Jen Cartwright: Artist Statement

jen_cart@yahoo.com / 615.594.7005

All of the sculptures in this body of work were created out of the same trilogy of materials: wire, handmade paper, and acrylic. I was first drawn into this type of work through the process of papermaking, which involves pulling a flat screen (called a mold and deckle) up through a liquid slurry of paper pulp to create flat sheets of paper. I still love this traditional form of papermaking and continue to use it to create handmade books, but I began to wonder if other, more sculptural items could also be pulled through paper pulp. Experiments with wire forms pulled through liquid paper pulp yielded intriguing results, but the paper--once dry--proved too fragile and was in danger of loosening from the wire forms, especially with handling. It wasn't until I learned to harden the paper with varnish and other acrylic media that I became capable of creating sculptural forms that are tough and durable.

For each work, I begin by constructing a skeleton out of wire, sometimes using crochet or knitting techniques and typically using multiple wire gauges to attain the right mix of rigidity and flexibility. Sometimes I then spray-paint the wire forms. The second major step is to "pull" the wire forms up through a soup-like slurry of handmade paper pulp or, alternatively, to drizzle the pulp over the wire forms using a turkey baster. The wire forms, now encased in paper, are allowed to dry and are then coated with varnish or other acrylic media. Since dry paper is extremely porous and absorbent, capillary action draws the varnish and pigment deep into the paper. Once the varnish is dry, the wire/paper/acrylic forms are durable, waterproof, malleable and lightweight. As a final step, I often sew multiple forms together to create a finished piece.

As my exploration of this particular process has deepened, I've developed a fascination for the way paper fibers interact at the microscopic level: they flow freely in water, then enmesh into hard, tight networks as they dry. I no longer view paper as an object, but rather as a substance--one that can flow and clump and accumulate, creating ripples and patterns reminiscent of organic tissue and cellular structures. Similarly, I've come to view one-dimensional wire in terms of its 2D and 3D possibilities and to think of acrylic media as a liquid form of plastic. I believe the intersection of these materials produces limitless possibilities for exploration, and I am currently working to create ever larger and more structurally complex pieces.