2022 Conference Archive
Activating Materials
October 8 and October 9, 2022 I Virtual
The substance of paper alone has the potential to supplement an idea or contribute to the concept or meaning of a work of art rather than abiding as a quiescent substrate for one's writing or images. Papermaking is an alchemical process through which materials relinquish their original states of being to be transmuted into sheets of handmade paper. It is only when paper exists in this ostensibly fixed state that its maker is presented with a choice to either maintain or neglect that which tethers it-whether physical or figurative-to the past and its intransigent, material integrity.
Papermakers may endow handmade paper with an added layer of value by indicating the raw materials whence the paper was made. Plant fibers sourced from specific locations; machine-made paper; old drawings, prints, book pages, and letters; uniforms; tablecloths; flags; and currency are some examples of materials that have been used to create a physical connection to place or to recycle objects with which memories, stories, and experiences are associated into handmade paper.
2021 Conference Archive
Fluid Practices
Sept. 25-26, 2021 I Virtual
Throughout the almost 2,000-year history of hand papermaking, the raw materials, processes, tools, and techniques involved in producing handmade paper have been shaped both by the available resources as well as by limitations of the time. As the world became more interconnected, those resources and ideas began influencing the practice on a larger scale. This adaptability extends to the hands of each maker who imparts their own idiosyncrasies on the objects that they form using the pliant medium of pulp. In the wake of an increasing number of digital technologies and workflows, hand papermaking has continued to prove its fluidity, resulting in a hybridized approach through which traditional processes often interface with software, computer-generated output, and virtual platforms at various stages.
Paper Currents 2020
Online Virtual Conference
October 17-18, 2020
Our first-ever virtual conference, free to all current members! Check here for updates.
Updated: 2020 Conference Digital Keepsake is now online. Created by our fellow members and beautifully designed by volunteer Azam Majooni Golkhatmi it is a downloadable PDF.
The final conference schedule with speakers was online, with speakers and titles of their papers or panels! (Registrants will receive meeting IDs and passwords via email on Friday October 16 after registration closes.)
Vendor List. This year’s Vendor fair was conducted virtually. A list of vendors is available.
Closed: Registration (free for current members) closed on Friday October 16, 2020 at 5pm.
Closed: Online Silent Auction Donations. Our annual silent auction on October 18 supports the scholarship fund for next year’s conference! Donors must be willing to ship the item to the winner.
Closed: Online auction site is here. (Bidders must register separately on the auction site.) Closed.
Closed: Scholarship Information. Scholarships this year waived membership dues for the current year for currently
enrolled graduate students and others. Closed.
2019 Conference Archive
Manifest(o): Paper Revolutions
Sept. 19-21, 2019 I Philadelphia, PA
Join us September 19-21, 2019 in Philadelphia, where the paper revolution began in America. Friends of Dard Hunter invites you to attend Manifest(o): Paper Revolutions hosted by University of the Arts and University of Pennsylvania. The conference explores paper's endurance as a material, subject, and object in contemporary art. Paper will manifest in exhibitions, demonstrations, and panel discussions to explore the revolution from papers' origins, in its present form, and the launch of paper into the future.
2018 Conference Archive
Matrices: The Social Life of Paper, Print, and Art
October 25–27, 2018 I Iowa City, Iowa
Please join us as we explore the technological and cultural matrices connecting print and paper. Today’s practitioners and scholars have a rich archive of historical production methods and societal uses of art on paper to draw from in their work and research. Be it decorative, instructional, devotional, or functional artwork, we consider how this matrix of origins and innovations is retrieved, shared, and developed. A joint annual conference with the Friends of Dard Hunter (FDH) and the University of Iowa Center for the Book (UICB).
2017 Conference Archive
Chasing Paper
October 11-13, 2017 I Atlanta Georgia
Our hosts, keynote speaker lectures, presentations, and panel discussions.
Past Conferences of the North American Hand Papermakers
(formerly Friends of Dard Hunter)
2016 Earth Paper Sky, Santa Fe, NM (New Mexico Museum of History)
2015 Paper Points North, Banf, Alberta, Canada (Banff Arts Centre)
2014 Paper on the Press. San Francisco and Oakland, CA (Mills College) (joint meeting with American Printing History Association (APHA)
2013 Papers, Please. St. Louis, MO.
2012 Cleveland (Morgan Conservatory) (joint meeting with IAPMA, International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists)
2011 [Regional Meeting--No general conference] (Santa Barbara, Appleton, Pittsfield, UK)
2010 Many Directions of Hand Papermaking Gatlinburg, TN (Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts)
2009 Atlanta, GA (Robert C. Williams Paper Museum)
2008 Kona, Hawaii. Theme of "Paper in Paradise"
2007 Washington D.C.
2006 Chillicothe, OH
2005 Salt Lake City, UT
2004 San Antonio, TX
2003 Minneapolis, MN (Minnesota Center for Book Arts)
2002 Portland, OR
2001 Dalton, MA (Crane Museum of Papermaking and Center for the Paper Arts)
2000 Atlanta, GA (Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking/IPTC)
1999 Chicago, IL, with a pre-meeting pilgrimage to Twinrocker Mill in Brookston, Indiana
1998 Burlington, VT
1997 Sonoma, CA
1996 New York and Brooklyn, NY at Dieu Donne Papermill and co-hosted by Carriage House and Dobbin Mill
1995 Austin, TX
1994 Chillicothe, OH, and at Mountain House
1993 Atlanta, GA at newly opened American Museum of Papermaking
1992 Iowa City, Iowa, at the University of Iowa Center for the Book
1991 Grant’s Pass, OR
1990 Philadelphia (King of Prussia), PA, with the Friends of Historic Rittenhouse Town
1989 Reno, NV, co-hosted by the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA)
1988 Bloomington, ID, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, in conjunction with Friends of Lilly Library
1987 Appleton, WI. (Final meeting in Appleton); attended by 90 members.
1986 Appleton, WI. Attended by 85 members.
1985 First Annual Meeting is held at the Dard Hunter Paper Museum, Appleton, WI.
Other meetings, prior to our first official meeting in 1985:
1983 One Hundredth Anniversary of Dard Hunter’s birth. Special meeting held in Columbus, OH, and Chillicothe, OH, home of Dard Hunter.
1982 Second Official Meeting of FDHPM is held in Milwaukee, WI, during AIC Meeting; attended by 50 People.
1981 First official Meeting of the Friends of the Dard Hunter Paper Museum (FDHPM) is held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during AIC conference. Official name, bylaws, constitution, and membership fee are adopted. [Nonprofit 501(c)3 status granted by the Internal Revenue Service in 1985.]
1980 preliminary meeting is held in San Francisco, California, at AIC conference to discuss establishing a Friends group for the Dard Hunter Paper museum.
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