Paper Pleasures workshop

The Paper Pleasures workshop held in May with Oliver Kent was a great success. The aim of the afternoon was to select objects from amongst the ceramics collection and to look at ways of remaking them in paper and card. The aim was not so much to make a paper replica but to look closely at the object and appreciate it as a form. Changing the material changes the object and the resulting paper sculptures have a life of their own.

We started by exploring the shelves of the Collection store to find interesting pots to work with. It’s always a treat to have the opportunity to see and handle work by respected makers and something the Stradling Collection like to be able to make possible.

We chose pots that had shapes that we thought we could try to replicate with paper, card, tape and glue. People tended to choose angular shapes because they look more readily translatable. We soon found that wasn’t always the case. Oliver showed us how to make a range of basic geometric shapes and various ways of attaching them to each other.

By the end of the session, some of the pieces we had made were very close to their pots; others had grown into new things with their own character. We even considered ways of making them hold water!

Anon