During COVID, many artists haven’t been able to obtain the art materials they normally use. Necessity is the mother of invention. What kinds of paper have you been using for your artwork during this unprecedented time? Have you been using art materials or media that you found in your home or studio? Have you made paper? Have you branched out from your usual art practice in some way during this time?

This exhibition celebrates creativity and resourcefulness in works on paper in the time of Coronavirus. During difficult times, artists can lead the way in demonstrating resilience and originality.

All original artworks drawn, painted or otherwise created on paper using a variety of media will be considered. This includes, but is not limited to, drawing using pastel, watercolor, ink, charcoal, painting on paper, printmaking, collage, book arts, artist’s books and 3-dimensional works. No audio or video.

Only artwork created during the global pandemic (COVID-19) and that has not been exhibited elsewhere will be accepted. Artwork must be composed of at least 50% paper.

Due to COVID-19 concerns, this exhibition is a virtual, online exhibition.

SARA GILFERT AWARD
An award in the amount of $300 will be given to the artist who employs the most skill and invention in making and working with their own materials and who closely answers the theme and description of this call for entry.

ABOUT SARA GILFERT
Sara Gilfert is founder and artistic director of Paper Circle. She has created works in and on paper since 1979. Paper Circle is the culmination of years of her interest and work. Sara moved her studio and equipment in 2002 to Nelsonville, Ohio, and renovated the space currently occupied at 35 West Columbus St. In 2003, Paper Circle was incorporated as a non-profit arts organization with the mission of the preservation and advancement and celebration of the paper and book arts.

JURORS
Cecil Touchon, Helen Hiebert, Cyrilla Mozenter

Cecil Touchon is an artist both by profession and avocation, as well as a poet, publisher, conceptualist, founding director of his overarching project The Ontological Museum Archives. His focus is based around collage art, the collage art community and anything to do with paper. His collages are the seeds that grow into his other practices. Touchon's paintings are abstractions based upon typography. Using the techniques of collage, he reassembles portions of letter fonts from billboards and printed material into pure abstractions that transform verbal language into a form of visual architecture. His 45 year career includes 50+ one person shows and nearly as many books and catalogs. Touchon is represented by fine art galleries around the United States and his work can be found in private, corporate and public collections around the world. His typographic abstraction works have influenced the work of countless artists as well as fashion and interior designers such as Rai Kawakubo who featured their collaboration in the Comme des Garçons Fall men’s collection 2019.

Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, artists’ books and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work internationally and online, and is the author of the several how-to books about papermaking and papercrafts. Helen has an extensive network of paper colleagues around the world and her interest in how things are made (from paper) keeps her up-to-date on current paper trends, which she writes about in her weekly blog called The Sunday Paper. She holds an annual paper retreat and papermaking master classes in her Red Cliff studio each September.

Cyrilla Mozenter is known for her gouache-painted, pencil-drawn (and written) works on paper and hand stitched industrial wool felt freestanding and wall pieces that include the transplantation of cutout letters, letter-derived and pictogram-like shapes. These works hover in the space between two and three-dimensions. Many of the titles and words that appear in the work come from Gertrude Stein’s writing. They are playful and absurd, defying singular interpretations. Solo exhibitions include See Why and the failed utopian, Lesley Heller Gallery, NY; the failed utopian & Other Stories, FiveMyles, Brooklyn; warm snow, Adam Baumgold Gallery, NY, and the Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY; More saints seen, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; and Very Well Saint, The Drawing Center, NY. Octave, her bilingual collaborative book with photographer Philip Perkis was published in 2020 by anmoc press, Seoul. A 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, she has also received two fellowships from the NY Foundation for the Arts and two project grants from The Fifth Floor Foundation. She has been in residence at Pianpicollo Selvatico, Dieu Donné Papermill, and Instituto Municipal de Arte e Cultura-Rioarte. Her work is in numerous public collections including the Brooklyn Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery. She taught for many years in the MFA program at Pratt Institute.