Cellulose Composition
@ Chicago Art Department
1926 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60608
Opening Friday, September 18th, from 6PM - 9PM
On view through Sunday, October 18th
How can we touch? How can we feel? How can we bridge the gaps? How can we build over them? As humans, our strongest language is touch. Through touch, we can understand so many things about each other. We can tell whether something is hot or cold, soft or rough, sharp or smooth, heavy or light. We can determine distance, intention, and presence. We can recognize what is safe and what is not, what is offered and what is withheld. We can comfort. We can push away.
Handmade Papermaking, at its most basic function, is not so much different. Like us, paper is mostly water. Water acts as the binding agent between fibers by forming bridges through hydrogen bonds. The bond bridges the gap between electronegative atoms on the surface of one fiber and those of another fiber. In this way, papermaking is a relational activity—consisting entirely of touching, getting closer, and holding.
Cellulose Composition curated by Talia Kimberly Wright and Aidan Anne Frierson, looks at multiple papermaking artists who have explored, expanded, and redefined Chicago Pulp. We have chosen artists who fully lean into the touch that papermaking insists on; those who work large—stretching fiber across deckle boxes to create entire landscapes of bonding—-and those who work small—using pulp to craft intimate, detailed forms that hold the memory of the hand.
Our artists work with a wide range of fibers and materials that carry distinct histories and behaviors in water and under pressure, including Cotton, Sisal, Thai Kozo, Denim, and Abaca. Each material responds differently to touch, yet all are transformed through the same fundamental act of bonding—becoming surfaces that record pressure, gesture, and time.
Cellulose Composition is a celebration marking One Year of Chicago Pulp—-but more than that, it is an example of touch, and how just one fingerprint can impact an entire body of work, creating bonds to last a lifetime.
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Tags: Aidan Anne Frierson, Alanna Huck-Scarry, Alexis Woo, Angela Davis Fegan, Ayah Yusuf Abdulkadir, Caitlin Wagner, Cellulose Composition, Chicago Art Department, Dave King, Izabelle Brandli, Jenny Valle-Oliinyk, Kate Donley, Liz Born, Marcia Mahoney, Michael Baja Anderson, Nina Garibaldi, Olivia J. Brown, Payton Harris Woodard, Pilsen, Sophie Urschel, Talia Kim Wright, Talia Kimberly Wright, Tia Rie Baldwin, Timur Sahin, Tori Pawlyk, Vida Sacic, Ziya Tarapore
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