Fragility
The Sunday Paper #626
October 4, 2026
We made Floral Lanterns earlier this week in a workshop I held on Zoom to kick off registration for The Paper Year, my online membership community.
Watch the replay and learn how to make your own Floral Lantern.
The Paper Year is now open for new members now through October 10th. Click through to read all about it and join us. And please reach out if you have any questions.
I had fun putting together this list of 10 Reasons to Join The Paper Year, which I’m rolling out daily on Instagram during the registration period (Oct 1-10).
Something to make every month.Artists you’d otherwise only admire from afar. With the All In Plan, you meet and learn from experienced guest artists in live and pre-recorded sessions. Coming up: Peter Dahmen joins us for a Star Top Box.What we’re making next. A Woven Notebook (project drops tomorrow). A Star Top Box with Peter Dahmen. A Luminaria Chain.New to paper? You belong here. Every project is broken into manageable steps, with plenty of tips for beginners.Your twist is the point. The projects are a starting point, not a recipe to follow exactly.A paper community that’s active. With the All In Plan, share what you’re making, ask questions, and swap ideas with me and other members on our ongoing online platform.Come for the live sessions. Zoom meetings and open studios where you make alongside other paper people.A live workshop. All In members gather each quarter for a live online workshop. Next up: a Quick Stack of Notebooks with Karen Hanmer.The extras. With the All In Plan: surface design workshops, plus interviews with artists and suppliers.Participating in The Paper Year since 2021 has been an absolute joy! (Terry Englehart).—————————————————————————————––––––
I had the pleasure of interviewing Chauncey Foster on Paper Talk. Born in Virginia, Foster is an experiential artist whose work explores the intersection of collective action, environmental philosophy, and applied ecology. He studied Biology at St. Andrews University and has since worked extensively in ecology, conservation, and outdoor education. Foster currently works alongside Noah Mertz at we.grow.eco, a Northern New Mexico nonprofit that uses art, science, and hands-on education to explore our relationships with waste, consumption, and the environment. A central part of Foster’s practice focuses on textile waste management, transforming discarded clothing and fibers into handmade paper, books, and other functional and artistic materials.
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I also just interviewed Milcah Bassel on Paper Talk, and she has an exhibition on view now at the The Visual Arts Gallery at Kean Jersey City. Imaginal Cells presents her recent work exploring parallel patterns across individual and collective bodies. Through sculpture, drawing, artist books, and activated installations, elemental materials such as clay and handmade paper probe space, emptiness, and the ways in which form reconfigures under conditions of change. Named for the dormant cells that awaken during metamorphosis, the exhibition proposes radical imagination and perseverance, not as remedies for an ailing condition, but as transformational forces waiting to emerge. I hope some of you get to see the work and all of you will be able to listen to our interview (about this work and more) in about 6 weeks.
Milcah Bassel, Continua : Blanket (Refuge), 2024, Collective Skin: pigmented cast abaca fiber and participants, 3” x 6’ x 12’
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Is this your year to travel to Italy? Join Kalamazoo Book Arts Center’s Executive Director Jeff Abshear for Book Arts in Venice, June 7 – June 18, 2027, to work in book arts studios in the Veneto. No previous experience is required; all levels are welcome with introductory instruction in the studio. Create prints at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, a design school and studio focused on printmaking and artist’s books. Learn to set movable type by hand and print a letterpress book at Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione, one of the largest typography museums in Europe, located in the town of Cornuda at the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains. Stay in furnished apartments in Venice and a 16th century villa in Cornuda, surrounded by prosecco vineyards. Visit historic sites including St. Mark’s Square, the Accademia Gallery, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. All participants finish the trip with a copy of a collaborative handmade book. Click here for more information.
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Run, don’t walk, to the exhibition, Fragility, at the Menil Drawing Institute (in Houston, through January 24, 2027). Featured artists include Lynda Benglis, James Lee Byars, Gene Charlton, N. Dash, Robert Fried, Ann Hamilton (in collaboration with Dieu Donné), Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, Hong Hong, Čestmír Kafka, Lee Krasner, Tony Lewis, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Robert Rauschenberg, Mimmo Rotella, Susan Rothenberg, Amy Sillman, Adriena Šimotová, Kiki Smith, Leon Polk Smith, John Sparagana, Richard Tuttle, and Zarina. (I could link to each and every artist, but I’ll let you run down the rabbit hole yourself, or go see the exhibition)!
P.S. This area of Houston is a hotbed for contemporary art. I loved visiting this James Turrell Skyspace several years ago.
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In honor of my new book, Weaving With Paper, I’m featuring highlights from the book by professional artists as well as participants in my online class, Weave Through Winter, which the book is based on. There are 30 projects with prompts and each project features a weaving technique. Prompt #21 is Crossing. These two examples, which appear in the book, relate to chair-caning and basket-making. Below left: Caning Memories, by Judy Jacques; below right: a card design, by Kristi Galbraith.
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Paper of The Week: KyoseishiKyoseishi (kee oh ‘say shi) is a crinkle-texture Japanese paper that has a cloth like drape. This paper is treated with konnyaku, a starch that gives it added strength and water resistance. It is great for making book covers and even clothing and comes in a variety of rich colors. Washi Arts carries a premium hand-crumpled Kyoseishi paper (some papers have the crinkle texture applied by machine) that measures 25″ x 37″.
You’ll find a variety of colors here.
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In Person Workshops + Retreats in 2027The Taos and Red Cliff paper retreats are now open for registration; I am also enrolling for two papermaking master classes – if you’re interested, please apply!
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Featured In My Studio Shop:
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About our Sponsor: The Kalamazoo Book Arts Center (KBAC) is a nonprofit organization in Kalamazoo, MI, that practices, teaches, and promotes the collaborative arts of the book including hand papermaking, printmaking, letterpress printing, bookbinding, and creative writing.
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