Please join us on October 11 at 5:30 pm for “Breaking the Deckle: Using the Paper Arts for Social Justice,” a presentation by Peace Paper Project’s Drew Matott.
Matott is a master papermaker with an expertise using traditional papermaking as a form of trauma therapy, social engagement, and community activism. In this presentation, he will discuss how he became involved with the paper arts and describe the genesis of the community papermaking programs he has co-founded, including Green Door Studio, Combat Paper Project, Peace Paper Project, Papermaking as Art Therapy, and Panty Pulping.
Matott directs the vision and strategy of Peace Paper Project, which utilizes traditional hand papermaking as a means of engaging communities in art practices which bring people together, broadcast their stories, and transform their fibers into meaningful art pieces. The project operates everywhere from private workshops to public demonstrations in order to perpetuate the art of hand papermaking while adapting to the needs of each specific community. Peace Paper merges its skill set of papermaking, bookbinding, printmaking, and creative writing with the unique practices and concepts of host communities as a way of empowering collaboration.
Peace Paper Project uses papermaking and the book arts as a form of social engagement, advocacy, therapy, and community building across the globe. Since 2011, Matott has helped launch papermaking studios in Australia, India, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Workshop participants pulling sheets at Kaghitane Hand Papermaking Center in Istanbul, Turkey in 2012.
Other local colleges will also be hosting Peace Paper Project activities. In Panty Pulping workshops at St. Michael’s College on October 10 and at Champlain College on October 13, participants will confront sexual and domestic violence by transforming underwear into handmade paper. Champlain will also host an exhibit from October 9-29.
Malala, made at a Panty Pulping workshop held in Eagle River, Wisconsin in 2013.
The presentation will be held in Special Collections at Bailey/Howe Library. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, email uvmsc@uvm.edu or call 656-2138.
* Deckle: a frame on the mold used to shape the pulp when making paper by hand.
-Oxford American Dictionary.