fifteen minutes of fame

My thanks to Caroline Feeney and Jiaxi Lu, University of Missouri journalism students, for putting together a flattering article and video for VOX magazine published October 25, 2012.

video by JIAXI LU

Leandra Spangler makes art with ordinary objects

Local papermaking artist textures her creations with Legos, zippers and buttons

PHOTOGRAPH BY JIAXI LU

Outside her studio, artist Leandra Spangler mixes plant fibers and water to create the pulp mixture that will become part of her next paper-based creation.

BY CAROLINE FEENEY

OCTOBER 25, 2012 | 12:00 A.M. CST

The silver mylar that lines potato chip bags, candy wrappers and the patterns inside security envelopes might be the perfect addition to Leandra Spangler’s latest collage.

As an artist, she finds inspiration in the stuff most people throw away. This autumn, she’s been attracted to the warm colors of the leaves that she picks up and tucks into a notebook. “I never throw anything away,” she says. “Or that’s what people tell me.”

WHAT: In the Spirit of La Vigia: Artist book exhibit
WHERE: Memorial Union, MU campus
WHEN: Nov. 5-17
COST: Free
CALL: 882-2889
ONLINE:craftstudio.missouri.edu

In her garage studio, zip bags, thumbtacks, floral tubes and blue pipettes are organized into neatly labeled boxes. Spangler will use these to create her diverse projects from sculptures to books.

Spangler experimented with different techniques during her 25 years teaching in the public school system. She taught seventh through ninth grade art at West Junior in Columbia before she became a full-time studio artist in 2000. She received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art education from MU and dabbled in many art forms during her teaching career.

But everything changed in 1986 when she took a papermaking class with some of her fellow teachers.  Spangler submerged her hands in a vat filled with pulp. In that moment, she knew that papermaking was her artistic medium and that she had done something incredible. She made something out of nothing.

“Here I have something that didn’t exist before, and then I have a piece of paper,” Spangler says. “And there’s so much potential.”

She began Bear Creek Paperworks in 1993, and two years later she created the Unbarbie Paper Doll Book that features a curvy woman with seven outfit options in response to the unrealistic expectations of the female body.

She also specializes in using basket-weaving techniques with sculptural forms, which she covers in pieces of handmade paper textured with found objects, such as paperclips, Legos, zippers and buttons.

For about 10 years after she began papermaking, Spangler mastered columnar-shaped sculptures. Since then, she has stretched her technique to include wide and oblong shapes, often with cutouts or caved-in walls.

“You have to have the tricks under your skin before you can destroy the perfection you thought you needed,” Spangler says. “Because then you’re confident, and it doesn’t look like a mistake.”

Spangler calls one of her latest works of art “The Oddessey,” a curved structure with tendrils that wrap around the body. The name emphasizes the odd structure, and the style reflects the direction of her newest crafts. Layers of turquoise-blue cover its curves, and intricate purple beading rests in an enclave at the bottom of the circular structure. Although created from handmade paper, the shiny exterior looks like painted ceramic or stone.

In addition to her sculptures, Spangler binds her handmade paper into artistic books. Two of her creations will be on display in an exhibit at the Craft Studio. “There’s a difference between traditional books like you check out at the library and artist books,” says Mary Franco, co-curator of the exhibit. “In this particular show, there’s one that involves scroll, and several of the books have movable parts which invite viewer interaction.”

One of Spangler’s books represents her visit to Ginkakuji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, in Kyoto, Japan. The journal is tucked inside a box with a mini Zen garden with white pebbles, sand and a wooden rake.

Spangler admits that she doesn’t always have her projects planned out when she begins. That’s why she never stops looking for inspiration. Her intuition will guide her work, like the unfinished black vessel that rests on a shelf in her studio.

“I have no idea what color it’s going to be,” Spangler says. “But it will tell me when it’s time.”