New Strathmore Exhibit Makes a Powerful Point About Paper

Everything seems to be digital these days, but a new exhibit at the Mansion at Strathmore takes a look at the artistic primacy of paper.

Wisteria by Melinda Fabian

Paper has a long history in communication and culture — used to record and share information as well as shape human commerce and craft. Hobbyists and artists even animate paper through origami, silhouette, and shadow puppets. These playful and poignant works of art, from large-scale installations to precise and tiny cuts, surely compete with digital works to inspire and delight.

Paper Works: The Art of Paper is an exhibit of original paper works on view in the Mansion at Strathmore from Tuesday, September 8 through Saturday, October 31, 2020. The work of artists from the Washington, DC and Baltimore areas are joined by masters from New York, Virginia, and Florida to display an assortment of styles and approaches.

There are paper sculptures, like those of illustrator Melinda Fabian, who creates picture book critters that live in her nearly life-size backyard tableau; Gina Gwen Palacios carves cardboard into sincere scenes of life near the southwest border; Marylouise Roach sculpts fine Italian papers into whimsical and delicate flowers, and Ronni Jolles creates landscapes by painting on textured paper layers. Ashely Chiang and Daniel Lai create their paper sculptures by folding and rolling.

Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler’s depictions of people and wildlife are created with small scissors, forming a tender balance between subject and habitat. Rosa Leff’s sharp renderings of city life are inspired by Philadelphia, Baltimore, and world destinations captured during her travels. Leigh Suggs’ work is a study in geometry and alignment, investigating cubes, triangles, curves, and edges in creating undulating or grid-like patterns.

Two contrasting collage artists round out the exhibition: Kate Norris uses images on vintage wallpaper and scientific illustrations to rearrange the florals, toile, and figures into what can easily be mistaken as broken ceramic mosaics. Jennifer Deppe Parker builds thin stripes of colored paper to assemble larger than life pupils of astronaut Neil Armstrong.

Paper Works: The Art of Paper coincides with the re-opening of The Mansion at Strathmore this Fall, on view from Tuesday, September 8 through Saturday, October 31, 2020.