Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Student Spotlights on National Collegiate Handmade Paper Art Triennial Artists




Name: Sarah Zuckerman
Location: Alexandria, VA
Website: sarahzee.com 

Bio: 
Sarah Zuckerman is an MFA Candidate at George Mason University School of Art (expected graduation May 2016), where her thesis work includes installations of handmade paper and copper constructions. She first learned about papermaking at George Mason University from Professor Helen Frederick. She earned her BFA in Printmaking from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2009. Recently she participated in the program MFABerlin, an artist residency program at GlogauAIR in Berlin, Germany through American University.

Work Statement: 
Zuckerman’s installation, Populatic (referring to the name of the swamp she grew
up with) shows a dream-like reality. Her paper sculptures convey a physical reality, and are ‘growing’ in abundance in a charged environment. This space illustrates the memory of the swamp and its utopian characteristics presented to her as a child. While the construction of a nostalgic place is meant for exploration, child-like wonder, and tranquility, the realm of memory and experience asks the viewer to engage in the sometimes-uneasy edge of recognition and its residing alienation.




Name: Sarah Irving
Location: Alexandria, VA
Website: sarahirvinart.com

Bio: 
Sarah Irving is an MFA Candidate in Painting at George Mason University School of Art (expected graduation May 2016). She graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing in 2008.She is the Art Editor for So to Speak: A Feminist Journal of Language and Art, the Graduate Professional Assistant for the Fenwick Gallery at George Mason University and the editor of the (Pro)Create Anthology. As a visual artist, she has participated in numerous group exhibitions including the New Waves Exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. Irving learned how to make paper while studying at the University of Georgia and 
continued to create paper in her bathtub after graduating until she began her graduate studies at George Mason University.

Work Statement:
In Irving’s Quilt Series, she uses pattern and colors referencing a family quilt. The
rolled and bound striped of handmade paper relates to the act of “holding” and care for family members. While these relationships are often nurturing, the work also conveys a restrictive element. This works features cotton paper, a reference to the cotton fields of Irving’s hometown landscape and scrap wood salvaged from her grandfather’s workshop.

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