This workshop will introduce techniques for building multi-layer paper pulp compositions. Participants will learn additive and reductive pulp-painting techniques and be encouraged to experiment outside the territory of traditional papermaking.
In the first workshop, we will form base sheets. Participants will learn to form sheets of paper using a deckle box in a streamlined at-home setup. Instruction in and experimentation with pulp pigmenting, watermarking, paper shaping, and making multi-color sheets will be included.
In the second workshop, participants will experiment with simple tools to build low relief palimpsest-like paper “paintings” atop base sheets. Participants will experience the vast range of possibilities that papermaking provides to those interested in texture, composition, and pattern.
All sessions will be held online over Zoom and recorded. Recordings will be emailed to participants within 24 hours of the session. Recordings are available for one year. This workshop features 2 hour instruction sessions on Saturdays and a midweek meetup to troubleshoot, share progress, and gather in community with other participants. Live sessions are scheduled as follows:
- Saturday, April 11, 5-7PM EDT (convert timezone)
- Wednesday, April 15, 7-8PM EDT (convert timezone)
- Saturday, April 18, 5-7PM EDT (convert timezone)
SUPPLIES
Participants in US and Canada have the option to purchase a material kit curated by Joy for an additional charge. We cannot mail outside the US and Canada. We are not able to ship material kits after April 1, 2026.
- $25 material kit + $10 Shipping (US)
- $25 material kit + $30 Shipping + Customs Fees (Canada)
- Participants also have the option to purchase supplies on their own using Joy’s supply list. All participants outside of the US and Canada must purchase their own supplies.
Please contact us at events@surfacedesign.org for questions about supplies.
Gallery
About Your Instructor
Joy Scanlon lives and works in Minneapolis, MN. Scanlon is a painter who employs organic, experimental hand-papermaking processes to translate, distort, and reproduce patterns. Scanlon’s large-scale handmade paper “paintings” are composed mostly of pigmented cotton pulp with inclusions of surface drawing, encaustic, and painting. Her practice is driven by experimentation with paper pulp, creating new papermaking systems and structures to build paintings that draw on diverse decorative and craft traditions. Scanlon’s vibrant, multi-layered paintings are composed of geometric forms that repeat and aberrate, suggesting both orderly pattern and disorder
Scanlon has participated in group, solo and two-person exhibitions nationally. Scanlon is a recipient of Ox-Bow School of Art Merit Scholarship (2025), Nexus Grant (2024), Frick Art Award (2024), Kossak Painting Fellowship (2015-2016), and has been an artist-in-residence at Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild and Lacawac Artists’ Residency. Scanlon received her MFA from UT Austin (2022) and her BFA from Hunter College, CUNY (2016).