Cast Paper Works 1981-1982

In the late 70’s I created works by hand forming paper or by making made molds out of plaster so I could cast the handmade paper.
The works were pigmented with dry pigments or had inclusions of titanium and glass.
The undulating surface on the works was to mimic the sensation of waves.

Azua 1981
22″ x 28″ x 2″
Hand-formed, cast handmade paper, dry pigments

Banana Republic 1981
22″ x 32″ x 6″
Cast handmade paper, glass, dry pigments, titanium

Changes in Latitude 1982
22″ x 32″ x 6″
Cast handmade paper, glass, dry pigments, titanium

Maisi 1981
22″ x 56″ x 4″
Cast handmade paper, glass, dry pigments, titanium, shells, acrylic

Weather Report 1981
22″ x 28″ x 4″
Cast handmade paper, glass, dry pigments, titanium, shells, acrylic

REVIEWS
By Robert Duffy

….several years ago, joan appeared on the scene in St. Louis and began showing work of great originality and promise. Her medium is handmade, molded paper, and with this medium she produces work that is strongly sculptural. She is interested in sailing and nautical themes, and her fan shaped constructions bob on the gallery’s walls like sailboats on the chop.

Her surfaces are alive with texture and incident. She creates patterns by molding the paper, by incising the surface, and by the addition of materials such as wire and pieces of metal. Her colors are bold and are used in imaginative combinations.”

Text from review in St. Louis Post Dispatch April 29,1982
By Patricia Degener.

Hall’s subject matter is the tropical seas, its flora and fauna, what lives and moves in it and on it. Through form, color and use of rich assortment of materials, Hall captures the energy, movement and sheer dazzle of her chosen landscape.

Her sculptures are made of pigmented, handmade and cast paper, fish or boat like in shape, the form often corrugated to further the image of rocking ocean movement. To these paper forms, Hall adds snake-like rods of glass that pierce the form and fins and rapaciously saw-toothed shapes cut out of electronically treated titanium in oil slick colors….

Each material-paper, glass and metal that hall processes and assembles-enhances the imagery of glittery, watery reflection, flashing movement and jewel-like color, Her use of handcrafted mediums in the making of art reflects the concern of a large group of younger artists with craft methods and the breaking down of those barriers that once dictated what art should or should not be made of.

The ancient process of papermaking and paper casting has blossomed in the last decade. Hall and her work will be featured in a documentary film and two forthcoming books on papermaking.