Erin Paulson is one of four Modest In Scale award recipients.
Erin is a bookbinder, paper maker, and photographer living in Philadelphia where she is pursuing an MFA in book arts and printmaking from the University of the Arts. On exhibit in Modest in Scale are two sculptural bookwork pieces made with handmade paper and other fibers.
What is other wise lost is made with handmade flax paper silk thread linen pig suede and found objects. It is housed in a miniature chest of drawers; each of the five drawers containing an elegantly arranged set of objects. In this work Erin’s attention to hand skills and reverence for simple materials is evident.
About this piece Erin says:
With what is otherwise lost, I sought to create the tangible out of the intangible by blending elements of science and sentiment to create objects with which the viewer can interact. These transfer the elusive concepts of truth, memory, and a record of feelings past or present into a physical presence, defined and contained. The imagery references science, astronomy, astrology, and the mapping of places that don’t exist beyond the mind’s eye, while the writings describe a time and place. There is an element of magic present: the quality of the unexplained, of the potential, of the celestial, that all relate to an interest in our often inaccurate perceptions of memory.
The second piece on display is called I was screaming and no one could hear. It is made with handmade kozo paper, LED lights and book cloth.
In this piece, a box houses a folded book structure, the pages heavy with embroidered lines, resting in a box, the base of which has small holes, like pinpricks, that form the book’s title. Beneath the base are LED lights that, when turned on, illuminate the word forming dots.
About this piece Erin says:
As a teenager I developed a series of neurotic behaviors, including a debilitating stutter. Since that time my work has been the outlet by which I enforce my determination to never again become unfettered, lose my confidence, or slip into the neuroses of my past. It is the struggle for composure over chaos, and the minute, almost indiscernible divide of which I must remain constantly aware to maintain my balance.
I was screaming and no one could hear is an artist book comprised of handmade kozo paper and a hand-embroidered sound wave of my voice striving to overcome stuttering while reciting the title. The repetitive action of the embroidery relates to the daily struggle of a former stutterer to speak with clarity.
This piece is the visualization of the daily battle to conquer my speech impediment – the successes and the failures, the internal struggle and the external symptoms, the journey traversed and the finish line perceived.
Abecedarian Gallery's Blog 