SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

PRE-CONFERENCE TABLE

BARK RHYTHMS • IN YOUR HANDS

Jill Powers & Lisa Miles

Curators Jill Powers and Lisa Miles will speak about and present examples from their recent groundbreaking international exhibition, Bark Rhythms. The exhibition brings ancient bark traditions into dialogue with contemporary art developed from those roots, affirming the importance of these hand-beaten techniques and practices.This interactive session invites participants to explore the Bark Rhythms catalog, handle objects from the curators’ personal collections, discuss aspects of the exhibition, and ask questions.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP

SELF-PORTRAIT ABSTRACTIONS ON HANDMADE PAPER

Nicolei Buendia Gupit and Janice Agustin

Nicolei Buendia Gupit & Janice Agustin will lead participants in exploring how music translates into rhythm shapes and abstract forms. Participants, with a song of personal meaning in mind, will paint watercolor washes on vellum, cut the sheets into shapes and strips, then layer these to create woven, abstract compositions. Using the cut vellum as stencils, they transfer their designs onto damp handmade paper, resulting in abstract self-portraits reflecting cultural identity.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP

I HOPE THIS MESSAGE FINDS YOU WHOLE: PAPER AND CORRESPONDENCE

Madison (Maddi) Green

This workshop uses the idea of loving correspondence via mailing/postage to address themes of interconnection, presence, and temporality. In a time so driven by technology and social media, this workshop invites participants to consider how we connect with others and ourselves without the expectation or pressure of immediacy. Unlike with a text or email, one cannot overcorrect, rewrite, or unsend what they relinquish to the postal system. The slowness and intentionality intrinsic to this lost art are increasingly sacrificed for rushed communication, leading to responses devoid of sincerity and care. The goal of this workshop is to challenge the looming urgency we feel from living in a digital world by employing a practice that requires slowing down at every step. Using introductory processes such as embedding, collaging, and stenciling, students will learn how to form sheets of paper with a mould and deckle to create letters, postcards, and other ephemera they can drop into a collection box.

FROM BARK TO BELIEF: REVIVING VIETNAMESE DÓ PAPER AS A LIVING PRACTICE

Tran Nhung Hong ** Facilitated by Veronica Pham and James Ojascastro*

Hand papermaking is often discussed as a material practice, but in Vietnam, Dó paper represents an entire living system—ecological, cultural, and spiritual. Traditionally made from the inner bark of the Dó tree, this paper has been used for centuries in folk paintings, calligraphy, and ceremonial objects. Today, this tradition faces fragmentation: disappearing raw material sources, aging artisans, and a shrinking everyday relevance. At the same time, a new generation of makers is reinterpreting Dó paper—not only as a heritage craft, but as a medium for contemporary expression and community engagement. This presentation explores the journey of rebuilding a Dó paper practice from the ground up: working directly with raw bark, collaborating with local producers, and transforming paper into workshops and cultural experiences for modern audiences.

A TALE OF TULE: TROPICAL CATTAILS AND THE REDEFINITION OF “BARK PAPER” IN MEXICO

James Ojascastro & Cekouat Leon

Amate, a type of anhydrous paper, was first invented in Mesoamerica some two millennia ago. Over time, the fibers used have varied depending on the availability of local plants. For much of its history, the favored type of fiber has been the inner bark of several strangler fig (Ficus) species, resulting in common adoption of the term “bark paper.” However, at certain times (e.g., the decades immediately following Spanish conquest), amate makers also used leaf fibers of herbs like agaves to yield sheets that are not, by definition, “bark paper.” Since 2000, some amateros in San Pablito have been using the leaves of a tropical cattail—locally called “tule” (Typha domingensis)—to make a unique kind of amate art depicting icons that reflect syncretic Otomi beliefs. Today, the practice of making amate from tule is critically endangered, and just three makers are still active. In this talk, James Ojascastro will present the process of making amate from cattail leaves, and then discuss how its dynamics and tenuous survival could provide clues and context on the history of agave amate manufacture during the sixteenth century.

FORGACH KEYNOTE

Rooted in History, Documenting our Times, Sowing the Future: 40 Years of Hand Papermaking

Mina Takahashi, Michael Durgin, Amanda Degener

The current editor and the co-founders of Hand Papermaking will provide an overview of the 40-year-long history of the magazine and the nonprofit’s other publications and programs, such as its handmade-paper portfolios, quarterly newsletter, and social-media platforms. Through the lens of Hand Papermaking’s four guiding principles—Materiality, Collective Work, Openness, and Equity— they will address the organization’s origins and evolution, its continued relevance to our growing field, and its ties to NAHP throughout its history.

PLACE, PLANTS, BELONGING: CONTEMPORARY SCULPTURE USING RESONANT NATURAL MATERIALS

May Babcock

May Babcock is a papermaking artist who uses foraged natural materials to craft spacious sculptures and installations shaped by coastlines, rivers, and forests. As a multiracial artist of Taiwanese-Chinese descent, her process is a search for belonging and intimacy with plants and seaweeds arriving from other places. Recent works include a living installation of hybridized chestnut trees commissioned by The Trustees of Reservations, and a solo exhibition of novel plant ecology sculptures at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Babcock’s art invites people to slow into deep connection with the land, plants, and waters, giving opportunities for nourishment, joy, and healing in a crisis-filled world.

ON VIEW: HAND PAPERMAKING’S LIMITED EDITION PAPER PORTFOLIOS

In addition to the magazine and newsletter, Hand Papermaking also produces a series of limited-edition portfolios of handmade papers. Since 1994, we have published fourteen portfolios featuring handmade paper produced by more than 230 leading contemporary paper artists. These portfolios, which have been collected by prominent paper collectors and renowned institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University, and the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking (among many others), serve as repositories of knowledge on paper decoration, papermaking with a wide range of materials, paper manipulation, and art-making with paper.

WORKSHOP

VIETNAMESE PAPERMAKING

Veronica Pham & James Ojascastro

For centuries, traditional Vietnamese papermaking communities across the country made handmade paper for spiritual and mundane use. Fiber use is dependent on what is grown regionally in their areas, and paper is unique to their function. In this workshop, we will learn traditional Vietnamese papermaking techniques using the liềm seo (bamboo woven screen) and khung seo (two-part wooden frame) to make paper. Instruction will cover fiber preparation, hand beating, and sheet formation.

WORKSHOP

PIGMENTS, CHEMICALS & PULP: HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER

Andrea Peterson

In this hands-on workshop we will make, use and discuss the pros and cons of each paper making chemical associated with the paper making process. I will be sharing traditional processes and historical information of the chemicals and materials used. Andrea Peterson will take participants through clear and concise procedures concerning pigmenting different fiber types with varying lengths and the agents and chemicals used. We will discuss the “why and when” to use chemicals and/or pigments to achieve the desired result. We welcome any problems or questions of participants to be solved if possible, during the workshop or set you on the right path.

DIEU DONNÉ 50TH ANNIVERSARY PRESENTATION

Susan Gosin

Susan Gosin will deliver a presentation that covers two major handmade paper art exhibitions in celebration of the development of handmade paper into a fine art form. The first, The Art of Paper, co-curated by Susan Gosin, Cynthia Thompson, and Brett Littman features landmark works with handmade paper by leading artists from the 20th and 21st century who have all worked at Dieu Donne. The second, Pioneers in Hand Papermaking: 50 Years of Innovation at Dieu Donne showcases artistic handpapermaking techniques developed in the Dieu Donne studios. This exhibition will be on view in New York City at the Grolier Club from September 8 - November 28, 2026. Susan will end the presentation by sharing her recently published book Dieu Donné: Paper Making Art.

FROM FIBER TO IDENTITY: HANDMADE PAPER PACKAGING FOR SMALL PRODUCERS IN MEXICO

Maria Magdalea Gonzalez Perez

This presentation explores the evolution of Soy Cambium, a Mexico-based project that uses handmade paper to create sustainable packaging for small artisanal and natural producers. What began as an entrepreneurial initiative gradually became a space for material experimentation, creative problem-solving, and community connection. Soy Cambium emerged in response to this need by developing personalized packaging made from 100% recycled paper, combined with natural post-consumer fibers such as agave bagasse and coconut fiber. More than presenting a material, this talk reflects on how handmade paper can become a bridge between fiber, sustainability, creativity, and community. It also shows how an engineering background, material experimentation, and local collaboration can open new possibilities for hand papermaking beyond traditional formats and shape solutions that are both functional and meaningful.

KORETSKY KEYNOTE

REVEALING MESOAMERICAN ROOTS: CHARACTERIZING MATERIALS USED IN THE MAKING OF A 16THC. MANUSCRIPT OF CHRISTIAN SERMONS

Kimberly Nichols

Interesting discoveries were made when studying the materials used to create a sixteenth-century manuscript of Christian sermons in the Newberry Library collection. The sermons were drafted by Spanish Franciscan friar, Bernardino de Sahagún, and written in the Indigenous Mesoamerican language Nahuatl, which created a unique subject-language combination. Upon closer study, the manuscript materials also revealed a curious blend of European and Mesoamerican traditions. The manuscript pages, in particular, displayed visual characteristics that are typical of Mesoamerican amate and maguey. Technical analysis made it possible to identify these materials. This presentation will explore the materials and findings from this study.

WALKING FIBERS: PAPERMAKING AS RELATIONAL PRACTICE

Maria Patricia Tinajero

In this presentation, Maria Patricia Tinajero explores fiber not only as material, but as a relational structure—linking land, migration, memory, and voice through the processes of walking, talking, and papermaking. Grounded in the ongoing project Walking + Talking: Stories in Motion, the presentation weaves together artistic practice and agricultural knowledge through a layered narrative that moves between field, fiber, and paper. Drawing on collaboration with flax grower Leslie, the lecture traces the life of flax from cultivation to its transformation into paper, situating papermaking within broader ecological and social systems. By positioning papermaking as a relational and archival practice, this lecture invites audiences to understand fiber as both substance and structure—an active medium through which interconnection is made visible, felt, and shared.

COMMON THREADS: BRIDGING FASHION AND PAPERMAKING THROUGH RECLAIMED FIBER

Raluca Iancu

Textile waste is an increasingly urgent global concern, yet it also presents an opportunity to reconsider the lifecycle and potential of fiber. Through the Iowa State University Bridging the Divide grant program, Raluca Iancu collaborated with Dr. Rachel Eike, Associate Professor in Fashion, on a cross-disciplinary research project that transforms discarded textiles into pulp using traditional hand papermaking techniques. Collected campus waste is reconstituted into non-woven sheets, reimagining paper not only as a surface, but as a viable, sustainable alternative to synthetic textiles. This presentation will share the outcomes of this ongoing collaboration, including artistic works, curriculum development, and expanded research initiatives. Ultimately, it positions hand papermaking as a site of radical material rethinking, where fiber becomes a catalyst for sustainable practice, interdisciplinary dialogue, and renewed relationships between makers, materials, and environment.

WORKSHOP

PLANTAIN LEAVES AND CORN HUSKS: FOOD, DIASPORA AND GIFTING

María Escalona

Plantain trees provide shade, nourishment, and wrapping material, while also carrying histories of displacement, adaptation, and resilience. Rooted in the generosity of this plant and its importance across diaspora communities, this workshop invites participants to transform used plantain leaves into pulp and then into gift wrapping material; both an act of reuse and a gesture of hospitality and connection. As we learn together accessible papermaking techniques to transform the used leaves into pulp as well as knotting and wrapping techniques, we will engage in conversation around making community through rituals of cooking, sharing and care.

WORKSHOP

SEAMLESS CASTING: HOLLOW FORMS

Jess Santana

In this demonstration, Jess Santana will cast seamless hollow forms using multi-part molds. Participants will learn how to create a two part silicone mold, apply the paper pulp to the mold, and how to remove the cast paper from the mold and finish the edges for a seamless cast.

WORKSHOP

ANTHOTYPE PRINTING ON HARVESTED PAPER

Paige Wilkinson

This demonstration will introduce anthotype printing—a photographic process using natural plant emulsions and UV light— applied to handmade paper made from locally harvested fibers. There’s an intrinsic feeling of memory in these images. UV light on handmade paper creates soft, hazy edges that echo memory itself. Anthotypes are somewhat impermanent—revealed by light, exposed by light, and possibly fading from further light exposure. In this way, they echo how memory functions: revealed through experience, shaped by time, soft around the edges, eventually fading—yet always leaving a meaningful trace.

40 YEARS OF COMMUNITY: HAND PAPERMAKING INC. AND THE FUTURE OF PAPERMAKING -

Panelists Anela Ming-Yue Oh & Lynn Sures, introduction by Jerushia Graham and Q&A facilitated by Veronica Pham

Much of Hand Papermaking Inc.’s work centers on documenting, archiving, and sharing knowledge; building community; and encouraging intellectual and material exploration of papermaking. Through our publication, newsletter, portfolios, broadsides, virtual presentations, and the Black Writer’s Fellowship, we aim to amplify the voices and practices within the papermaking community. In this spirit, we are interested in how people are engaging with the craft today—how papermaking is taught, practiced, and used to foster connection. We have invited papermakers from across North America to briefly share their work and then to join in an open conversation about how, as a community, we can promote, support, and sustain hand papermaking as a skill, craft, and art form for the future. In recognition of Rooted in Fiber and the 40th anniversary of Hand Papermaking, Inc., two artists working in papermaking, Anela Ming-Yue Oh and Lynn Sures, have been invited to share their practices through brief five-minute presentations. Together, these perspectives reflect some of the geographic, material, and conceptual breadth of contemporary hand papermaking across North America. Following the presentations, a Hand Papermaking, Inc. moderator will share the organization’s guiding principles—shaped over four decades of publishing, convening, and community building—and facilitate a series of collaborative activities. These activities will illuminate unseen connections among participants and invite collective reflection on how we can sustain, evolve, and support hand papermaking as a skill, craft, and art form for the next generation.