Post #1 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #1 in a Series of 7 Posts  

Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

This post was originally published Apr. 6/2016... I've republished it on Dec 22/21, so it appears first rather than last in the series...

Below: Four views of an "empty" bowl... The bowl is in two pieces... and the color is actually a silvery, grey/green.... as is the spiral in the gold interior...  I'm new to photography and don't know why it shows as blue in my pictures.... A little imagination will therefore be required for the first  three pictures.... The fourth picture was taken outdoors and the green color is accurate... but the gold is better represented in the first three pictures... I've decided  the blue color either has something to do with the light indoors or is reflecting some of the blue in the table top it sits on....

I made the bowl first and then decided it wasn't complete.... It needed a base... The base I made is a separate piece with the four phases of the moon on each quadrant and small gold dots in between for stars.  Being separate, it allows the bowl to be tilted this way or that way or....

It is strategically placed beneath my "Wheel of Fortune" hanging art... poised, ready to catch any droplets of work which spill or fall from its "spinning" wheel through the tangled, golden ball of confusion, passed the butterflies and dolphins, to land in the bowl.....


The bowl with its base...  From one side...

From above....

From another side...

The final picture - taken outside in daylight...




















Although it is made with objects joined with beading and ribbon rather than with Paper Mâché; to the right, you can see a picture  of my "Wheel of Fortune" which hangs above the bowl....






I  Just LOVE Working with Paper Mâché....

• I use scraps of "useless" paper, fabric or other materials which would be discarded otherwise, transforming these discards into  "beautiful,", functional pieces of art...
• In addition to paper, I can also incorporate cardboard, fabric, metal, wood and other found objects for interesting effects...
• The materials are as non-toxic as is possible with artists materials...
• It's VERY flexible... I can add or subtract pieces at any stage... changing the shape,  color or the texture  at any time...
• By nature, it is lightweight.... but  weight can be easily added if I need a heavier piece...
• Parts of the process have to be done with care and precision, but other parts can be sloppy and messy...
• Working with the paper and glue is very tactile, reminiscent of making "mud pies" as a child...
• None of the materials are expensive and no special equipment is required...
• I can take my time creating them... there's no problem with allowing them to sit at any stage... so there's no rush or hurry....
• I can make all kinds of shapes.... and create functional three dimensional art I can use in my every day life...

Below are some pieces I made to hold my brushes, pens and nibs.... Ready for use...
They too, are made in pieces, so they can be easily taken apart for cleaning....  

I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish...and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...



This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process

Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...  Searching "art" will bring up only posts featuring actual artwork, but searching either "creativity" or "process" will bring up other posts as well,  which contribute additional dimensions and information...

Post #2 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #2 in a Series of 7 Posts  

Paper Mâché Art: My Art Is A Process, It's Never "Finished"...

This post was originally published Apr. 6/2016... I've republished it on Dec 21/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

Because of its flexibility and mode of construction, Paper Mâché  is ideally suited to working with things in perpetual process....always in a state of becoming....and this is another reason why I enjoy working with it SO MUCH!

The picture above is of a "jug" I've been working with... part way through its process....  For awhile, I thought it was "finished" as you see it in this picture.... but then... the handle needed work and it became...

It's done, for now, as you see it in the pictures above, but....


My work is always in process.... Some pieces are more "finished" than others.... and sometimes I think they're "finished".... They look finished and I don't have further instructions.... but usually they're just resting.....They can rest, seemingly finished, for years and then suddenly I'll notice something "not quite right" which needs altering.... and I'm back in the midst of a process of becoming with them... I don't like to sell my art, because I'd miss the process.... and like with life, it's the process which feels MOST important...  


The two pictures below clearly demonstrate the "process" nature of my work...  They are of the same piece... but...  The one on the left is "Wind Chimes with Golden Ball" as it was in 2009 when I used this picture on my web-site....  However, now, several years later, with the addition of the egg, the wheel, some butterflies and more ribbon and beading,  it has become "The Wheel of Fortune"...   When I used it on my web-site, I already understood the tangled golden ball represented confusion... but, I had no idea what it was to become...  I didn't know why it needed an egg or a wheel or.... However, as I worked on it, its name became clear and then so did the rich symbolism of each part.... which has yielded an uncommon interpretation of this tarot card...

The picture below shows two pieces which are definitely "un-finished" ... They're resting like this until I know what I need to do with them... In the meantime, I sit with them and enjoy their structural "beauty"... The one on the right uses an old shampoo bottle as a framework, with sand in the bottom under the bottle, to give it weight.  It was made as a vase and can hold water, but I didn't have anything to put in it....so the top came into being....  The  one on the left uses an empty peanut butter container and is used to hold string.... My sense is that it wants to be an "elf" who sits on my counter top.... I've never created a  three dimensional "elf" before, and have never done a face with paper Mâché, so I don't know how it becomes....

Instead of selling my art, I prefer to share it... particularly when I can use it to demonstrate process and the value of process...  My books, with their blend of art and writing and their description of how I work with my art to discover parts of me are therefore perfect venues for the kind of sharing of my work which I like to do.....Several of my posts here are also about process in general and the creative process in particular.... If you search creativity or process you'll find them... If you're interested, my web-site (https://www.sylviakay.ca) gives more information about my books and art...



I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish...and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...  However, since gardening season is now beginning... the other posts in this series may emerge slowly...



This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process
Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...

Post #3 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #3 in a Series of 7 Posts 

Paper Mâché Art: Uniqueness...

The art works on this post showcase some unique objects made with paper mâché ...

This post was originally published Feb. 11/2017... I've republished it on Dec 20/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

This past year I've been working with "Dream Catchers"... I made a few pieces of  jewelry with feathers, beads, scraps of fabric and lace and then the dream catcher tree you see below...  It stands on a plant stand beside my front door and is about 2 1/2 feet tall. Its construction incorporates cardboard, copper foil, paint, bead work, copper wire, feathers, ribbon, tree twigs and copper tubing in addition to paper mâché.... The base uses a small box filled with stones to provide weight and keep the tree stable...  

Top Detail of Dream Catcher Tree

Base Detail of Dream Catcher Tree

Full Dream Catcher Tree - Art by Sylvia Kay

The three photos below are of two candle holders which sit in front of my kitchen window.  

They are made reversible... and look quite different each way...

However, they are equally happy to stand right side up as upside down and were made specifically for the candles they hold...

The photo on the left shows them as I usually display them, holding their "special" candles...









The three photos below show a paper mâché holder I made for a vase. Even filled with stones the vase tended to be quite prone to tip.  The vase holder contains it and prevents tipping... It was made with paper, and cardboard, and filled with gravel to give it weight... It is covered with fabric and ribbon and embellished with a little paint...

Above is the vase holder with the vase and bouquet... The whole thing is just a little over 2  feet tall...


To the left you can see the empty holder...






On the right you can see the vase holder with the vase in place...








The next three photos are of a vase I made to hold a bouquet which sits on my bathroom vanity... Each of the vase's  three sides are shown... The vase is made with cardboard and paper, covered with fabric and some lace, to which I added additional paint...  It is about 8 inches tall and the bottom of this vase is also filled with sand or gravel (I don't remember which now) to give it weight so it doesn't tip....

I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I plan to do seven of these posts, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish... and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...

This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process

Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...

Post #4 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #4 in a Series of 7 Posts 

Paper Mâché Art: Some Utilitarian Objects...

This post was originally published Feb 11/2017... I've republished it on Dec 19/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

The art works included in this post show utilitarian (useful) objects I've made with paper mâché...  However, for me, both art and writing have a larger use... I use both to pull what's inside me out so I can see what's there to work on it...  

For several years I was physically unable to do either writing or art.  It was a HARD time, but with these avenues shut down I learned other ways of working with what was inside me, which I wouldn't have learned otherwise... In retrospect I can see going through this HARD time has been HELPFUL!!!  I now have many more avenues  open with which to explore how I am inside... ones I'd NEVER have found or learned to use otherwise. 

Nonetheless, I'm ENJOYING coming back to clarifying pieces of my confusion by journalling... I don't do it every day like I used to, but I write there frequently.  I'm  also GRATEFUL to be back doing art!!  I'm working with both art and writing differently. The kind of journal I keep now, bears little resemblance to the kind of journal I kept before... I've changed and so has my journal... The process is slower and because I use these newly discovered ways too, I don't need to do so much...  However, to again have access to these familiar and much loved tools of art and writing and now, mostly even without pain, is a TREMENDOUS gift!! I'm VERY grateful!!  

For me, this exhibition, of new art in a new form, is a celebration of my physical renewal or rejuvenation which has made art possible for me again......

I've tried to add interesting details to ordinary, functional objects I use every day...

To the left is a detail of three of the objects pictured below...

The pieces above were made to hold lotions, scrubs, toothbrushes etc. on my bathroom vanity...

The picture on the left and the three below, show boxes made to hold underwear and socks...











They sit on a four tier wire shelf which holds shoes, slippers and sandals...









There is a mauve one, a green one and a pinkish/blue one.... My shower curtain has the same colors...

The objects I particularly enjoy  creating are those which end up being not only interesting and sometimes perhaps a little beautiful, but also more functionally suitable than anything I could buy ready-made.  Over the years I've made many such things... They give me pleasure each time I look at them or use them...  On this post, I've displayed a few I've made with paper mâché... 

The picture on the right is a photographic collage showing four sides and the top of a small box made to hold twist ties....










The picture on the left is a photographic collage showing three sides and the top of a yogurt container covered with paper mâché... It holds more ties and some pieces of string....








The two pictures below show two candle sticks made with  paper mâché... I enjoy candles, especially the scent of the beeswax ones I have, but I don't light them, so the paper mâché holders work fine...  (I lit the one on the right below, just to take its picture...)


























The picture on the left is a photographic collage showing two sides of a container made from cardboard covered with paper mâché... As you can see it is designed to hold my scissors...










The picture on the right is also a photographic collage showing two views of an object made with paper mâché, which holds and dispenses string from two balls... 

I hope you enjoy my exhibition... I have seven of these posts planned, so you're welcome to come back to see more.... or revisit ones you've already seen as many times as you wish... and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...

This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process
Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...

Post #5 of An Exhibition of Paper Mâché Art by Sylvia Kay

Today - #5 in a Series of 7 Posts 

Paper Mâché Art: Frames & Stories...

This post was originally published Jul 7/2017... I've republished it on Dec 18/21, so it appears in the proper viewing order...

The frames for the pictures below have all been created with Paper Mâché....and they each tell a story....

Below...  Pele - The Hawaiian Goddess of Fire, Lightning, Wind, Volcanoes, Dance and Change...  Pele is ALL about the "shakiness" of LIFE, wherever and however we each sense it...

I don't know anyone else who draws this way, but I've always drawn portraits in "scribbles", working as though my pencil was touching the face...  scribbling more in the shadows and barely touching the highlights...  The scribbles aren't organized and I VERY seldom use an eraser... I just add more squiggles to alter the effect...  It's a little like finding shapes in clouds and moving them around to make the shape clearer and more defined.   The detailed photo below, gives a better sense of my "scribbling" technique....

One day I wondered if I could "scribble" in color rather than just black and white.  I had no idea what would emerge or if the technique would even work with color, but I started to scribble anyway... just picking colors which drew me to them with no idea of what was about to emerge...  About half way through I knew I was drawing a face, but only when I was "done" did I realize I'd drawn Pele... Above, you can see Her in Her guise as a young maiden, surrounded by a Paper Mâché volcanic pit...  Although in this guise She can seem quite "sweet" and harmless, Her energy is usually intense and the changes which She causes often dramatic and sometimes violent...  She is both the creator and the destroyer of the Hawaiian Islands and is known as the woman who devours the land... 

I exhibited this art at the "Woman's Art Show" in Orillia, Ont. in the Spring of 2016. This exhibit required a written submission along with the artwork... I SO enjoyed this combination of art and writing that I knew I just HAD to do a little more...  and so this exhibition of art in seven posts began...  

Pele has a passionate and fiery temperament.  When visible, She usually takes the form of either a beautiful young maiden or an old crone.  She isn't found often in the middle of the road, but almost always on the edges with extremes.  She loves to mix and stir, catapulting everything She touches out of peaceful stagnant ruts.  On visiting the islands, one is struck both by Her destructive power and by the tremendous fertility of the new land She's created...

 Pele is part of  life at many stages... She is there each time we confront, feel or express a difficult to deal with emotion – such as: anger, annoyance, jealousy, dissatisfaction, fear or pain and sorrow.  Every time we cross a boundary or break a rule, She is there...  She is part of every beginning and every ending.  She is present with each small change, risk or chance we take and certainly there with the big ones: falling in love, getting married or divorced, changing residences, beginning a career, changing schools or employment as well as when illness strikes us low or with the death of our parents or someone else close to us...  Each time we bravely take a step into the unknown, we can feel Pele's energy, creating and destroying the circumstances in which we must live...

She's been part of my life MANY times...

I felt Her presence strongly when my parents bought a new home in the country and I left most of my "town" friends behind.  I didn't fit well with most of the children in the new place, so at the age of nine, I began to learn how to be alone...

She's been there each time a new man appeared on the horizon.  She's been there too with each parting...  Every time there's been an unexpected turn or twist in the road and I've had to deal with a change in my life's circumstances, She's left me with questions...  SO MANY questions –about why and what it meant and what if anything was required of me and how I was to work with things as they were now...  The questions I've learned are a rich food left behind after Pele's fire and the answers when they've come have propelled me forward....

She was definitely present at my birth...  I wasn't happy to leave my mother's womb and give life in the world another try.  My last try had been ENOUGH and I DID NOT want another!!!!  However, like it or not I was born and in spite of all my tears, I had to keep going and give living life one more try.  Pele was present too, forty years later when I started digging down inside to unearth the old memories and face where I'd been before and all of why I didn't want to begin life again this time...

This digging down into one of Pele's fire pits to unearth skeletons and archaic wounds is another LONG story!  It's taken me more than twenty years and two books to do this work and document the tale.  My web-site at www.sylviakay.ca provides more information if you're interested...

I find that now, I not only  "scribble" with my art, but with much of my life too...  Scribbling, I find is NOT easy... It feels chaotic and out of control and I feel uncertain and childlike.  However, seeing my "scribble" art emerge and look OK, has REALLY helped...  "Scribbling" with my life, I take unfamiliar steps into the unknown, which feel strangely "right", with NO idea of what the consequences might be.   I don't know if I'm coloring inside or outside "the lines", if what emerges will be "beautiful" or "ugly", "good" or "bad", but I stretch to trust that I can be with the consequences whatever they are and learn something relevant to me and my life...  Life lived this way becomes a BIG, improvisational adventure, far outside any comfort zones I used to have, but it is also a living prayer... Each moment I work to focus meditatively inside on following this strange sense of "rightness" I'm learning to recognize... wherever it leads and whatever the consequences may be...  stretching to understand the incomprehensible, clarify my own confusion and embody best I can what I've understood.  I know my understandings are always quite confused, but hopefully increasingly less so as I live and feel and work through each day...  

I struggle to accept chaos: the BIG chaos of Pele's mixing and stirring and the small chaos of my "scribbles".  Consequently, both frequently feel something like the picture below....

In my experience it is NEVER easy to deal with Pele and Her fires, but when I've managed to stay with the difficulties of being with Her, I've always grown... Gradually, I'm understanding Her fire and its difficulties are what make life so interesting and exciting to live.  I'm therefore, learning to welcome Her and accept Her creation and destruction of the fabric of my life.  I'm learning too, how to create me, best I can, out of what She leaves behind,  as I work with whatever shows up each day...

However, the following picture, as it depicts how I work with Her energy when it enters my life, is usually more representative of how Her energy and fires feel to me...  Although it can still feel VERY intense, the process is more detailed, organized and less chaotic...  I've depicted this work as a woman playing notes on the tree of her life... This process makes it possible to notice and work with the emerging consequences, including the resulting growth or changes which happen to both the player and the tree whenever Pele  enters the picture; working Her energetic magic unseen in the background underneath... 

For this artwork, I used the Nine of Pentacles designed by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for her Shadowscapes Tarot as a base from which to begin....  Although the Shadowscapes card spoke to me, it wasn't what I "saw".  As I felt a need to see this card the way I actually "saw" it with my inner eye, I used Stephanie's work as a place from which to begin...  For this piece, I've also used my "scribble" technique, again in color but for the first time for a landscape rather than for a portrait... However, when I used it this time, with an existing framework on which to work, this did influence my choice of colors to a certain extent... For instance I knew I wanted the tree to be predominantly green, so although I used many other colors I did scribble more in green for the tree...

Looking at Stephanie's Shadowscapes tarot card at:
http://www.shadowscapes.com/Tarot/cards.php?suit=4&card=8
you can see that although I've used the same elements, my rendition of this card ends up being quite different...  Stephanie's card looks like it was done  with watercolor in soft pastel shades.  It has a light airy feel to it, with only the pentacle itself standing out...

My artwork, on the other hand, uses more intense coloring, so it has a very different feel to it.   I've made the piano truly part of the tree, so my piano is less defined and my tree bigger and more substantial –  I've tried to make the picture in general and the tree in particular feel intense and HUGE like one of Pele's Fires and LIFE.  For me, the tree is the tree of LIFE – LIFE in general and MINE in particular.  I'm the woman playing on and with my piece of LIFE's puzzle... However, this affects not only me but everyone I come in contact with as well...  My inner world creations determine what I do with my life and this affects everything and everyone I touch. Furthermore, what happens in the world affects me and the notes I play too....   LIFE and how we each work with our piece of it seems to create a VERY rich and complex inner tapestry and outer play!!!

I've also done a real live snail for the woman to sit on, rather than just a couple of shells joined together... This adds some tension  to my picture which isn't part of Stephanie's... I wonder, for how long the snail will be content to rest as a seat for the woman playing and what will happen when it moves...  

As is so often the case, I feel, these two cards, each representing the Nine of Pentacles, show that things which seem to have a great deal in common, can be quite different...  In this case, although both cards begin with the same structural elements, they reveal or emphasize different aspects or "truths"... You're welcome to compare the two different interpretations  and draw your own conclusions while listening to your own feelings and their messages.... perhaps Stephanie's speaks to you and mine doesn't or vice versa...


I hope you enjoy my exhibition...  There are two posts to come... While waiting, for me to be ready to display what I've done, you're always welcome to revisit other posts you've already seen as many times as you wish... and please pass the information about this exhibition on to others you think may be interested...  



This Post's Flavor(s):  art, creativity, process
Click on any of these under "Labels" in the list on the right to bring up posts with a similar flavor...