Ellen George: "Organic Encounters" at C:3 Innitative

"Organic Encounters"
2015–2016 Papermaking Residency Exhibition

Reception Friday, September 30th 6 PM - 9 PM

C:3 Initiative
7326 N. Chicago Ave.
Portland, OR

"Organic Encounters" presents work from the 2015–2016 c3:initiative and Pulp & Deckle Papermaking Residency artists Ellen George, Laura Foster, Tyler Peterson, and Ryan Woodring. Culminating from their experiences in the Pulp & Deckle studio, each artist utilized handmade paper as a medium to create new works that present ideas central to their art practice.

"Organic Encounters" considers the transformation of material to propel the medium of paper beyond its familiar use as a substrate. The process of papermaking is one of both strategic intent and material intuition. With no rigidity in process but an inventive appreciation for materialist ideals, Organic Encounters brings together disparate works that are sculptural in form but conceptual in methodology. The results present themselves as commentary on the natural world, the unstable value of objects, the mutability of biological forms, and notions of memory that are dually fluid and tangible.

Under the tutelage of Pulp & Deckle, the artists experimented with a variety of woodfree materials (including abaca, cotton rag, natural dyes, and locally sourced plants and vegetables) to create bodies of work concerned with paper's pliable nature and capacity for layering.

An artists' walkthrough is to follow on October 26th.