INSPIRATION: Papermaker Gill Wilson

Gill Wilson's work with natural fibers and patterns..

KINDRED SPIRIT::
Yesterday, I was taking a break from prep work for my fall classes at Bloomfield College (beginning next week), when I came across the work of papermaker Gill Wilson. ...From the UK, I think, she originally studied paper making in Japan. For the past couple of years she has been creating work for clients in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Greece, the Middle East and Japan...


What I love about her work, besides the obvious connection to my "Snowflake"series from 2012, is her passion for the creative potential of plant fiber pulps, which she uses this exclusively in her work, "which are ecologically ethical and sustainable." 

Gill in her studio...

She says: 

"I use a combination of traditional Japanese techniques as well as processes which I have developed through my practice."

“Gill has worked with plant fibers such as yucca and flax, but straw is more readily available to her, and ultimately the easiest to work with. So currently it is mostly that ingredient she uses to achieve the high quality material required.

Once processed, the fiber is thoroughly washed, then bleached and pulped. She also hand dyes the pulp to produce a palette of hues and tones, from subtle natural to bright reds and blues. Until this point it is pretty much a traditional handmade papermaking process. But what she does next is apply the pulp solution onto her drawings.
 
““I use a variety of tools to manipulate the wet pulp,”” she explains. The result dries into a paper form of her creation.

The beautiful shapes are then manipulated into three-dimensional constructions used in different ways – some are stretched on box frames others encased in Perspex boxes.

She also uses other media to enhance the artwork such as the beautiful gold leaf delicately applied to the edges of the paper design in the main picture above”... 1


You can see additional images of her work and like to her website from my PINTEREST BOARD:  (click here)> "PAPERMAKER :: Gill Wilson"
1 Portions of this article borrowed from an interview on ARTSBEAT: http://artsbeatblog.com/arts-and-crafts/gill-wilson-paper-maker-and-artist/