MN Original
Twin Cities Public Television program featuring Cave Paper
Sculpture Gallery
I make at least one large sculpture a year, these photos I put up are some of my favorites.
Vanishing Flora
Northside Artspace Lofts, Minneapolis, MN
2025
Wood, plants, ice, handmade paper.
20” x 3’ x 5’
Vanishing Flora is an installation with several elements. On the floor are boxes in the shape of letters which spell In Danger planted with 28 different kinds of Native prairie seeds. Above the planted letter shaped boxes are a dozen hand drawn images of endangered species. For the opening next to the drawn images are pulp paintings of those same images encased in the ice. Because the pulp painting was done directly in the ice and not pressed, as the ice melted the image dissolved, watering the prairie seeds below. Vanishing Flora is a statement about our disappearing natural environment and all of us are in danger because of it.
Persimmon House
First at Traffic Zone 2 weeks later at Grain Belt Bottling House// Minneapolis, MN
2020
Aluminum, plastic, Kozo paper, persimmon dye
15’ x 6’10” x 8’
The metal house has plastic panels which I covered with dyed paper. Persimmon juice is extracted from green persimmon fruit, aged for several years, then coated onto Kozo paper. The paper becomes naturally water repellent as a result. The interior of the structure was papered with handmade persimmon treated paper and functioned as a showroom for my collages. On the exterior I hand-painted text by Kimberly Blaeser which reads: “Face the ancient copper, light of dawn of dusk, this flame of song, a word tether--seamless, blessed.”
New Seeds in Old Ground
Grain Belt Bottling House
2019
Wood, Kozo paper, walnut and indigo dyes, live grass sprouting from cotton paper
15’ x 6’ x 8’
Handmade paper with natural dyes and images that could only be seen in certain light made a 20’ diameter circle interrupted by a welded metal entryway. The archway, through which viewers entered the piece, was embedded with sprouting grass seeds and raw flax was included on both the inside and outside of the panels that were arranged in a circle.
Prayer for Air/Mantra for Water
Grain Belt Bottling House// Minneapolis MN.
2017
paper, rope, light.
15’ x 10’ x 8’
Prayer for Air/Mantra for Water is a paper waterfall cascading from the second floor to the first. Three very long ropes hung from the ceiling to the floor with paper representing blue sky and white clouds. I simply wanted viewers to think about and care about air and water. Before and during the showing people wrote prayers on handmade paper and attached it to the sculpture.
5 Elements
Jingren’s Paperlogue Beijing, China
2018
Many kinds of handmade paper. Materials inside bowls include pinecones, seashells, metal, sticks and air.
15’ x 610” x 8’
This sculpture is a visual interpretation of the natural elements making up the foundation of Chinese Medicine. Traditional Chinese doctors balance wood, fire, earth, metal, and water within each patient. The panels of these handmade paper collages cascade down from a connected circle. Where the elements split are doorways viewers can enter. The five elements each have a corresponding cast paper bowl with appropriate natural objects inside. For example, the “wood” bowl has pinecones, the “water” bowl has seashells.
Healing House
Grain Belt Brewery Bottling House
2016
Metal armature, cotton paper with seed, Chinese herbs, assorted natural items
10’ x 6’ x 8’
Natural elements were embedded into the paper like seeds and shells. The windows contain clear envelopes of herbs, each of which is labeled with a key for reference as to its healing properties. Tai Chi and massage were done in the house over the course of the weekend.
Dome (collaboration with James Kleiner)
Grain Belt Brewery
2015
Cement, metal, pigmented handmade abaca paper.
Inspired by Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes we cast paper onto a dome large enough for viewers to enter. The cement relief sculpture on the floor was completely conceived and made by James Kleiner.
Seed, Spirit, Plant, Earth, Seed Again
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
2005
Handmade paper, seeds, indigo dyed flax, pigmented raw Kozo and Kozo and Gampi paper
24” x 8’ x 8’
As a viewer walks around the piece the paper panels are in an order which corresponds to the title. The 'Seed' panels have seeds imbedded into the paper, the 'Spirit' panels are unique, 'Plant' panels have embedded green dyed raw kozo, 'Earth' panels are blue circles backed by Gampi. Seed, Spirit, Plant, Earth, Seed Again took several years because of the quantity of handmade paper within this sculpture. In order to play with perspective, the panels narrow as they approach the ceiling, suggesting an illusion of something taller. Viewers can enter the sculpture (see detail of interior view) where they are surrounded by light. I was trying to convey the feeling of a good day of meditation.
Containment and Regeneration
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
2004
Ice, seeds, pebbles, bamboo poles, live bamboo plants, Kozo and bamboo paper.
The house like form suggests containment and my work often addresses regeneration. Life death and re-birth is suggested by the inclusion of both live and dead bamboo as materials. Each day a block of ice impregnated with seeds/small pebbles was inserted in the sculpture. As the ice melted the seeds/pebbles fell. making sounds on the bamboo like the rain stick musical instrument. The sculpture includes live bamboo plants that were nurtured by the water. The structure is lashed together with bamboo poles; both Kozo and bamboo fiber were cast on the dried bamboo form.
Ancestor Balloon
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis
2003
Kozo handmade paper, rope
Balloon diameter 10’ measurement including basket 18’
Near the end of the war Japan launched 9,000 handmade paper balloons on the jet air stream with bombs attached. Over 1,000 of them reached North America. They knew the kozo paper in these 10 meter diameter balloons were strong enough to make it across the ocean. Ancestor Balloon is a tribute to my grandfather who was a hot air balloonist for the Navy and he was also a great storyteller. I invited others to write about their ancestors then bound their stories into books which became the ballast of the balloon; our ancestors keep us grounded. The stories in the books are at eye level and can be touched and read.
From Within and Without
Lawrence University, Appleton, WI
2014
Pigmented Kozo, both raw and processed.
19’ x 30”x 30”
The tree in the lobby of Lawrence University's music building, where this sculpture was located, became my inspiration. Kozo fiber is in the same family as the Mulberry and the inner bark in the mulberry and kozo tree are similar.
Commissioned by Lawrence University
Alice in Wonderland
The Pillsbury Center, Minneapolis MN.
1985
Velco, metal, foam, “letterpress” printing on hand cast Kozo paper, pigmented cotton handmade paper.
24’ x 8’ x 2’
The text I used is from Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland Alice where eats something and shrinks and then eats something else and grows. I printed it one letter at a time using my foot as the press and switched upper case and lower-case text. Also, in a normal book you read the right side of the book then the left side, but I extended the text across two hand cast Kozo pages and reversed small letters and capital letters. The three-dimensional book covers show miniature Alice overwhelmed by a make-believe map of the world and oversize Alice barely fitting onto the page.
Supported with a grant from Forecast Studio Projects
Aboriginal Parthenon
Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN
2013
Wood, Kozo paper, metal, fiberglass.
15’ diameter x 10’x 10’
The Parthenon is a temple in Rome, Italy dedicated to Athena, goddess of many things including arts and handicraft. I decided to make an organic structure, like an inverted basket shape and like the Parthenon, a circular opening at the peak of the roof.
Supported with a grant from the Jerome Foundation
Essence
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
2004
Wood, ink, foam, paper dyed with walnut husks
4’ x 2.5’ x 3’
Poem by Stuart Kestenbaum and calligraphy by Jan Owen. As an artist I embrace the idea of getting down to the essence of things. The text is about the process of making maple syrup which becomes a metaphor. The end of Stuart’s poem reads; “A world that does not end in vinegar and regret but a sweetness that rises everyday between earth and sky. Traveling from the hole in the side of our tree to our joyous mouths.”
Impermanence (collaboration with Bridget O’Malley)
Grain Belt Brewery
2013
Cloth, lights, hand cast paper, watermark,wire
15’ x 15’ x 8’
Inspired by labyrinths, this work is not complete until people enter.
View From my Window in Taiwan
Taiwan Paper Arts Festival
2000
Handmade paper, bamboo, paint, sand, wood, wire, lighting fixture
9’ diameter circular table, 1’ hanging moons.
I was invited along with other international artists to create an on-site sculpture in less than a week. I wanted people to feel they were part of the universe, and they could touch the stars by playing with the sand and turning the moons.