Why Paper Mache?

From time to time, I have been asked why I choose to work in paper mache.  This question is often followed by (or sometimes preceded by), “Why take the time to make things at all when you can purchase just about anything you want with the click of a button?”  My answer to those questions is complex and multifaceted, and took my thoughts in unexpected directions.  It has taken three days to get these ideas into a coherent article.

Paper mache is a true Folk Art medium.  In times past, paper mache was used as a decorative arts medium and many homes had ceiling and wall medallions created from paper mache pressed into molds.    There were many cottage industries based around creating Halloween and Easter decorative items from paper mache.  Few old paper mache items remain, because paper mache is basically paper mixed with a paste made from a starch and sometimes a hardener.  Although a well-cared for paper mache piece can last for a century or more, most paper mache items (especially holiday decorations) were discarded after a single use.  I feel ephemeral nature of the medium is part of its charm.  It is a medium to be enjoyed in the moment without worrying about its future.

 Another thing I like about paper mache  is that it is a medium accessible to everyone.  For the cost of a few cents of flour, some scrap paper, and some paint, anyone can create something of interest and beauty.  Art and craft products have become expensive.   Using recycled materials helps stretch the money budgeted for creative products.  Less money spent here is more money to spend somewhere else.

The second question: Why make something when you can buy something (sometimes followed by the silent adjective “nicer”)? 

 I can always site the creative urge, but my feelings on the subject run much deeper than that.  I like to make hand-made objects because they are one of a kind.  I like to manifest my ideas, however imperfectly they are made, because no one else will have something exactly like it.    I prefer having an original product to having a product that can be purchased anywhere by anyone.

Today, with computer controlled machines, products are created to tolerances of thousandths of a millimeter.  Every product is perfect; flawless.  (Yes, I do know that the imperfect ones are culled out and recycled before they reach the public.) My point here is that the younger generations wre living in a time when things are massed produced and perfect.  They are so saturated with the concept of perfection that they have come to reject that which is not perfect.  This is a problem for every individual.  As human beings, we are never going to be perfect.  If we reject the imperfect, what does it say about how we view ourselves?  

My feelings on the concept of the imperfect object are at the very root of my reason for wanting to be creative.  Regardless of the skill level I reach, my work will never be as wonderful as the objects of the natural world.  I can create a rose from paper mache and paint, but it will never match the beauty of a real rose. Nor will any doll I create every match the energy and vitality of a person.  However, I have learned that I can embrace and even cherish these imperfect things.  And is that understanding has led me to a greater acceptance of myself and my fellow human beings.  Art passes on information on both conscious and unconscious levels, perhaps that why I really like to create.  I have a message for you about love and acceptance.  You can’t see it in the art, but somewhere along the line you are being sent a message on accepting and loving an imperfect thing.