Corn Husk and Blue Jean Paper: Political Watermarks by Artist Michelle Wilson

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Michelle Wilson is an artist who happens to use medium of hand papermaking to create amazing work.Her installations, prints, paper, and books examine the intersection and complex relationship between politics, ecology, and environment.Though Michelle uses the historical craft of making paper, her work very clearly speaks volumes about contemporary issues in our society. From Michelle's artist statement about hand papermaking within the context of her studio practice:

This paper becomes both substrate and content, and I see it as a means of allowing plants to speak for themselves in issues regarding both the environment and social justice...Handmade paper, made from plants, evokes its origins.

Take a look at one of her more recent projects, Corn Incorporated, a series of watermarked handmade paper from corn husks and denim rag (blue jean paper).

Each artwork appropriates a logo from large corporations and organizations that contribute to America's corn-based food system.

Michelle Wilson - Papermaking Artist - Watermarks

Click here to read more about this project.

Handmade Paper Watermarks

A note on the technical side: these are made using laser-cut vinyl as a watermark attached directly to a papermaking mould. A base sheet is first created, and then a sheet formed with the watermark mould and in a different colored pulp is layered on top. Have no idea what that all means?Read more about paper watermarks here >

Explore more work by Michelle Wilson:

• Clarity, an installation using native California bulrush that celebrates the value of the Napa River.

• Population Dynamics, a portfolio of handmade paper from abaca and Andean Pampas grass using watermarks of extinct California wildlife.

• The Ghost Trees, an installation of large scale watermarked paper and shredded junk mail.