PAPER ALCHEMY

reflection → acceptance → appreciation → release

2016 was the year I started tearing up my own old drawings to create new work. When SSAC (now Steamboat Creates) released their open call that year for Palettes: A Feast for the Senses, I naturally wanted to create a piece in this new process I had been playing with. The collaborative nature of Palettes, and the opportunity to create a performance piece for the dinner event accompanying the gallery exhibition inspired me to share the cathartic experience I was engaging with in my Artwork Alchemy process. An idea of holding space for the Palettes audience to dip their toes into internal reflection/release and in turn, contribute to helping me create new work began to crystallize.

A major shout out to my co-creator, Benjamin Bentele, who not only answered my call to collaborate in crafting the audio for Tearing Transformation, but brought his grounding presence and vulnerability to the performance piece. We invited the Palette’s audience into a space of self-reflection - an opportunity to recognize a part of themselves or their past that didn’t sit quite right in their mind or heart, and to take a small action in changing that pattern. The sentiment being: we all have aspects of ourselves that we dislike or struggle with, let’s do something constructive with that stagnant energy. Audience participants jotted down their words and drawings of release on provided paper before bringing them up to myself and Benjamin to be torn and physically released in a communal act of catharsis - similar in concept to a burning bowl ceremony. As Ben’s thrumming audio mix played, our crisp tearing created its own rhythm as dozens of folks brought their papers to us, the torn pieces bright in the air under the spotlight, creating a lifting and opening experience for everyone.

Once the final piece of paper had fluttered to the floor, we gathered the hundreds of torn bits. My intention was to utilize these paper pieces in creating future artwork - an extension of my personal creative alchemy, now transforming the stagnant energy of others to create something new. Paper, as a medium, turned out to be the perfect fit for this. The nature of paper is to hold the energy of memory - even physically, if you fold it, it will forever carry some indication of that crease.

Thank you to everyone who was in attendance and participated - your risk to self reflect and engage with my work is still bearing creative fruit in my studio today.

< all the above artwork was created with the Palettes 2016 participants’ words/drawings of release >