Photo by Jordan Rathkopf
Present Bodies: Papermaking at Dieu Donné artist Candy Gonzalez will lead a papermaking workshop open to all ages in conjunction with our family program, House Party: 2020 Visions, a day-long celebration of the new year with a focus on citizenship. In line with the theme, Gonzalez will work with participants to create paper valentines to our future selves.
Present Bodies: Papermaking at Dieu Donné, presents the work of Swoon, Noel W. Anderson, Lesley Dill, Candy Gonzalez, Lina Puerta, Paul Wong, Saya Woolfalk, and Tricia Wright. These eight visual artists, all working in hand papermaking, draw upon paper’s connection to ritual offerings, to the body, and to paper’s role as a keeper of memory. Paper's historic use in communicating personal memory, collective history, and spiritual beliefs manifests more deeply when we reflect on its ancient history–before it became a substrate for the written word or images. The earliest recorded reference to paper dates back to A.D. 105 in China, where paper acted as a votive or offering, a material used in faith-based ritual practice as an aid to speak to deities or to ward off evil spirits. Much of the artwork in this exhibition takes the form of shrines, altars, or reliquaries, alluding to connections between ritual practice and our contemporary understanding of what holds collective memory and its ancient antecedents.
All of the works in this exhibition were created in the studios of Dieu Donné, finding their forms in handmade paper. For more than four decades, Dieu Donné has worked at the forefront of a movement to forge this powerfully subversive medium.This storied institution was founded in New York in order to explore the untapped potential of hand papermaking as an art medium. Artists participating in this exhibition include master papermakers like Paul Wong and long-time hand papermaker Lesley Dill, who have worked with paper for over 30 years, as well as artists that have recently learned the papermaking process through the Dieu Donné Workspace or through their professional studio programs. These programs pair artists from a wide variety of practices with master papermakers to explore the creative possibilities of hand papermaking, fostering experimentation and innovative processes. Present Bodies honors this mix of artists at various stages in their creative careers in hopes of fostering a similar sense of wonder and possibility to what is held within the walls of the Dieu Donné studio, now in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
For more information on tours of this exhibition for school groups, please visit our BRIC House Tours page.
Venue Information:
The intimate, flexible studio space within BRIC House is dedicated to emerging and mid-career artists, with an audience capacity of 50-75 for rehearsals and performances in a workshop setting.
Beginning Nov. 1, 2022, attendees of any BRIC House programming will no longer have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to enter the building. Masks are encouraged but not required in all BRIC operated spaces. If you have questions regarding this protocol, please email Safety@bricartsmedia.org