The Paper Forest, a sculptural response to the disheveled glory of nature, exists as an on-going installation in my studio in Grand Isle, Vermont. Pieces from it are selected out for exhibition, at times in combination with other sculptures. The main material, Abaca pulp - a kind of banana leaf also known as Manila Hemp - is beaten in a hollendar beater for eight hours to obtain optimal translucency and strength, then sprayed on to armatures or formed into sheets and then molded over forms. The shrinkage of this paper is so high when restrained that it dries tight as a drum and translucent as skin, or else shrivels into some miraculous compression of itself. As a product evolved from the earth and processed by hand, it is an appropriate material.
