Wild paper canvas
- Jane forages elements from the landscape around her to make paper sculptures and installations
- She often sets her pieces in the wild, expressing a circularity of the material
- Her papermaking is rooted in tradition, although her pieces are contemporary
Jane Ponsford has a deep connection with materials and place. Her studio is filled with collected materials, unfinished sculptures, and tools for preparing fibres and forming paper. "Paper is a conduit for absorbing and containing other substances," says Jane. Gathering from the landscape in the area around her home, natural fibres, soil, minerals from the earth, as well as plants, all find their way into her work. Jane's treatment of paper, this ubiquitous material, transforms it from a basic material into art. Though unconventional in approach, Jane’s process is rooted in tradition, repetitive and meditative. "The repetitiveness of certain gestures feeds my work, and forms are often made up of hundreds of near-identical elements," she explains.
INTERVIEW
At first, I worked with paper alongside other materials: paint, canvas, metal and found materials. However, I soon began to learn about papermaking and it opened up so many possibilities. In 2009, I was awarded a grant to buy my own Hollander beater, and that set me on my path!
Papermaking brings together surface and form. Staining and tearing easily, it is a receptive surface. Paper holds information, it speaks to documentation and archives. Treated well it can survive for hundreds of years, so it is both fragile and strong.
My interest in landscapes relates to the materials they offer up such as chalk, clay, fibres and silt. Paper is ideal to capture traces of these materials in a meaningful way. I also often present the work in the landscape from which it has come.
I enjoy the challenge of working with a ‘fragile’ material in difficult, dirty surroundings at the mercy of the weather. It is a great environment to introduce people to paper. Being outside the gallery or studio breaks down barriers and sets up unexpected encounters.
