Lisa Miles
Book of the Wild Choke Cherry Place, 2020 

Media: hand-beaten kozo bark paper, natural dyes 

Artist Statement:
This beaten bark paper book offers a glimpse of Rio Arriba County in Northern New Mexico. Millions of years ago, this was an ancient sea bed. Today, it is an arid region. Each year, precipitation continues to plummet. Severe drought and wildfires threaten sacred lands throughout the West.

one-of-a-kind • 4” x 8” (closed) / 16” x” 8” (flat) / approx. 12” x 8” (on display)
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On Process
A pulp painting creates images with pigmented pulp; in this process, I meditatively “draw” with plant-dyed kozo fiber. Inspired by ancient Aztec and Maya papermaking traditions, I have innovated the technique to produce imagery that is composed face-down during the wet stages of the formation process. The fiber is then hand-beaten with a stone and air-dried. The slightly-abstracted composition is revealed when the dried sheet is released from the board. The process is plant-based and has low environmental impact.

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Biography

Lisa Miles is a papermaker and book artist who focuses on hand-beaten bark papers. She creates limited edition artist books under the imprint Dutchess Press. Originally from New England, Miles lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She holds an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book. In 2017–2018, she represented the United States as a Fulbright Arts Researcher for her project “Bark Paper, Plant Dyes, and the Book Arts in Indonesia.”