How do you make paper come alive? This flat one dimensional material comes alive in the imaginations of artists as they create using paper not just as something to draw, paint or write on, but also to sculpt, construct and perform with.

I’ve always loved paper. It’s a material that appeals to my senses; touch, sight, smell and feel. I discovered papermaking when I was in my teens and my dad made me a mould and deckle. When I joined the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA) in 2014, I learned about paper in a whole new way. Here were artists who revelled in exploring the dimensionality of paper, large installations, small artist books and everything in between.

I was reminded of how diverse artists are in the way they approach working with paper. It is a dance, an encounter with this material that speaks to you in so many ways. I was fortunate to be selected to present at the IAPMA congress in Dresden Germany. It was four days jam packed with presentations, workshops, exhibitions and Dresden art explorations with over 120 artists from around the world.

My presentation was about Paper as a Place-Making discourse, examining the way place, especially place explorations undertaken at a number of artist residencies, have determined the direction and outcome of my created works.

In this talk I showed how place can be embedded IN, ON, and WITH paper, something most papermakers know, but were enthusiastic about seeing outlined as a definitive method. I also added a fourth way that you can use paper to create a sense of place through ‘performing’ it. My simple chatterbox folded sculptures are an example of ‘performing’ paper.

At the end of the presentation I asked everyone to spend a minute or two using the piece of Dresden paper map I had handed out to them, as a performance piece: folding, crushing, quilling and generally ‘mucking around’ with this small scrap of paper from Dresden. I was amazed at what people came up with. One delegate took it on the tram back to the hotel and photographed it through the tram windows so that it fluttered in the wind to come alive.

These congresses are not just about sharing ideas, but also sharing goodwill. I always like to think of IAPMA as the United Nations of Paper. With members from Peru to China, Australia to Iceland, Mauritius to Cyprus; the microcosm of this paper world becomes a reflection of the macrocosm of artists on planet earth. I was so excited to see fellow Australian artist Winsome Jobling from Darwin, give her presentation Papermakers Save the World. Hear! Hear!