“Every time I make paper I learn something new about color combinations”

The Papermaking Center just opened in the art studio – to replace the Clay Center, which just closed (in preparation for the end of the quarter.) For some it is a whole new, exciting experience, full of wonder. For others it is the favorite center, back at last, ready for students to pick up where they left off last year. The spiraling curriculum, in which ideas, methods, materials and techniques come around again, provides learners with an opportunity to experiment with novelty and “go deep” toward mastery.




“Every time I make paper I learn something new about color combinations”  - "W," grade 5

Paper makers are also colorologists – blending and mixing hues to achieve desired and often unexpected results. Art teachers are accustomed to teaching about color-mixing through paint, but my students are teaching me that the same concepts can be discovered and understood through the alchemy of handmade papers. “If you use opposite colors,” advises one, it will turn yucky.”

 Experiences and conversations such as these provide teachable “just in time” moments to suggest art vocabulary such as “complimentary colors” for “opposite” ones and “neutral color” for “yucky.”