Masquerade

"Imagination runs riot", Masks worn by John & Eleanor Carruthers, 1957

'Tis the season for fancy dress and masquerade. The above paper masks were made by my grandmother for the St. Catharines Art Association's second annual masked ball, 1957. A newspaper article from the day reported on the event decorations including strings of coloured lights and giant black masks outlined in sparkles. "The lovely gowns of the ladies and the clever masks made an interesting and ever-changing scene as they danced or moved from table to table chatting with friends, which included two harlequins and a masked lady wearing a beautiful Spanish Mantilla" (St. Catharines Standard, March 1957).


Bird masks, Roy Caussy, 2007

These bird masks are fresh from Facebook, and were made by artist Roy Caussy. Roy is a graduate of the NSCAD studio arts department and was recently included in the Showcase.07 exhibition at Cambridge Galleries (www.cambridgegalleries. ca) Showcase.07 presented "a snapshot of fresh talent across central, southern and southwestern Ontario", with Selected by Daniel Faria (Monte Clark Gallery) and Ivan Jurakic (Cambridge Galleries).

Carlos Amorales

Carlos Amorales, Black Cloud, Installation view: 25,000 paper moths

Montreal artist, art history researcher and Leisure Projects co-conspirator, Susannah Wesley sent me the amazing work of artist Carlos Amorales.

Carlos Amorales is an artist working in Mexico city and Amsterdam. His recent exhibition, Black Cloud at Yvon Lambert in New York (www.yvon-lambert.com) consisted of an installation of 25,000 black paper moths hand glued to walls and ceilings. A black and white film documents the process of making this moth-ly night scape.

In a 2006 interview Uovo Magazine, Amorales was asked about the "chameleon-like" characteristics of his working process; which includes performance, graphic design, project and event production. "I use different means in search of the possibility of a message, maybe of telling a story, replied Morales, "my work is more focused on the process of the making and in interweaving different strategies so that the message at the end is linked to the result of these detours". "My work is very much about masking", explained Morales, "about hiding and showing."

In 2008 Yvon Lambert will publish a monograph about the work of Carlos Amorales with an essay by Jens Hoffmann and a conversation with Joan Jonas.

Hans Christian Andersen

Paper cut-out, Hans Christian Andersen, Collection of the Odens City Museum

Whoever could present the most incredible thing would have the king's daughter and half the kingdom. Those who were young, yes even the old, strained all their thoughts, sinews and muscles. Two of them ate themselves to death and one died of drink while trying to do the most incredible thing, each according to their inclination. But that was not the way it was to be done. -Hans Christian Andersen, The Most Incredible Thing, 1875

Like the stories he collected and invented, Hans Christian Andersen's paper cut-outs are strangely dark and evocative. Penguin editions has recently released a new compilation of Anderson's fairytales. Illustrated by Andersen's own paper cut-outs and with a new translation by Tiina Nunnally this new edition presents classic Anderson and lesser known tales replete with startling humour, cruelty, tragedy and comedy.

Lotte Reininger

Lotte Reininger
Image: Deutsches Film Museum, Frankfurt

Born in Berlin in 1899, Lotte Reininger pioneered new forms of paper animation in the 1920's. Inspired by shadow puppetry, Reininger developed highly articulated paper puppets to be animated through stop motion camera work. When creating her paper characters she "had an astonishing facility with cutting--holding the scissors still in her right hand, and manipulating the paper at lightning speed with her left hand so that the cut always went in the right direction", writes William Moritz (Professor of film and animation history, California Institute of the Arts), "If a figure needed to make some complex or supple movement, it would have to be built from 25 or 50 separate pieces, then joined together with fine lead wire". In her early black and white work she used multiple planes of glass and various tones of tissue papers to create variegated landscapes and complex paper spaces.


Lotte Reininger, Die Geschictie des Prinzen Acmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed), 1925

Lotte Reininger is perhaps best known for her feature length animated film Die Geschictie des Prinzen Acmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed) which she made in 1925. Her first film Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens (The Ornament of the Enamoured Heart), shot in 1919, was the story of two lovers and an ornament that reflected their changing moods. In both projects ( as well as the 20 plus films Reininger completed in her lifetime), she combines her sophisticated animations with well known fairy tale and opera plots in paper-cut comedy, romance and eerie magic.

Chris Natrop

Chris Natrop, Pink Orbvilivion, size variable, 2004
Five pieces of hand cut paper, coloured ink, watercolour, irredescent medium, thread, lead weights, painted wall,cast shadows

A shadow was thought by some cultures to be similar to that of a ghost, a flicker of a life unable to end for some reason. In many works of modern fantasy, shadows are often intertwined with dark arts and black magic. - Donna Akrey, course syllabus Project 3, ARTX 280

After a chat about the Paper Alchemy blog, Montreal based artist Donna Akrey (www.mobiusstripmall.blogspot.com) sent me a link to works by Chris Natrop (www.chrisnatrop.com). Donna has been researching artists works related to "shadows" for a studio course she teaches at Concordia University. The intricate paper cut-out works by Chris Natrop, often sprawling through entire rooms, cast exquisite shadows of flat architecture and flat plant life- a paper world that calls into question our perceptions of space.


Chris Natrop, White Mayday in Mustard and Gold, site-specific installation- Raid Projects, Los Angeles, CA, 2006
Watercolor and white tape on cut white paper with thread and nylon netting, 24 x 16x 12 feet

The Lenox 100 paper that Chris Natrop uses in his work has the 100% rag fibre content of fine art and printmaking papers. Natrop takes a utility knife to rolls of Lenox 100 to create his free-hand, negative space drawings. For Natrop, paper as a medium acts as restraint, control or partner in his cut-out sprees; providing an apt structure for his drawings' crystalline logic of bubble- orbs, butterflies, hanging gardens, drips, spiders and ants.

Projects: Emerald City

Emerald City, Meredith Carruthers, 2006


Model of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry Pavilion for Expo 67

Projects: cardinalia

The intention of my new paper cut cardinals was to adorn pine boughs in our apartment for the festive season, however, these sassy characters have been turning up everywhere.

I love the tradition of dragging trees into our homes for the festive season and decorating trees with birds seems only logical (for more on this theme visit the Leisure site at www.leisuregallery.ca). These paper cut cardinals are made from St. Armand heavy weight hand made paper. The design is a simple two piece pattern, with the wing piece slotted into place without the use of adhesive. Dozens of these cardinals currently decorate the St. Armand mill on St. Patrick. For cardinal viewing and paper shopping St. Armand is open by appointment: 3700, rue Saint-Patrick, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H4E 1A2. Tél : (514) 931-8338

A few years ago while attending a millinery workshop at the Stratford festival, I visited the Gerard Brender à Brandis studio. The cardinal print that I purchased is a very modest but quirky example of work by this master of wood engraving. The Brender à Brandis studio is open to the public six months a year and is a picturesque paper fantasy of hand-marbled papers, meticulously prepared box-wood engraving blocks and impeccable hand presses. For more information on Gerard Brender à Brandis see Endgrain Editions One: Gerard Brender à Brandis at www.barbarianpress.com, or Wood, Ink & Paper published by the Canadian literary press Porcupine's Quill (www.sentex.net/~pql/)

Caught up in the wave of cardinalia, Doug brought home this cardinal adorned Hilroy "alouette" note pad. Hilroy, (now a division of Meade Corporation) has been manufacturing envelopes and school supplies since the early seventies. Available through Hilroy are difficult to procure paper items such as onion skin notepads, 1/2 ruled 1/2 plain notebooks, and the unforgettable CANADA Exercise books/ cahiers d'exercices. The "alouette" assorted colour pad is a curiosity not just because of its amazing graphics but also as it appears to contain buff taupe paper through-out.

Dennison Flower Outfits

Crepe Paper Flowers, Dennison Flower Book, 1963

"Haven't you often wished you could have colourful bouquet's of flowers to brighten som dark corner of your home no matter what the season of the year? Well, you can have them very easily if you make them yourself with Dennison Crepe Paper."- Dennison, 1963

I am crazy for paper flowers. The pattern that I use most often is a paper carnation (see corsages/ floats & paper swan). Carnations are easy to produce in large numbers and great for boutonnières. The carnations frilled edge is made by cutting tissue paper circles with pinking shears, the circles are threaded on a pipe-cleaner, wrapped in place with florist tape - et voila! I found this simple how-to through Martha Stewart, but have more recently been collecting paper flower manuals and "outfits" (kits) produced by the Dennison Manufacturing Company (now merged with Avery).


Crepe Paper "Flower Outfits", box exterior (left), contents of kit (right), Dennison Manufacturing, c.1930

Dennison Manufacturing Co. produced a wide variety of paper products and novelites, including paper tags, gummed paper labels for surface mail and holiday decoration, paper dolls, parasols, fans as well as a range of crepe paper sets, kits and how-to manuals. The kits, like the "Flower outfits" pictured above came in illustrated boxes and contained pre-cut and measured crepe paper pieces. At the turn of the century Denison's popularized crepe paper hats as both patterns for home production as well as a full line of ready-mades available at the Dennison shop. Crepe paper hats maintained their popularity throughout the 20's and the depression era 30's as a low-cost fashion alternative to straw and felt hats. These hats made of mutipe layers of crepe or patterned tissues could be worn, "at evening parties; costume parties; church, school and society entertainments, they can be worn anywhere, in theatricals, outdoor fetes, and country clubs." -Dennison, 1907

Vintage Dennison papers can still be found at antique specialty stores or occasionally through ebay. The range of colours is deluxe and impressive, the papers have romantic colour names like Primrose-buttercup Yellow, Moss-leaf Green and Royal-purple Orchid. For ease with more complicated constructions Dennison also engineered "Duplex Crepe Paper" a laminated crepe paper with different colored sides.

Projects: Giant corsages, miniature parade floats

In 2006 I was invited by Anne Cibola and Claire Eckert to participate in the annual back-alley-garage exhibition Alley Jaunt. "For one summer weekend, the back alley garages surrounding Trinity Bellwoods Park are transformed into art exhibits, installations, performance, and film/video venues" (www.alleyjaunt.com). For the 2006 edition of Alley Jaunt, Anne and Claire curated a thematic section of the event under the theme of "Give". In Give! artists investigated, "the dynamics of gift-giving as a concept, creative statement and mode of operation for subversion, intervention and connection. Gifts may be ephemeral or physical, an action or an object, articulated as street actions, mischievous interruptions, spontaneous interludes, or unconventional connections confronting the ways we practice shared urban space."- Anne Cibola and Claire Eckert


Meredith Carruthers Giant corsages/miniature parade floats, 2006

My contribution to Give! was a series of sculptures titled Giant corsages/miniature parade floats. These mini-sculptural installations were inspired by celebration ephemera; decorative interventions and brightly coloured clusters that inspire for the duration of an event, transporting participants into an atmosphere of fantasy. Installed on exhibition visitors, the corsages/ floats provoked a similar moment of transformation in the back alleys of Toronto, creating a surreal prom experience or rambling parade in this unexpected setting. Scaled to fit the body as opposed to a delicate wrist or lapel, the corsages took on the proportion of small gardens or topiary, changing the wearer’s perception of familiar spaces.

Meredith Carruthers Giant corsages/miniature parade floats, 2006

Projects: Illumination Escapade at the Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's University

Illumination Escapade, handbooks of flora & fauna from the collections of Bishop's University
Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's University
Photo: Francois Lafrance

Illumination Escapade was my first solo curatorial effort and began in the rare book storage of Bishop's University library. The wealth of Victorian illustrated books in the library's collection included, mammalia, juvenalia, natural and social history. Some highlights from the collection included, hand coloured plates in ladies illustrated magazines from the 1840-60s, Aubrey Beardsley illustrations published in the 1890s, Alice Adventure's with original engravings by John Tenniel [18-?], handbooks of shells, ferns and the "Freaks and Marvels of Plant Life".

Illumination Escapade, works by Cynthia Touchette (left) and Amber Albrecht (right)

Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's University
Photo: Francois Lafrance

It was a great pleasure to continue my investigation of the Eastern Townships with studio visits with local artists, whose artworks in one way or another engaged with the idea of narrative illustration. Included in the exhibition were artists residing in the Townships such as

Holly King, Lyne Lapointe, Brigitte Roy, Cynthia Touchette and Michel Veltkamp accompanied by artists from Montreal and Ontario: Amber Albrecht, Katie Dutton, Logan MacDonald, Michele Peress, Brigitte Roy and Cybele Young.

Illumination Escapade, books from the projet MOBILIVRE- BOOKMOBILE project (collection of Artexte)
Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's University
Photo: Francois Lafrance

The inclusion of portable archives and artist projects such as projet MOBILIVRE- BOOKMOBILEproject, The McCleave Gallery of Fine Art, eyelevelgallery: Paperwork project and Mike Patten’s online “Celebrity” archive, rounded out the ambulatory, escapade nature of the exhibition.

For more information about Illumination Escapade visit the website of the Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop's University (www.ubishops.ca), guidebooks of the exhibition are available through abcartbooks (www.abcartbookscanada.com)

Projects: peach paper swan

Landscape with Swan was an exhibition in the storefront of Montreal's minimalist stationery shop Papetrie Nota Bene (www.nota-bene.ca). Shown in 2005, Landscape with Swan was the second of Leisure Projects' collaborative exhibitions and displayed our continued interest in glamour and treachery. The exhibition featured a series of peach toned paintings of extreme weather by Susannah Wesley and my own contribution, a paper carnation covered swan.

Project: Paper animations

Meredith Carruthers, Still image, Will this Boat Take Us There? Branch, 2004
Photo: Paul Litherland

In 2004 my MFA thesis exhibition, Will this Boat Take Us There?, was presented in the Bourget Gallery, Montreal. Seven circular holes were cut in the gallery's temporary back wall, to create portholes or windows. Each of these openings featured a looping animation. The animations (originally captured on 16mm film) integrated a variety of ephemeral materials in a paper landscape- in Sky chocolate wrapper birds crossed a paper background, the paper leaves of Branch cyclically absorbed and expelled brilliant red aniline dye and the shadows of card -stock Trees were filmed on a Japanese paper screen. In 2006 the film loops and objects used to make them were shown alongside work by print artist Alison Judd at the Niagara Artist Company in an exhibition titled Trembling bog and the Image Terrarium (www.nac.org).


Meredith Carruthers, Flocons de neige, watercolour on paper, 2004

With assistance from the Gallery Articule special projects fund, CIAM and bindery La Tranchefile, Will this Boat Take Us There? was published on DVD in a silk-bound portfolio. The DVD and the watercolour-ed paper cutouts above are available through Galerie Goldie in Montreal (www.galeriegoldie.com).

Projects: Boat-dress

Photo: Bill Mason, National Film Board of Canada

The Boat-dress was inspired in part by our apartment view of Montreal's Decarie expressway and the Canadian childhood classic, Paddle to the Sea (Produced by the Canadian National film Board in 1966, directed by Bill Mason, adapted from the story by Holling C. Holling). The Décarie expressway is a main artery of the city’s transport system, Paddle to the sea charts the course of a small wooden boat through Canada's waterways, from the St. Lawrence to the sea. Uniting these pan-Canadian transport systems, I re-imagined Paddle to the Sea in a life size boat-costume to be worn on the Décarie.


Meredith Carruthers, Still images, Please put me back in the water , 2003
Photo (bottom left) Paul Litherland

The construction of the Boat-dress borrowed from techniques used in the construction of model planes, paper lanterns and kites. Balsa and bamboo made a framework for the paper maché body of the costume. PVA was applied as a protective layer to most of the main structure and a heavy zipper was sewn by machine into the paper bodice of the outfit. The costume remained intact on the highway adventure until winds caught the bow and stern in opposing directions. The slow motion collapse of the Boat-dress is recorded in a video entitled, “Please put me back in the water”. This video and the remains of the garment were displayed at the Concordia University VAV gallery in 2003, the video was included in a film programme based on experimental films by Maya Deren, curated by the Loop collective, Moving Pictures Festival of Dance on Film and Video, Toronto, 2003 and was shown as part of the Picton, Ontario film festival, Cinifest-Minifest, 2003.

Projects: paper party hats

Photo: Alanna Riley

Made from simple patterns, these mini paper hats conjure birthday party fun, with the grown up twist of lux materials. The cone hat design pictured above was a solution to the adult Hallowe'en costume dilemma- how to cheerfully participate in a costumed event while maintaining costume control for a quick switch if being costumed is no longer necessary. Doug & I sported the first cone hats For Ingrid Bachman's exhibition The Portable Sublime (The Portable Sublime Oct 31 to Dec 6, 2003 at Gallery Optica), Vernissage attendees were encouraged to come "in costume" to the event celebrate the Hallowe'en season. Even with these subtle additions to our outfits Doug & I stood out in a costume-less crowd.


Photo: Alanna Riley

My mini-paper hats became more advanced with the three piece tiny topper pictured above. The basic paper cylinder is accented by an upturned brim which adds a comical air when perched on the head. I elaborated on my basic design with the addition of Japanese printed papers called Chyogami or Yuzen. I am always amazed by the colour combinations found in these papers, gradations of greys and browns or poppy reds with fuschia & tangerine. The patterns of the papers form intricate repeating structures in bands, grids and organic clusters.
Many of these papers were originally developed as wood block prints for wall decoration and for ornamenting small objects like tea boxes and tins. Many of the patterns were adapted from the textiles of fancy dress kimonos, featuring "cranes for long life; bamboo for flexibility; plum blossoms and pine boughs for beauty and longevity" (www.japanesepaperplace.com).


Photo: Alanna Riley

This new round of more elaborate "chapelier en papier" was exhibited as part of the Joyce Yahouda Gallery commercial art experiment The Store (www.joyceyahoudagallery.com). In 2005, sixty paper hats were commissioned by Montreal's W hotel as part of their first anniversary celebrations.

Projects: crepe paper icebergs in hot pink and ice blue

Photo: Paul Litherland

In 2003 I re-used the patterns I had made for the wallpaper icebergs to make a new installation out of crepe paper for the "Salon Ecarlatte" exhibition (curated by Lauren Nurse & Maria Chronopolous) in Montreal. This series, installed in a shop front window was titled Crepe paper icebergs fading in the sun. The icebergs later traveled to New York for the "Tag team" art and multiples exhibition at the Tank Gallery.

Popular colours used to dye crepe papers, such as hot pink and ice blue, are notoriously fugutve, often fading in direct light in time spans as short as a week. Fugitive colour aside, crepe paper is a fun material to use, its versatility and flexibility have made it popular for a variety of craft projects and applications. High quality crepe's are made by the classic stationery company claire fontaine (www.clairefontaine.com) The Clairefontaine paper mill was established in 1858, in Etival in the Vosges mountains. Best known for their envelopes and machine stitched exercise books, Clairefontaine also produces a wide range of fine art and craft materials.

Also operating under the rubric Clairefontaine is an artist collective based in Paris. "Claire Fontaine is a Paris-based collective, founded in 2004. After lifting her name from a popular brand of school notebooks, Claire Fontaine declared herself a "readymade artist" and began to elaborate a version of neo-conceptual art that often looks like other people's work. Working in neon, video, sculpture, painting and text, her practice can be described as an ongoing interrogation of the political impotence and the crisis of singularity that seem to define contemporary art today." (www.clairefontaine.ws) A catalogue chronicling the activities of the Clairefontaine collective is forthcoming from les Editions La Fabrique, Paris. (www.lafabrique.fr/)

Projects: wallpaper icebergs

Photo Meredith Carruthers

Inspired in part by the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and in part by landscape painting by Canadian artist Lawren Harris, in 2001 I created a set of wall paper icebergs.

These hats were fashioned from blown vinyl wallpaper that I discovered at a local boyscout jamboree and rummage sale. Blown vinyl wallpapers are very popular in Glasgow apartments, particularly the student digs and tenement flats I had the chance to visit while in Glasgow. blown vinyl wallcoverings are deeply textured and resemble relief decoration such as pressed tin or embossed papers. The papers have a textured surface but a flat back, are very strong and versatile for sewing, gluing or multi-piece pattern construction. By building up the vinyl patterns with epoxy and filling my forms with quick set plaster, I was even able to make use of the Glasgow school of art design-prototype department to plastic replicas of my icebergs.

The hats were later filmed in the highlands, balanced on the heads of volunteer artists from the Glasgow mfa program. This performance/ tourist film was recorded in all of its golden-light filled glory on super-8 film, with special thanks to artist Gregory King.

Projects: Crepe Paper Turkey Hats

Photo by Susannah Wesley

While on an exchange to the Glasgow School of Art, in 2001 I had the opportunity to meet my future Leisure collaborator Susannah Wesley (www.Leisuregallery.ca). In what has now been retro-activated as the first "Leisure Project", together we created a Canadian-Glasgow Thanksgiving evening. A playful re-creation of a Canadian tradition, the event inspired convivial conversation and international awareness of Canadian festivities. As both catalyst and host of the event, Susannah treated participants to traditional Thanksgiving recipes, many including difficult to procure Canadian ingredients. For many event participants this would be a first and only experience with the unfathomable delights of the Wesley Ambrosia Salad.


Photo by Susannah Wesley

To provide guests with pink and orange crepe paper turkey hats I high-jacked production equipment from the SHOP exhibition at CCA Glasgow (www.cca-glasgow.com) Although not a real Canadian tradition, these hats added an extra air of distinction to dinner and were worn beyond the event as tired party goers paraded home in the night.

Projects: paper wings

Photo by Douglas Moffat

My continued appreciation for the amazing qualities of rayon tissue was manifested in a series of paper wings. Part mer-fin, part ethereal wing, the wings were hand sewn and could be worn in the style of a back-pack, attached by velvet ribbons.


Photo at Eugene Choo by Terry Barton

In 2001, the wings appeared at Eugene Choo as well as at the Lola & Emily store (www.lolaandemily.com) on St. Laurent in Montreal. I loved the idea of wings hanging on racks next to more expected fashions and accessories... pants, shirts, dress, handbag, wings...


Photo at Eugene Choo by Terry Barton

Projects: paper boas

Photo at Eugene Choo by Adam Neilson

In 1999 I was a new staff member at the Japanese paper store paper-ya in Vancouver. (www.paper-ya.com) I became obsessed with Japanese rayon tissue. Looking for the perfect accessory for the annual paper-ya holiday party I made a fluffy paper boa collar. Rayon tissues are translucent sheets often made by machine from a combination of rayon and sulphite pulp. These diaphanous sheets are patterned with floral, geometric or traditional Japanese designs. Rayon tissues and their handmade kozo counterparts are available at the family of Japanese paper stores across Canada and at specialty paper stores in the U.S.


Photo at Eugene Choo by Adam Neilson

In 2000, the collars were displayed at Eugene Choo (www.eugenechoo.com), a shop located on Main Street in Vancouver. The collars were available for sale and packed in boxes screen printed with feather-dusters.


Photo at Eugene Choo by Adam Neilson