March 16, 2006

Anna Williamson, left, and Madeleine Romage dipped screens into water and pulp to make paper during an arts residency with Beth Holyoke at the Antioch School last week.

By Diane Chiddister

Some people might think of paper as boring. Some people might think paper is nothing more than sheets of blank whiteness.

But those people would not be the children at the Antioch School, who for the past several weeks have discovered that paper is much more than they ever imagined.

“This has changed my entire outlook on paper,” Antioch School Older Group student Henry Crews said last week, as the school neared the end of a three-week artist-in-residency with local artist Beth Holyoke. The residency was funded by the Antioch School Emily Bailey Art Fund.

This week students can be found several times daily gazing at their creations, which are now mounted and line the hallway outside the school’s art room, as well as the walls inside. They see explosions of color and texture: layers of pinks, purples and blues sparked by swirling designs, some dotted with glitter or seeds.

“I liked seeing how they turned out,” Older Group student Christina Brewer said, as she lounged with her friends on a sofa in the hall, inspecting the finished products.

Older Group teacher Chris Powell said the students didn’t expect to get so enthused about making plain old boring paper.

“They didn’t know they’d enjoy it so much until they got their hands into it,” she said. “The process is wonderfully messy, and the products are beautiful.”

Two weeks ago the students could be found literally getting their hands into the papermaking process. In the art room they stood clustered around rubber tubs filled with water, into which they had dumped cotton pulp. They next dipped screens into the water and raised them up, capturing pulp on top. After enough squeezing and pressing, the pulp became stiff enough to press up against a window to dry, and — abracadabra — water and cotton transformed into paper.

Getting their hands wet, squeezing the pulp, squishing and sometimes even jumping on pulp to drain it — all of these activities called to the heart of a child.

“I liked smooshing it,” said Younger Group student Cecilia Comerford.

“It was my favorite part of the day,” said Older Group student Erin Grote.

Holyoke said she also loves the process of making paper, something she has been doing since she took her first papermaking workshop in 1983 and discovered the amazing varieties of colors and textures that emerged in her finished products. She said she loves seeing the children get excited about the process and how they learn to see paper as something special.

Holyoke’s enthusiasm for the papermaking process helped spark the children’s response, Powell said.

“Beth brings so much energy and creativity with her,” Powell said. “The children pick up on that.”

The papermaking workshop also offered subtle lessons in recycling, said art and science teacher Brian Brogan, since the students used old paper and even recycled junk mail in their creations.

And Holyoke exposed the students to examples of Japanese art made from paper that they had never seen before. The workshop went far beyond the making of paper, Brogan said, to an exploration of different cultures and art.

“It was an opening up of the question, ‘what is art?’ ” he said.

And papermaking was only the beginning. After they created their unique sheets of paper, Holyoke led the children through an exploration of the making of books. They made books with pop-ups inside, tiny books, and books in shapes such as flowers or horses. They discovered that books, once only the domain of libraries and shelves high off the floor, can be created by children.

“Now,” said Younger Group student Brecon Llewellyn, “we know we can make books at home.”

Last Friday, Older Group students proudly showed off a few of their creations, wallet-sized books with their handmade paper as covers. The children cherished their books, and turned them over slowly in their hands. They were planning what to do with the books, they said, but it wasn’t easy to find just the right thing. Erin Grote thought she might take hers on a road trip, while Ursula Brogan thought she would give hers for Christmas. To Emma Sturm, her book is special because it’s so small.

“I like it because I can just carry it around and no one knows what it is,” she said.

Powell said that it is appropriate that this year the Emily Bailey Art Fund is funding a workshop on the making of paper and books.

“Emily was a bright, highly creative, energetic person who was interested in just about everything,” Powell said. “She was a musician, a dancer and an artist, but above all she was a writer.”

Emily, who was 14 when she died of a brain tumor in July 2000, had attended the Antioch School from nursery school to the Older Group. Because she loved the school, her parents, Jim and Rosemary Bailey, created after her death a fund to bring in art for the school’s children. Now, the Emily Bailey Fund brings to other Antioch School children the experience of creativity and exploration that she so loved.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com