8/4/07 Aramature Workshop
I have been searching for an armature/sculpture/papermaking workshop for several years. I have found several interesting workshops on the internet but unfortunately, they have always been after the fact or were workshops located half way across the US.
Then two weeks ago I "fell" into a local workshop sponsored by the Handmade Paper Guild of Kalamazoo www.kalamazooarts.com.
I read about this opportunity on the yahoo paper list and was able to sign up. The presenter was Dick D'agostino www.dickdagostino.com from Maryland who creates unique fantasy sculpture using handmade paper and many dififerent mediums as his base.
The two-day workshop was economical, only $68.00, and I was able to learn to work with chicken wire as my aramature and used my handpainted tissue papers as the surface treatment. I created an organic sculpture for my garden. Imagine a large rock in the colors of Monet's Garden (my projects title.)
The key to Dick's method is a product called Paverpol a finish that is durable enough to allow artists to display their final project in their garden, porch or front door. www.paverpol.com Paverpol can make paper waterproof!
The workshop was very interesting and the most exciting thing for me was watching others create in totally different mediums - including, reed as aramature, a wire sheep covered in felted wool, sculpting in clay and casting and so on. Each artist attending adapted their specialty area using Dick's new methods and suggestions. Very enlightening!
