Cannon/Bullock Paper Works Invitational 2009

2009 Richard Bullock:

"CURATOR’S STATEMENT

Paper is a material with which we each begin a relationship very early in our lives. In fact, it is such a constant and close companion throughout our lives that it is very difficult to imagine life, nearly 1000 years ago, without it. At first, it is the colors and noises of paper that fascinate us, then it is the marks we can make on paper that feed a growing sense of self awareness and importance. Eventually we see that we can cut and fold and make something satisfying out of paper and this feels like a worthwhile goal in our first few years. For some of us, this simple series of accomplishments never loses its wonder or mystery. In my university years I became aware of Louise Nevelson’s elegantly simple flat paper constructions derived from her more

dramatic and large scale wooden assemblage sculptures. While I certainly loved the large and grand, the small and simple had their own gentle beauty. A number of years later, I visited Tyler Graphics in New York when Sir Anthony Caro was at work with Kenneth Tyler and his studio crew on his dramatic editions of paper wall sculptures. A decade later, Caro returned to Tyler and took the next step into three-dimensional free standing sculptures in paper. To see these delicate and graceful works, with his massive and powerful steel works in the back of one’s mind, is to begin to see the whole of the man and intellectual and artistic complexities of his life of statements and commentary. I think an artist experimenting with mediums foreign to him is even more revealing than studies and sketches, which I always prize.

Around the same time, I had the great opportunity to spend an afternoon with Isamu Noguchi at his Long Island City studio where bamboo, paper, stone, steel, string, an eagle’s feather and a small steel bolt all came together with the same elegance and grace one sees in Noguchi’s face and hands. Each carried equal importance and significance in what ever arrangement they were assigned – a lamp, a table, a small construction or a massive public space. His thinking was on display and his respect for all of his materials was clear. That day impacted my view of and approach to materials. In so doing, it elevated paper to the status of a fundamental element – it was, in fact, a staple and an integral part of our lives and our society; it was both man-made and inseparable from man. Arguably, man’s most significant invention and one unique in its magnitude, paper is also man’s favorite waste product and most abused resource.

This exhibition begins what I hope will be a long exploration, spread over many years and continents, of paper when it is in the hands of artists, of people with an enhanced sensitivity and vision as well as a broad spectrum of technical skills.

Richard Bullock"

Bullock, R. "Curator's Statement." Saratoga Print and Paper Foundation website. accessed September 11, 2009. http://www.sppfoundation.org/paperwi.html

Cannon/Bullock Paper Works Invitational 2009
Museo Gallery
Langley (Whidbey Island), Washington
Opened June 6, 2009

We are very pleased to welcome the 1st Annual Cannon/Bullock Paper Works Invitational opening Saturday evening, June 6th at Museo Gallery in Langley on beautiful Whidbey Island. The Gallery will open at 5 PM for Langley's popular Art Walk with a gallery filled with paper, paper, and more paper. The evening prior, the Gallery and the SSPF's Host Committee will host a lively bash to celebrate the Foundation's first program event with live music, delectable appetizers and Washington wines. The Host Committee's Party is by Invitation with tickets available at $50 per person. Funds go towards the Host Committee's Purchase Award Program to purchase significant works for the Foundation's traveling and permanent collections..

The Paper Works show is an exciting exploration of sophisticated art works by highly respected and established artists, made largely with paper. When Richard Cannon and Richard Bullock initially conceived the show, they wanted to include artists who have histories of working with paper in very different manners and to include at least three artists known for their work in another medium, but challenged to work in paper. It was also considered important to include at least one artist from outside the United States in order to insure a fresh line of thought from a different pool. As their International Guest, the Richards invited Chris Dunseath from Southern England where he works in a grand and ancient cow barn in the tiny "Restoration Village" of Hinton St. George, not far from Stonehenge. Mr. Dunseath has worked in a wide range of materials, but his paper work was very intriguing to the Richards and they felt it should be seen in the United States.

The "Challenge Artists" the Richards invited are all well known for their work over many decades in other materials. They include Inge Roberts, whose paper thin porcelain creations begged for an invitation in order to see what she would actually do when confronted with paper instead of clay. For Inge, the process has been stimulating and interesting. The results are dramatic and challenging and add another avenue to her on-going exploration of her established subject matter and vocabulary. They also invited fashion designer, Lynn Mizono, whose architecturally based fashion "structures" , like buildings, require human bodies in order to come to full life and complete form. Ms. Mizono found the experience both challenging and liberating and her paper pieces will surprise some familiar with her fashion design as they assume the opposing position of bodies rather than garments. And, they invited the highly regarded glass artist, John de Wit, to work with paper. Glass and Paper may be near opposites as an artist's medium. One is born out of fire and other fuels fire. One is known for holding a liquid while the other disintegrates with liquids. In order to address this challenge, Mr. de Wit knew he would not be copying his glass forms in paper from the outset. He also knew he would be tackling a sometimes strange material with an unfamiliar set of qualities and limitations. What he has produced is dynamic and monumentally strong and forceful.

The Richards finally invited three artists working very differently and independently from each other and each known for using paper, among other other materials, as a "main ingredient" in their work over the years. These Paper Masters are Danielle Bodine of Whidbey Island, Daniella Woolf from Santa Cruz and Seattle artist, Robert Yoder. Each is exploring different concepts and thought processes. Each is provoking a different discussion and approaches paper differently. Each has produced extraordinary and fresh work for this exhibition that continues their own independent explorations, but commonly celebrates the material, paper.
The Paper Works Invitational runs through the end of June. Purchase Awards will be announced in late June and those works will then begin a two year tour."

John De Wit:

"When I was invited to participate in the Cannon/Bullock Paper Works Invitational, I accepted with great interest, but I immediately saw that while paper plays such an important part in our daily lives, it is a material I have a limited relationship with beyond its utilitarian role. I have never particularly considered its constructive aspects, let alone its artistic value or possibilities. As a material so incredibly common, it is too often seen as a valueless material and one that we waste without much thought.

With glass, I have always treasured the material itself. Its fragility, its optical qualities, how it takes form and shape in trained hands, how it plays with light; these are all aspects of the material I know so well and regard with such familiarity. It is so precious, so beautiful and a worthy depository of creative value.

Paper, as a material, became an altogether different challenge. I chose to work with shredded paper, discarded newsprint and approach this project by taking waste and turning it into something of value. I wanted to create something that resonates from something so ubiquitous. I have created something from debris. I have built – out of waste materials destined for a trash heap – pieces that are no longer trash or waste; but objects with an intent shaped by a future purpose."

Unknown. "The Cannon/Bullocks Paper Works Invitational 2009." accessed September 11, 2009. http://www.sppfoundation.org/paperwi.html