ARROWMONT SCHOOL of Art

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

MARY HARK

Hand Papermaking Workshop

JUNE 6 - 12

The Nature of Surface:
Exploring the Tactile with Handmade Paper

Master the techniques and tools needed for you to produce a fine sheet of paper suitable for printing, bookbinding or sculptural applications using flax, abaca and Asian fibers. Explore ways of approaching the surface of handmade paper. Lace papers, stitching and collage techniques, indigo and walnut dye, embedding and subtractive approaches to surface development will be explored. Leave with a large portfolio of uniquely beautiful papers as well as abundant information about the fine craft of hand papermaking. Course Fee: $475

Mary Hark is a studio artist, production papermaker and an Assistant Professor of Textile Design at University of Wisconsin, Madison; has been working since 2006 to establish the first hand paper mill in West Africa; founding member of the Kumasi Center for Book and Paper Arts; exhibits and facilitates workshops internationally.

Call 865-436-5860 to register by phone.

OR you may register by fax and mail by completing and sending a registration form.

College of Saint Benedict Galleries in Saint Joseph, Minnesota, present their collection of Artist and Fine Press Books - and Mary Hark's exhibition SEAM: Paper and Textile Paintings

An evening with friends and colleagues who care about books, paper, art and poetry. Buzz Spector's engaging ruminations on reading and the book object, and the CSB Literary Arts faculty and students energy and enthusiasm. Altogether lovely.

Take note of Ellory Eggermont's paper sample below. Ellory is developing a beautiful paper specific to CSB and in the process is uncovering some unexpected handmade paper history!

Friday Night Celebration at OPEN BOOK in Minneapolis recognizing book designer, printer and binder Chip Schilling and Indulgence Press.

Driftless Reveries: considering place

from the series Driftless Reveries: under cover, January

handmade flax and abaca papers, indigo dye, mixed media

from the series Driftless Reveries: early winter #3

handmade flax and abaca papers, indigo dye, mixed media

from the series Driftless Reveries: learly winter #2

handmade flax and abaca papers, indigo dye, mixed media

from the series Driftless Reveries: learly winter #1

handmade flax and abaca papers, indigo dye, mixed media

three from the series Driftless Reveries: lost and found

continued from the series Driftless Reveries: Lost and Found

Flax and abaca fiber, indigo dye, gelatin size.

Artist Book exhibited in Portland, Oregon in conjunction with the College Book Arts Association

The Assignment: A Juried Exhibition of Artists Books

Organized in conjunction with the College Book Art Association

December 3, 2009 - January 9, 2010

KEJETIA CONVERSATIONS

by Mary Hark and Amara Hark-Weber

7.5 x 7.5 page size / length when opened at a curve 22"

Handmade Flax Paper, Found Coal Grates, Adinkra Ink, Pigments,

Linen Thread. 160 pages ~ one of a kind

In early June 2009, Mary and her daughter Amara were invited to participate in an international artist workshop at the National Cultural Center of Ghana in Kumasi. 10 artists from around the globe, and 10 Ghanian artists set up studios, worked and lived together. The organizers of this event asked that the artists pay attention to the this particular place, to respond by integrating local materials into their practice, and to collaborate when it was appropriate. This book was made with paper Mary made in her Madison Wisconsin studio, along with found local materials: adinkra ink and coal grates. Painted imagery was contributed by Ghanian artist Asokipaala Aberinga, and Ghanian batik artist Dorothy Amenkue carved the stamps that were used with the adinkra ink (both workshop participants).

Kumasi Ghana is a place where powerful histories overlap. It is a place where the intensity of the sun and the rain erode the built environment producing beautiful and evocative surfaces everywhere. It is a place where masterful craftsmen 'repurpose' the dregs of the material world into inventive and useful daily objects. Amara and Mary responded to the accumulation of time and experience that was evidenced everywhere they looked; to the heartbreaking beauty of the common coal grate found in every local market, an ordinary kitchen tool in Kumasi, and to the lively, if not fully understood exchanges between people on every street corner, as they designed and built this book-object.

Exhibition opens Friday January 15, 2010, Overture Center, Madison Wisconsin

Details from new series of work titled Driftless Reveries, to be exhibited at the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin, January 11 - April 4, 2010. handmade flax and abaca papers, indigo dye, mixed media

Preparing work for the exhibition The Nature of Surface during early January 2010.

Contact / Connect / Collaborate, exhibition opens at The Evanston Art Center, Chicago, Illinois

Contact / Connect / Collaborate explores the nature of international artist collaborations in a world made permeable by modern communications, technology and travel. Artists from around the world are connecting with their American counterparts in order to examine political, philosophical, sociological and historical issues from both particular and global perspectives. The formats of these artist collaborations vary widely, encompassing video, mixed media installations, performance, prints and textile works. The resulting projects point up the possibilities of creative collaboration without negating the real differences in cultures and situations and express the arts' deep desire to make human connections.

Curated by Beth Hart & Vera Scekic January 10 – February 14, 2010

Participating Artists: Jordan Martins, Joaozito, Lanussi Pasquali * Corinne Rhodes & Guadalupe Victorica * Michele Feder-Nadoff & Kanaan Kanaan * David Carlson, Betsy Stewart, Ashraf Fouad * Chris Lawson & Leang Seckon * Mary Hark & Gabriel Boakye * Jin Soo Kim & Bo Hyung Kim * William Andersen & Maryam Hosseinnia

"Remembering Amara" is a memorial cloth dedicated to Gabriel Boakye's daughter, named after Mary Harks daughter, and who passed away in 2009 from malaria. Textile woven and stamped by Gabriel Antwi in his workshop in Ntonso, Ghana and collaged with handmade papers and other materials by Mary Hark in her Madison Wisconsin studio.

Mary Hark discussing the challenges and pleasures of collaboration as part of the panel discussion January 10, 2010.

Grace Chosy Gallery

Mary Hark - Recent Work 

A solo exhibition of mixed media works will open at the Grace Chosy Gallery in Madison Wisconsin Friday May 1, 2009 . Opening Reception 5 -9PM / part of the Madison Gallery Walk event.

Deggendorf Museum

Mary Harks work is included in the exhibition "Papier Global - Paper Global" at the Craft Museum in Deggendorf, Germany. 80 artists from 13 countries were invited to exhibit work.

The exhibition will run April 16 - August 6, 2009. http://www.museen-deggendorf.de

The International Association of Hand Papermaking Artists 2009 Congress in Burnie, Tasmania

IAPMA met in Tasmania March 25 - 30, 2009. Artist Lynn Sures and I met during the New Works retreat at Haystack last September and when we realized we would both be presenting at the congress, we made a plan to travel for two weeks before the meetings began. We both wiggled our way out of three weeks in the middle of the semester and headed to the Southern Hemisphere. Besides the incredible topography, the eucalyptus forests, and most importantly the Aboriginal Artworks we encountered in our travels before the congress, we met and spent time with some wonderful, generous, creative people who introduced us to cultural activity in Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart. At the congress I was invited to present a talk about the project in Kumasi, Ghana that Michael Adashie and I are involved in. I also participated in the trade fair by exhibiting my flax and linen papers. Below is a selection of papers I produced in the months leading up to the trip. 

Lynn and I met-up in the San Fransisco airport March 13th and flew 15 hours to Sydney, crossing the international dateline and losing March 14th altogether. We landed at 7:30 am in Sydney, checked into our hotel and spent the day walking around the city. Three days in Sydney and three in Melbourne before heading to Tasmania. Among many wonderful meetings with artists, beautiful walks around the city and the coast, what stands out as most powerful was the introduction to Aboriginal paintings and sculpture we sought out everywhere we went. These works have captured my imagination and are one of the most compelling bodies of work I have ever encountered. The following are just a few of hundreds paintings we viewed.