Paper Quilt Project

Primarily a painter, Cindy also works with different mediums including film, photography, textiles and with the process of papermaking by hand to create mixed media pieces. Most recent works are a departure from her paintings on canvas in that they feature paper as a primary medium which is combined with stitching, watercolours and various inks.

Paper is often viewed as an ubiquitous everyday material and when it comes to art, traditionally paper (especially in the Western world) is only recognized as a surface for two dimensional paintings and drawings. However, as a seemingly ordinary material, paper carries historical, cultural, social, and economic weight. It can be used to explore a variety of modern day political and social issues.

Working with paper as a primary medium encapsulates and engages her conceptual concerns which includes: the passage of time, of slowness, of our movement through urban and forested landscapes, of caring for our landscapes, of control vs. chance, of juxtapositions, and of regeneration.  Through papermaking she has also developed a creative strategy that involves academic research with hands on experimentation. Working with paper and stitching is also a very tactical process that she finds deeply fulfilling.

In a highly digital age where faster is often deemed better and where we spend hours in front of screens, she believes that paper’s “slowness” helps to reset and replenish what the synthetic surface and speed of screen time has taken away.  Her hope is that all the layers and details in the works encourages viewers to look at them slowly, creating moments of stillness and perhaps leading to reflection.

In her quest for slowness and sustainability she began this paper quilt project using paper scraps or handmade papers that she didn’t find suitable for the stitched landscape works. Cindy felt they needed to be a part of something bigger.  This is a work in progress and a living documentation. She believes this will be a part of her art practice for some time as new quilts get made from scraps of different projects.