Papermaking Extravaganza
Led by Artist Sheryl Jaffe
September 24, 2011 10 to noon
(rain date September 25th)
On Saturday September 24, 2011, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will host a Papermaking Extravaganza led by Ludlow artist Sheryl Jaffe. Jaffe, whose art installation Corn and the Connecticut River: A Paper Odyssey currently hangs in the museum’s corn barn, will share her expertise in a detailed, hands-on workshop, in which participants will engage in each step of the paper-making process and take home a scroll of their own hand-made corn and iris leaf paper. The event is free, but preregistration is recommended; contact the artist at sherylannjaffe@gmail.com. The museum and its grounds are a smoke-free site.
Jaffe has been making paper for over 15 years, but did not begin using corn until relatively recently, when a neighbor generously gifted her some of his crop. For Jaffe, this gift initiated a long and deep interest in corn and its many uses, in its widespread manifestation in American life and culture, past and present. Always inspired by the Western Massachusetts landscape, Jaffe then began looking specifically at the intersection between the Connecticut River and corn’s local history here in the valley. “The relationship between corn and the Connecticut River is personal, historical, fascinating,” says Jaffe. “It goes back thousands of years.”
Jaffe’s handmade paper employs a centuries old paper-making process: she beats
the corn husks and leaves, flax, and iris leaves into a paper pulp, then
forms it into beautiful scrolls, each one distinct from the next. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington
Museum, situated on the beautiful Connecticut River floodplain and adjacent
to 200 acres of farmland, makes an ideal setting for Jaffe’s work and teaching.
Forty Acres, as the 1752 farmstead was originally named, was a pivotal
point of local agriculture, trade, and labor in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries—a site where corn and artisanship have long been intertwined.
Participants in the workshop are encouraged to bring a paper bag full of fiber (dried green iris leaves, corn parts, and old linen) in order to make a 5-foot paper scroll, but may also come unequipped and make a smaller sheet. The event is comprised of two two-hour long sessions described as follows: 10:00 AM-12:00 PM: Cooking, cutting, and beating fiber; initial sheet forming and scroll making. 1:00-3:00 PM: Additional focus on forming sheets, scroll-making, and fiber painting.
This event is funded in part by the Hadley Cultural Council, a local agency, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and by appointment. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 or visit our website at www.pphmuseum.org.