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Paper sculptures

My paper sculptures include
                     installations of unaltered books, and
                     compressed and carved paper artworks.

​Sizes range from small hand size up to 4 tonnes.

Since 1994 I have created unique techniques for building these unusual sculptures.

Largest: a 4 tonne sculpture in the High Court of Australia, Canberra. Click image for article.

gallery of paper sculptures images here  
(gallery for paper clay sculptures images here)

My published journal articles on paper sculpture here.

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Short history

While an undergraduate I developed unique dry techniques for sculpting paper.

It started when fellow students donated newspapers in excess of that need to make my paper clay (mixing paper pulp with liquid paper), a material I began researching in 1992.

After graduating from both Edith Cowan and Curtin universities I experimented with different types and colours of paper in the paper sculptures.

I wrote a 2004 article for the Textile Fibre Forum journal on these aspects of my techniques, as well as my personal motivations to sculpt in paper.  Read it here.

An early work was "In Tray" (1993): a 2-metre-high pile of recycled paper. The work was selected for the 1995 Hatched: The National Graduate Exhibition, at PICA (Perth institution of Contemporary Art) Northbridge, Western Australia.

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Material research

Most research on the preservation of paper is based upon storing paper inside. 

The Town of Vincent allowed me to install this test work in a park over the hot Australian summer months to see how durable is paper sculptures. A sprinkler reticulated site which selected to accurate any breakdown.  The different documents and glossy magazines donated by Town of Vincent staff, the local community and The Language Centre enabled me to test various types of paper in the wet (sprinklers) and hot environment., accelerating their weathering.  Read more...

The original "paper man" ( 2002-4)

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The Arch 2004-2007

Created from donated  Perth Mint annual reports.  These are difficult to recycle, often ending up at the rubbish tip. The reports were drilled at Applecross Senior High School, and the studio.  New techniques were developed to compress the paper over the arch as the paper was re-treaded up to 20 times.   The paper was carved using the Arbortech™ Industrial Woodcarver, then sanded. The project was assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. 

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  2005 Commission

A commission from Queensland for 22 compressed paper sculptures trigger a frenzy of activity of the studio. Around 4 tonnes of discarded books (about to be be pulped) from the state Library system were collected. I removed their covers and Life Editions (a book binding firm) kindly cut them to the exact sizes required. Because each sculpture was 1.5 metres high, over 33 metres of paper was cut and I then drilled and threaded each. A gold edge on many of the books was preserved to add interest in the final works.

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2007 Work

The 2 metre (6 ft 7 inch) high "Pending" was created by compressing and carving 300 company annual reports, Royal Australian Survey Corps Topographical maps of Western Australia.  Originally created for the Southbound Music Festival in Busselton (20,000 people). Then it was selected for the week long Paperartzi Paper Art Festival organised by NewArts and the City of Albany, the work was displayed on the Town Hall Lawn.  Then selected for "Redeeming the ruin: Art of Consumption", a exhibition that will tour regional galleries through Victoria for all of 2008 and into 2009. Galleries include; Deakin University, Latrobe, Mornington-Peninsula, Swan Hill and Horsham Regional Galleries.  After all it's travels, it returned to the studio, where it rested, before  the base was recycled into one of the towers in The Kiss which exhibited in the 2015 Cottesloe Beach Sculpture by the Sea.

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​In 2007 I was selected, to create a sculpture for the 2008 Southbound Music Festival in Busselton. "Sum" was a 1.6 m high circle of over 500 Annual Reports, with two spheres made from over 5,000 survey maps on opposite sides and ends. As the paper weighted over half a ton, and tilted on a 45 degree angle, I spent substantial time designing the supporting and internal structure to withstand the possibility of some of the intoxicated 20,000 music fans climbing upon it!

In 2008 I was commissioned to build two metre high fungi infected paper finger sculptures for the understory forest sculpture walk in southwest Australia.

The Brain sell Project
Other 2008 projects include a braincell made from  5,000 donated books. With local help I built it in a new library, after which the books were sold off for charity. Images.

In 2009, the State Library of Western Australia commissioned a 2 metre high paper totem made of hundreds of children’s books.

Also in 2009 I construct a large (300kg) compressed sculpture for installation outside on the Cottesloe beach, for the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition which draws a crowd of 200,000 people over the two weeks.

For the 2014 Dublin Biennial, in Ireland, I researched 3D printers that print paper in layers, before constructing, shipping and exhibitions two, 2m high ceramic and compressed paper works.

As the Artist in Residence at Tranby College (2013-15), I created four outdoor sculptural seats from more than 20,000 pages of paper and 2000 bicycle spokes.

(More project may be added here, if and when I have spare time...)

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More images are here.

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Those interested in what motivates me to sculpt in dry paper, might read a speech I made many years ago (way before the disappearance of paper from our lives) about paper sculpture here.

Other reading for the more academic inclined:
"Dead zones of the imagination On violence, bureaucracy, and interpretive labour” the 2006 Malinowski Memorial Lecture, by David Graeber, from Goldsmiths, University of London.

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