Manter, which was created by skiing through sprayed paper pulp on top of a freshly made sheet of paper. Numerous other book collaborations by fellow Madison graduates such as Richard Barrett, Jane E. Goldman, Jane Hammond, Ruth Lingen and Jane Marshall are also included in the exhibition.
Gosin's various roles as artist, papermaker, book designer, printer and publisher can be seen in numerous books from her 30 years of collaborations with artists and writers. Featured in the exhibition are her books of Emily Dickinson poems from 1980, a collaboration with Colescott and Jerome Rothenberg from 1991, and a 2006 publication of William Kentridge's illustrations of Wislawa Szymborska's poems.
Before attending Madison for graduate school, Gosin grew up in Neenah, Wis., in the heart of the "Paper Valley." Her roots go back four generations in the paper business through her family connection to the Menasha Corporation, a Wisconsin business involved in commercial papermaking.
"I didn't realize the connection between my interest in the revival of hand papermaking and the commercial papermaking I had grown up with until I returned to Wisconsin 10 years after I had started Dieu Donne," Gosin recalls. "I was giving a talk at The Paine Museum in Oshkosh about contemporary papermaking in the arts, and I recognized family and friends from various local paper companies in the audience. I realized I didn't have to explain the history of the process to them because they were all papermakers themselves."
Gosin will receive the Southern Graphics Council's 2006 Printmaker Emeritus Award during the 2006 Southern Graphics Council Conference, hosted by the UW-Madison Art Department April 5-8. This year's conference, "Genetic Imprint," intends to blend Madison's instrumental role in both biotechnology and printmaking. Kohler Art Library is hosting an exhibit titled "Rooted in Wisconsin: Artists' Books and the UW-Madison." In addition to Gosin's exhibit, Memorial Library is hosting "Mitochondria: Wisconsin Women of the Word" on the second floor and "Lothar Meggendorfer & Movable Books" in the Department of Special Collections. For more information on the conference, visit http://www.art.wisc.edu/sgc2006/.