My first teaching experience at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts (ESSA) was in 2005. The school had been active for many years, teaching classes in artists studios and now owned a building outside of Eureka Springs, AR on Hwy 62. I was asked to include in my class proposal a list of resources ESSA should provide: water, electricity and table space as well as a list of the equipment I would bring: blenders, vats, buckets, beater, press, etc for students to use in my papermaking class. They had a building and nothing else.
In July 2016, I taught at ESSA for the sixth time. Each time I am there I notice the improvements and expansions. I am excited to witness their growth and am proud to have been a tiny part of it.
Eureka Springs School of the Arts main classroom building.
Today, the Eureka Springs School of the Arts has grown to include a jewelry building, a metals studio, a fibers studio, an administration building, an artist-in-residence studio and a cottage for out-of-town instructors. A wood studio is planned and fund raising is underway.
The Eureka Springs School of the Arts administration building next door to the main classroom building.
Groomed paths invite you to stroll the property and enjoy the beauty of this special place nestled in the Ozark mountains.
THERMAL SCREEN PRINTING *NEW CLASS* March 30; Saturday 10-4; $65 includes all materials
Transform your black and white drawings or copyright free clip art into a screen for printing on fabric or paper. Before class, make photocopies of several linear designs you want as a screen. Screens are 8.5" x 11", so plan margins and edging for your "frame". Two smaller images can be made on the same screen and cut apart. After making a screen for printing, we will print the images onto fabric and paper. Class fee includes three 11"x8.5" thermal screens; additional screens are $6 each. If you aren't familiar with this technique, check out YouTube videos on Thermofax Screen Printing.
PAPERMAKING FROM PLANTS April 20; Saturday 10-4; $65 includes all materials
Learn the process of making paper from common local plants from harvesting, preparations, cooking, beating to forming sheets. If you've never made paper from beater processed plant pulps, this is an opportunity to explore a variety of plant fibers (day lily leaves, surprise lily leaves, daffodil/jonquil leaves, and more). No previous papermaking experience is necessary. A great workshop for beginning or experienced papermakers.
RANDOM WEAVE BASKETS April 27; Saturday 10-4; $65 includes all materials
Using natural vines and reed, you will learn to weave a form/basket/well hanging with random structure. The result will be a "post modern" or "deconstructed" form. In other words, if you don't like measuring spokes or following printed directions, this style of basket making is for you!
SIMPLE BOOKS: SIMPLE STRUCTURES*- a week long intensive!
June 17-21, 2013; M-F; 9 am-4 pm; studio available evenings
Learn folding without measuring, invisible joining, removable covers, hard covers and closures, as you create a sampling of books using simple structures. Participants will learn: flag, photo and envelope books based on the accordion fold; use the clam/lotus fold to create star, inchworm and ornament books and stitched structures using pamphlet binding, stab binding and Coptic binding. Of special interest to creative writing and elementary/secondary education students, these inviting book structures will excite young readers and nonreaders and will also provide an interesting format for classroom presentations in all subject areas. Two hours (graduate or undergraduate)college credit is availablethrough Central Methodist University. Class will be held at Bear Creek Paperworks Studio in Columbia, MO.
HAND PAPERMAKING -- EXPERIMENTATION AND EXPLORATION*- a week long intensive! June 24-28, 2013; M-F; 9 am-4 pm; studio available evenings
Emphasizing experimentation with papermaking techniques, participants will use cotton linter pulp to make many samples of handmade paper. Techniques will include: flat sheet forming, layering color blocks, layering shapes of color (stencil/shaped deckles), shaping pulps by hand, creating textures (impressing, appliqué, hand manipulation), pulp painting and wet collage. Use of watermarks, pulp inclusions, pulp coloration, paper chemistry (sizing, formation aid), pulp preparation from linters and drying methods will be discussed. Students will construct a mould and deckle. Two hours (graduate or undergraduate) college credit is available through Central Methodist University. Class will be held at Bear Creek Paperworks Studio in Columbia, MO.
PAPERMAKING FROM PLANTS - a week long intensive! *NEW CLASS* (I generally teach this as a one day class -- imagine five days of plants, pulps and paper!) @ Eureka Springs School of the Arts, Eureka Springs, AR July 8-12, 2012; M-F; 9 am-4 pm
Learn the process of making paper from common local plants. You will love turning the sword shaped leaves from your garden waste into handmade paper. Iris, day lily, daffodil, surprise lily, yucca, cat tail (to name a few) all make a unique and interesting paper. Some are translucent others dense with texture. Naturally colors range from creamy tan to russet brown, but can be pigmented to create a rainbow. You will identify paper potential plants; gather/harvest; cut/cook/process into pulp by hand beating with a mallet, blender beating and in the Hollander beater. No previous papermaking experience is necessary.
SKIN & BONES -- SCULPTURAL FORMS OF REED AND PAPER - a week long intensive! *NEW CLASS* (I have taught this as a three day class at a conference. Now, available for the first time as a five day experience!) @Eureka Springs School of the Arts, Eureka Springs, AR July 15-19, 2013; M-F; 9-4 pm
Create the bones of a sculptural form using the traditional basket making technique of twining, but with a twist. These pliable armatures will be twisted, curled or expanded into sculptural forms pleasing to the maker. Held rigid during drying and sheathing, the skeletal structure of reed will be covered with skin of decorative/handmade papers. Selection of papers and pattern of appliqué will individualize each participant's form creating a unique personal expression. No two will be alike. This technique/process can be used for creating work for the wall or pedestal. Mechanics for hangers, creating bases, building in balance and care of completed sculptural work will be addressed.
* 2012 Central Methodist University fees (fee increase for 2013 is possible):
Audit/CPU (no credit): $350.00 2 hours undergraduate credit: $350.00 2 hours graduate credit: $430.00 plus materials fee: $35 to instructor on the first day of class
A papermaking student recently asked advice about organizing and storing samples of pulps/papers she has made. Because she is a visual learner, I sent her photos of some of the ways I have organized my samples. This may be of interest to others, so today is a "share something that has worked for me" day.
My earliest attempt at labeling and keeping samples -- masking tape labels stuck directly on the handmade paper. I don't recommend this as masking tape isn't archival, but there hasn't been a problem with these which were done in 1994.
For several years I placed samples in plastic sleeeves with a typed tag: fiber content, processing, drying method, paper maker (I sometimes "traded" paper samples with others in a workshop) and date. The plastic sleeves aren't archival either, but I haven't had problems with them either.
A plus with using the 8.5 x 11 plastic sleeves is that you can store related paper samples and raw plant fiber samples. I began saving plant samples in 2002 when a student brought a plant to try that wasn't in my "gathering" area.
In 2001 I began participating in the Yahoo Papermaking Group Swatch Swap. This is something I recommend for anyone interested in paper variations. You have to "pay to play". That is, you send in 2" x 3" samples of a kind of paper you have made (the organizer will tell you how many -- the range has been 55-80). In addition you give the recipe (kind of fiber, processing, pressing method, drying method, etc.). Each year the swatch book is different, but in it you receive a sample of each paper submitted and how it was made! The samples are adhered on one edge so you can feel and look at the front and back. The books are real treasures. The 2012 book should be arriving soon.
In 2001 I also got my beater and decided to keep a record of the pulps I made in it. Again, plastic sleeves in a notebook with fiber, beating times, etc. My PAPERS FROM BEAR CREEK sample book was inspired by the first swatch swap book I received.
My intentions were good, but my reality is a bit different. I do save samples of my pulps, but the recipe is "iffy" unless it is a new fiber. My organized system has devolved, but the important information is there. (I have narrowed what I think is important.) That being said, I keep very good notes for samples I make for the swatch swap.
These plastic sleeves are for baseball/sport collector cards. Artist Trading Cards are the same size as "baseball" cards. These ATCs were made and traded at a Missouri Fiber Artists retreat a few years ago. 2.5" x 3.5" would be a nice size for samples.
Do you remember 35mm slides? I have notebooks filled with plastic sleeves (with 2" x 2" pockets) containing hundreds of slides. Hummmm. I don't need the slides anymore. I could repurpose the plastic sleeves for ??????? I'm thinking.
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.”
