amanda briggs at dear ada

julie cockburn.

Recently I was cleaning out some of the stacks of tears I've collected over the years. I came across an article about the artist julie cockburn who uses old books and magazines as the material for her art. Cut outs, collages, repurposed imagery all reveal an intriguing depth and interconnectedness below the surface of the page, and metaphorically, of life. I just went to her site this morning and was truly blown away. Everything about it, the imagery, the great use of color, the cutting out and layering and creation of depth, the random visual connectedness that is created through that process, all make me a bit short of breath. Add to that the downright beauty of the results and I have to say it just doesn't get much better than this!

kako ueda.

I am in awe of paper cutting as an art form. I love the delicacy and intricacy of a fine paper cut. And I'm always impressed by the crafting and skill it takes to achieve an art piece of this quality by kako ueda, which is, in a word, breathtaking. I love this flat and bold expression of the organic quality of nature. Truly amazing work!

shannon ranking.

I love the cut paper work by shannon ranking. Though very modern, crisp and clean, this piece also reminds me of a botanical drawing of a cross section of a flower. Clean yet organic, simple yet mysterious. Really lovely work!

yuken teruya.

Add this piece by yuken teruya to the list of amazingly crafted pieces of art made out of paper. These intricate dioramas are made from shopping bags, adding an interesting contextual tension around nature and commerce. Or maybe it's just that the shopping bag paper is perfect for cut work such as this. Regardless, it's absolutely lovely. Thanks for the sweet link via shiny squirrel.

georgia russell.

How amazing is this cut book piece by georgia russell? Dimensional and glamorous, layered and mysterious, plus the crafting is exquisite too. Just lovely!

celio braga.

I discovered the work of celio braga while meandering the web this weekend. I'm blown away by these pieces, created by perferating (above) and partially cutting (below) the surface of the sheet of paper. The paper behaves like a sculptural material designed to be pushed and prodded, rather than the usual flat substraight that we think of to draw or paint apon. The resulting dimensionality reveals the pattern of the "drawing" through shadow and light, rather than ink or paint or pigment. Wonderful! I find these pieces remarkable and provacative in both technique and the sense of skin, scarification and decoration they evoke. Yes, they're wonderful, indeed.

alison foshee.

alison foshee makes amazing creatures out of white labels on paper.

sue blackwell diorama's.

Oh my goodness. The collage, bookcuts of sue blackwell are amazing. I can't say I've seen anything like them. Magical, fantastic, beautifully crafted. Really remarkable. Thanks to collagemania for this lovely find.

robert ryan couture.

I love, love this one-off, cut paper dress by the wonderful artist robert ryan that I found in a recent british vogue issue. It's not a real dress that anyone could actually wear, which is too bad, because wouldn't you just love to if you could? Totally fabulous, as is the rest of his amazing cut paper work!

chris natrop.

I love doodles. I have hundreds of them from years of meetings. It's not that I'm not paying attention, but rather that I can't keep my hands still. So I draw. It's a lot better than shifting from side to side in my chair or annoyingly tapping my foot with excess energy.

Having said that, I love the look of doodles. Dense linework, meandering pattern, regimented texture. Well thanks to lena corwin's wonderful blog (and I mean really wonderful!) I was introduced to the amazing art of chris natrop. His beautiful cut paper pieces have an aesthetic that remind me a little of what I love about doodles, the density, the wander of the line. But to me his work also feels like there is a beautiful mystery inside. Like there is something familiar and known here, but I just can't tease it out into a clear picture. So finely constructed and conceived, this is work that's amazing in both it's crafting and overall impact. Oh, wonderful!