paperMakers: The People Behind Paper–Mary Seol, B.Arch24

One of my favorite parts of working at the RCW Museum of Papermaking has to be all the people I get to collaborate with and encounter. The core team of the museum itself is small but mighty, composed of Virginia (museum director), Anna (education curator), and Jerushia (exhibits coordinator). 

I frequently converse with Jerushia about the upcoming fall exhibition on cardboard. I have continued to progress with text for the title wall and have begun the final iteration at full scale. I am hopeful about the exhibition’s potential to remind audiences on how frequently we encounter cardboard in our daily lives and ways in which it can be reused.

Aside from the cardboard exhibition, Virginia taught me how to use PastPerfect– the software used by the museum to digitally catalog the collections. Within the past year, the collections room underwent a renovation after a flood damaged the space. Although the new facility is complete, the collections are in disarray with some artifacts suffering damage. One of my goals for the summer was to assist in sorting, recording damage, and rehousing artifacts. As the RCW Papermaking Museum is home to over 100,000 paper related artifacts and tools, I doubt this is a task that I alone can finish or come close to completing during the fellowship; however, I still hope to help facilitate any organizing or repairing that is urgently needed.

One fun discovery in PastPerfect was an entry of old red envelopes made of hanji (Korean traditional paper).

In collections, I am fortunate enough to work with Ann once a week. Ann worked as a book conservator at Emory University, so it has been an incredible experience shadowing her – especially as I know little about the field of paper conservation.

This week, I learned about how sensitively paper responds to humidity. One of the museum’s artifacts was squished while rolled up as a scroll during the move; to be stored in a better manner, it needed to be flattened. By enclosing the artifact in a container with damp blotters, we created an environment that slowly released moisture. Over time, one could see the paper lose its memory of the curl. The next step was to then carefully remove the artifact, gently unroll it, and place weights evenly over the surface for the paper to forget the memory of the curl. 

Recently, I was able to travel off site with Anna to help with a paper production workshop at the Decatur Public Library. Here I also met Colleen, a librarian and fellow papermaker with a background in book arts. The workshop was a treat to help lead; we were able to teach children how to make paper, many of whom had never made paper before.

Unlike workshops hosted at our museum that are generally condensed (to allow for guests to leave with dry sheets of paper), the participants at the library got to hang wet sheets to dry outside in the sun. Because the sheets were made in a less industrial manner, there was an additional step of placing the stack of wet sheets and felts (called a post) between wooden boards. The children then stood on top to squeeze extra water out. It was quite beautiful to see rows of clothesline with freshly made sheets of paper. I also enjoyed the special inclusions sprinkled into the vat; we added lavender and shredded Euros to make each sheet unique.

I find that workshops are potentially one of the most successful methods of engaging and educating audiences, young and old. I am hopeful programming will continue to pique interest in paper and papermaking.