Sometimes paper is for more than writing, printing or wrapping a gift. Sometimes paper is art. Last fall WSU Vancouver’s campus community had an opportunity to make paper that tells a story.
The Peace Paper Project travels all over the world to make a positive difference through hand papermaking. In October it came to WSU Vancouver for three days. Faculty, staff and students were invited to bring fibers that had special meaning to them to make paper. People brought textiles of sentimental value—well-loved blue jeans, concert T-shirts, baby clothes, old fatigues and more.
Master papermaker Drew Matott showed them what to do from there. Breaking rag is the first step. The chosen cloth is cut into postage stamp-sized pieces. Those pieces are pulverized into pulp. Pulped material is formed into paper on a mold and deckle. The newly formed paper is pressed and hung to dry.
Matott is a teacher, artist and director of the Peace Paper Project. He uses papermaking as a form of social engagement, advocacy, therapy and community building. The Peace Paper Project has worked with orphans, women and girls rescued from sex trafficking, veterans, college students, old people, young people and more, in the United States and abroad.
By creating paper, Matott helped members of the campus community process, cope with or commemorate memories by turning them into art. Every sheet of paper had a story to tell. And it was a whole lot of messy fun, too. ■