STATEMENT

Susan Hersey has been using handmade paper as a medium for the past 25 years. She approaches her work as a painter by building up layers of pigmented paper pulp. About 12 years ago she started using a pulp sprayer as a way of building up those layers of color. She creates wall hangings and folding screens which consist of dyed paper pulp sprayed and collaged onto bronze screening. Acrylic medium and pigments are also used in certain areas as are other fibers such as flax or silk. They are designed to hang several inches off the wall creating shadows.

The summer of l985 was a watershed year for her. She had the good fortune to spend a month at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California and also participate in a study trip to Japan. Perhaps more than any other influence, the japanese use of rhythms of nature spoke to her, contributing to her dialogue between simplicity and the decorative impulse.

As a medium, paper pulp offers endless opportunities for innovation in technique as well as the certainty of being surprised by the unexpected. The work she does reflects her sense of continuity in the flow of creative life, the layers and textures of life over time.