Lisa Harkins

Address3456 Coral Street
CityGreenbank
State/ProvinceWA
Postal Code98253
CountryUSA
Phone Number360-632-4129
E-mail Addresslisah@whidbey.com
Websitewww.fibreislearts.com

First interest in hand papermaking process: 2003

First piece of handmade paper: 2003

First handmade paper artwork: 2006

Beginning of active practice: 2005

Images

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Lisa's Work in Hand Papermaking:

  1. Artist who uses papermaking for two-dimensional work

Lisa's Introduction to Hand Papermaking:

  1. Classroom instruction

Influences on Lisa's Work in Hand Papermaking:

Publications initially important to Lisa:

  1. The Papermakers Companion : Helen Hiebert
  2. Hand Papermaking : periodical

Publications eventually important to Lisa:

  1. The Papermaker's Companion : Helen Hiebert
  2. Gin Petty's online journal : Gin Petty
  3. Hand Papermaking : periodical

Countries where Lisa's studied:

Raw materials used by Lisa in Hand Papermaking:

Used Routinely
  1. abaca - purchased fiber
  2. cotton linters - purchased fiber
  3. cotton rag - fiber prepared in house
  4. cotton rag half-stuff - purchased fiber
  5. other fiber : Any number of locally gathered garden and roadside plants. Primarily New Zealand flax, but have also used iris, cattail, canary reed grass, spartina, bulrush, crocosmia, palm, yucca, pampas, nettle, plum bast, and pigweed. Also hardy vegetable waste such as garlic and onion tops, pineapple leaves, artichoke sepals, leek tops, and banana stems.

Chemicals used by Lisa for cooking fibers in Hand Papermaking:

Tools and methods used by Lisa for beating in Hand Papermaking:

Used Routinely
  1. Hollander beater
Used Sometimes
  1. blender
Used Rarely
  1. hand beating

Style of sheet forming used by Lisa in Hand Papermaking:

Years teaching hand papermaking: 6

Teaching formats used by Lisa:

Used Routinely
  1. classes
Used Rarely

Lisa's Income Contribution from Hand Papermaking:

  1. a little

Narrative:

I am a fiber artist by training. I took a certification in advanced design and embroidery from City and Guilds of London, through Gail Harker, who is the only tutor to offer this certification in the United States. In one of my early classes, I was introduced to basic papermaking through the use of a blender and recycled junk mail. When I enrolled in my final course of classes, I learned that we would be working in embroidery on many non-traditional grounds, of which one was handmade paper. At that point, I bought Helen Hiebert's book, The Papermaker's Companion, and joined the online forum, Papermaking, hosted at YahooGroups. Through interaction on the forum, I joined the first Gathering of Western Papermakers, which was a small group from Oregon, Washington, and California that met for the first time in 2005 in Yachats, Oregon. Since then, we have met every year, with the location circulating among the members' homes. The gatherings were a huge influence on me, as the participants are of varying degrees of skill, and we would all bring whatever equipment, tools, and fibers we had locally, so I had a huge access to resources, methods and materials. The Gathering is always held in the spirit of sharing and collaboration, and the information exchange really helped me on my journey. For instance, one meeting was incredibly productive, with beating available from blenders, a ball mill, and various sizes of Mark Lander's hollander as well as by hand. There were 60 fibers ranging from local plants through kozo, and we have shared methods in various sheet-forming styles, with and without formation age, including enormous sheets. We also have shared a number of paper decoration techniques such as marbling, dyeing, printing, and painting. This group is probably the single most valuable influence on me. I use hand-made paper in a number of ways: ----cast paper shapes and flat sheets for use in my embroidered textiles ----sheets for bookbinding and print ----sheets over armatures for three-dimensional work ----casting for sculpture

Questions:

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