Carol Brighton
Moon Window

Media: hand made paper
Size: 26" x 18" x 0"
$900

Artist Statement:
The three images submitted here are poured pulp paintings of spheres as moons, and circles as transitional spaces. I think about the moon, how eternal it is in our quickly changing times, how beautiful in its resplendence, how reassuring and insightful in taking its distant viewpoint towards our earth. The sphere and circle are fascinating to me, if they’re as big as the moon or as small as a microscopic particle. So I have been working with spheres and circles, often seen as a moon.

It is a pleasure to create pulp paintings whether they stand on their own as paintings or are composed to allow for later printing. The basic materials of fibers and water combine to open up a rich field of creative possibilities, and the unique characteristic of paper pulp allow for lots of innovations in painting techniques. The idea of integrating a work from beginning the composition as a poured pulp painting to completion with an intaglio print echoes my intentions in making art as an integrative process. The transition from preparing the pulp, pouring the image and finally taking the dry paper to the etching press provides an integrative relationship to sources. And of course, handmade paper takes a printed line so beautifully.

Preparing strands of paper fibers from a raw state to a cooked and beaten pulp roots the paper maker in physical sources as a starting point. Then the flow in paper making and its wet to dry nature is a rich reminder, mirroring being alive as everything changes. What is once fragile becomes strong and also what is once raw and coarse becomes clarified and fine. I love the flow.

My artwork is a way of understanding meaning, of sharing experience. The art process reflects how the mind works in this combination of using materials at hand and watching the mind. Something gets created in the world, an intentional communication and an offering of reflection.

Biography

I am a paper maker and a print maker, and I show my artwork frequently. My hand made paper works and prints can be currently seen at the Ren Brown Collection in Bodega Bay, CA. I first learned paper making as an art student at UC Berkeley and subsequently furthered my training as a paper maker at Magnolia paper studio where I learned production paper making methods. I studied Chinese language along with my art classes while at University, and have since then traveled throughout Asia over a period of many years. I was a co-founder of a non-profit paper project in Lhasa, Tibet, where we established a paper making studio for generating income at a crafts school orphanage.

I find paper makers wherever I travel. Much to my great pleasure and joy I worked at Awagami paper studio in Japan. I worked with indigo dyed Kozo pulp making poured pulp paintings. The entire experience was exhilarating. I have also been to Nepal several times and worked with paper makers there.

Hand paper making suits my instincts about the value of open cultural borders in our increasingly smaller world. Paper making flows across borders as an open field for creativity, and changes to succeed in the culture where it arrives. To me this is a lesson for all of us.

http://www.carolbrighton.com/