Paper - PAULA DAMM

Paper

In 2018 I was introduced to Cleveland's Morgan Conservatory, the largest arts center in the US dedicated to every facet of making paper. It changed my life - that is no understatement.

Created as part of my 2022 residency at the Morgan Conservatory of Papermaking. All items (except the black "bullet proof vest) are made of paper which I made as part of my residency. Items were woven, knitted or built from my paper.

"laid out" 2022

by secondary intention - 2025

my communion dress, cast in cotton pulp

Reading is Resistance: A Tribute to Banned and Challenged Books - 2023 Best in Show, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati Ohio

ashes, ashes - 2025 cast abaca

Not Your Typical Paper Towel Roll - 2022

nowhere to go - 2024 Cast abaca into female form cookie cutter. Net made from spun tissue paper.

Made by scanning photos from my life onto kozo paper which I then joined and cut into a dress. 2022 Accepted into YARDS show, 2022

Que Sera Sera Dress - 2022

lost and found - 2025

manufactured koxo/flax paper - embellished with thread dyed with indigo and tumeric

Points of Connection - 2021 -

Johnson's Island on a wintery day, 1966 - 2021

The lake is woven with cotton, the birds and their bird trails are spun kozo paper

In my dream, blue gulls dive into Lake Erie - 2022

Watching for shooting stars, Lake Erie - 2021 in private collection

Sweetly called "butterfly paper" - it is created by wrapping string around old picture frames and dipped into paper pulp. this one is embellished by tiny pearl buttons.

The beauty of handmade Kozo paper. I love the fibers in these sheets. To some they are a negative, to me it reminds me of the plant it came from and the process I went through to make this sheet.

close up of "and when there was a flood, she wrote them again" - 2024

another cast paper piece, this time with vintage potholders - 2024

Memorial - 2022 - abaca with kozo wood as armature

moon river - 2023

Sunset on the Dry Fork - 2024 - hand spun tissue paper dyed with indigo