Papercutting Workshop With Mindy Shapiro

Papercutting is an ancient art dating back to the creation of paper during the 1st century in China. Since that time, artisans have used paper, scissors and knives to create objects both ornamental and functional. Perhaps you made a snow flake in grade school or have seen silhouettes. These are forms of papercutting. In this workshop, you will learn out to develop your own design and create a picture. We will spend time looking at the history of papercutting and viewing papercut samples from around the world. We will look to the traditions of Mexico, and the Day of the Dead celebrations; along with the rich traditions of Polish and Jewish papercutting for inspiration. What will you learn in this workshop? 1. Designing a papercut (you will make one complete papercuts in this workshop) 2. Negative and positive space and understand what gets cut out and what stays in 3. Learning how to use an Xacto knife to cut a design 4. Using color papers to provide background contrasts 5. A bit about the history of papercutting around the world Tuition: $30 / $25 for members Materials fee: $10