Sara Gilfert

Essay by Margaret Rhein

Sara McCalmont Gilfert was born on June 1, 1929 in Tarkio, Missouri. She grew up in various places; her father was a physics teacher and taught at several colleges around the Midwest. In 1947, Sara went to Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While she was earning her major in liberal arts, she worked as a DJ at an on-campus radio station that was established by her future husband James Gilfert along with Rod Serling (of the original Twilight Zone fame). Jim and Sara married in June 1949 when Sara was 19. When she graduated in 1950, Sara focused on raising their three children. In 1966, Sara resumed her studies at Ohio State University where she majored in home economics, textiles, and clothing/communications in 1967. In 1970, she received a BFA in sculpture in the Cutler Program (for advanced students) from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Sara’s career in weaving began in the 1970s and continued into the mid-1980s. She was already familiar with tailoring clothes from her home economics classes at OSU, which she remembers fondly. From that course, she made her husband Jim a fitted suit jacket and his PhD gown. In 1973 Sara traveled to Japan with stops in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kyoto where she visited weavers and textile exhibitions. In 1974, she took a textile-manipulation workshop on the Sprang technique in Ohio with Peter Collingwood who traveled from Oakland, California. Sara continued to make many textile sculptures using the Sprang technique. She was featured in a local paper at the time with the following quote: “I think that almost everyone who tries Sprang gets the idea that they want to make a hammock. But my advice is don’t even try it. I did and I finally gave up in despair.” Sara went on to present lectures and workshops at Ohio University including her “Japanese Textiles” lecture for a Fibers conference, “Twining” workshop; and “Sprang I” workshop for the university’s continuing-education department in Athens, Ohio. 

Sara was always exploring many creative ways of using fibers. In 1975 she took a contemporary weaving workshop with Walter Nottingham in Columbus, Ohio and a “Textile Methods in Jewelry” workshop with Mary Lee Hu in Athens, Ohio. Innovating with weaving techniques was the main component of her MFA in fiber studies, which she earned at Ohio University in 1976. Her courses and artwork during those years were varied and evolving, expressing her emotions and realities at the time.

After earning her MFA, Sara took her first papermaking workshop in 1979. That began her 40+ years of papermaking. In 1980, she joined the Friends of Dard Hunter, now the North American Hand Papermakers. This organization gave her the inspiration and information she needed in her self-taught papermaking journey. As her love for papermaking flourished, Sara began teaching in the Fibers Department at Ohio University in 1980.

In the middle of her teaching career, Sara joined her husband Jim (a professor of engineering at Ohio University who was on a three-month sabbatical) in Japan, Jan–March 1980. To expand her knowledge of papermaking and fibers, Sara arranged for an apprenticeship to learn with Mr. Kazuhiza Ando, a master traditional papermaker in the village of Obara in Aichi prefecture. Through his guidance, she experienced the art and technique of Japanese hand papermaking and fell in love with the process. She learned the complicated and precise process of making large sheets used for walls and sliding doors in traditional Japanese houses. 

In 1984, the family moved to a new house in Athens, Ohio that had a barn on the property. With the help of her husband and sons, they renovated the barn to become Sara’s at-home papermaking studio. She worked in her studio for almost a decade, creating new tools, techniques, and elaborate pieces of art and sheets of paper. She explored various motifs and themes, mostly revolving around the feminist movement.

Sara Gilfert retired as instructor in fibers in the Art Department of Ohio University’s College of Fine Arts in 1985 and focused on making her paper art in her home studio for over 10 years. During this time, she traveled with Elaine & Sidney Koretsky to Myanmar to see the ancient ways of making bamboo paper for gold-leaf beaters. Gilfert wrote a very descriptive article, “Bamboo Paper in Myanmar: A Trip in a Time Warp” for the Bull & Branch Newsletter, published in 1994.

In 1999, Sara Gilfert’s solo exhibition “Myth, Magic and Meditations” was featured at the Robert C. Williams American Museum of Papermaking in Atlanta, Georgia. She exhibited kimono forms, robes, and masks, all made with her handmade papers and collage elements, in the four cardinal directions. Other pieces in the exhibition were inspired by the nature she saw around her in Appalachian Ohio.

In 2001, Sara Gilfert founded a nonprofit paper-art studio and gallery on the historic Public Square in Nelsonville, Ohio, which in 2003 became Paper Circle. It was incorporated as a non-profit arts organization dedicated to the preservation, advancement, and celebration of the paper and book arts; its main focus has been on the art and craft of papermaking. Sara has been committed to Paper Circle ever since, training apprentices and sharing her love of hand papermaking with the wider community. The program includes a studio for artists, workshops, and classes. Residencies by visiting artists started after the pandemic. For 15 years, Paper Circle has run a four- or five-week-long summer intensive art program for children and youth, called The Circle Round the Square. Paper Circle has a director, a papermaker, and volunteers who help with producing paper, lessons, and exhibitions. 

I met Sara initially in the early 1980s at a panel discussion in Cincinnati given by the Athens Tapestry Works, where she was a member from 1982 to 1986. This was a group of artists making commissioned fiber works that were installed as public artworks in a number of buildings in Ohio. My background was also in fiber art, making textiles in weaving, tapestry, spinning, and macramé sculptures before getting into papermaking in 1977 at my studio, Terrapin Paper Mill in Cincinnati, Ohio, so we have always had a strong fiber connection. Personally, I am grateful to Sara Gilfert and Paper Circle for giving me the opportunity to teach workshops in papermaking there in 2004 and 2009, and to have two exhibits of my art in addition to selling my handmade paper note cards for many years.

The exhibitions and workshops through the years at Paper Circle have introduced many thousands of people to the possibilities of hand papermaking in the Midwest. Sara’s dream has been realized for over 20 years as more people continue to discover and fall in love with papermaking at Paper Circle. Many people have helped to keep the dream alive. Tom Balbo of the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland was an early friend of and advisor to Sara, and he presently serves on Paper Circle’s board of directors.

On June 2, 2023, Paper Circle hosted a grand gathering to celebrate Sara Gilfert’s 94th birthday and Paper Circle’s 20th anniversary. It was a wonderful event to honor the work and legacy of Paper Circle’s founder Sara Gilfert.

Paper Circle now specializes in making beautiful, strong, thin origami papers of 100% abaca in a variety of colors. They are also offering new services for artists who work in paper, printmaking, or bookbinding. They host virtual online exhibitions and many other programs including an annual kozo harvest event in November where they invite the local community to join them in preparing the fiber for papermaking. Paper Circle is located at 35 West Columbus Street, in Nelsonville, Ohio. Thanks to Paper Circle Executive Director Barbara (Scout) Ery for continuing to keep the dream alive, assisted by resident papermaker Drew Svoboda.

CODA — Spring 2024
Sara Gilfert passed away on Friday, March 15, 2024 surrounded by her family at home hospice. It is sad when a longtime friend leaves this world, and I am so glad I was part of helping to have her accomplishments documented, and that she received the honor of becoming a 2023 Papermaking Champion for the North American Hand Papermakers. Her family is hoping to celebrate her life on what would have been her 95th birthday on June 1, 2024, by having a memorial gathering for her at the Athens Community Center (701 E. State St., Athens OH 45701) on Sat., June 1, from 5 to 8pm. This will be an unplanned event, without a schedule, without a speaker. People are asked to come share memories and stories about Sara with friends and family. Come when you can, leave when you must. Potluck welcome, BYOBeverage (water available).

Her daughter Susan told me that she would send out more information when it was available. Susan did mention “Sara was thrilled to have been chosen as a champion of paper making. She felt it was a great honor." - Margaret (Peg) Rhein

For more information about Paper Circle, please visit their website.

Email: shop.papercircle@gmail.com / Phone: 740-341-0787 / Instagram: @paper_circle