Artist in Residence
Artist Statement
Julia Goodman
Julia Goodman's website
Julia Goodman's Flickr Page
My artwork is an exploration of scarcity.
In a culture inundated with virtual communication, correspondence is instantaneous, weightless, and infinite. Aware of the social and material history of paper - a finite resource in generations past - I rely on its texture to re-sensitize me to the weight of written words. I am fascinated by three-dimensional possibilities for paper pulp and its ability to actively capture messages rather than passively display information.
After my father died, I felt the tactile limitations of memories. Flat surfaces no longer appealed to me; two-dimensional memories seemed vacant. Struck by the inability to touch someone after death, and wanting to grasp mortality, I began sculpting pulp while considering the complete life cycle of the material. I experiment with paper pulp: casting, wheatpasting, giving away, and accumulating layers -- either fixed to a substrate or suspended in space.
By using bed sheets to make pulp, I refer to a time period when paper was scarce and valuable. For over four hundred years, European peddlers would travel door-to-door to trade goods for discarded rags that they would bring to mills for paper production. By gathering my materials, my work reflects this resource-driven tradition. Sculpting with the material, I consider absorption, density, and mark-making. Wheatpasting handmade paper made from bed sheets in public, I temporarily transfer intimate and private moments into public spaces. I hope to bring a deeper appreciation and sense of wonder to often overlooked materials.
Julia Goodman's Flickr Page
My artwork is an exploration of scarcity.
In a culture inundated with virtual communication, correspondence is instantaneous, weightless, and infinite. Aware of the social and material history of paper - a finite resource in generations past - I rely on its texture to re-sensitize me to the weight of written words. I am fascinated by three-dimensional possibilities for paper pulp and its ability to actively capture messages rather than passively display information.
After my father died, I felt the tactile limitations of memories. Flat surfaces no longer appealed to me; two-dimensional memories seemed vacant. Struck by the inability to touch someone after death, and wanting to grasp mortality, I began sculpting pulp while considering the complete life cycle of the material. I experiment with paper pulp: casting, wheatpasting, giving away, and accumulating layers -- either fixed to a substrate or suspended in space.
By using bed sheets to make pulp, I refer to a time period when paper was scarce and valuable. For over four hundred years, European peddlers would travel door-to-door to trade goods for discarded rags that they would bring to mills for paper production. By gathering my materials, my work reflects this resource-driven tradition. Sculpting with the material, I consider absorption, density, and mark-making. Wheatpasting handmade paper made from bed sheets in public, I temporarily transfer intimate and private moments into public spaces. I hope to bring a deeper appreciation and sense of wonder to often overlooked materials.
- Residency Period: October 2012 - January 2013
- Art Show: Friday, January 25, 2013 & Saturday, January 26, 2013