Staff Pick of the Week: Peace Paper Project manuscript collection
Are you interested in art and activism?
Are you interested in art as a form of trauma therapy?
Do you love learning about projects that bring communities together in collaborative creation?
Then come check out the Peace Paper Project archives held in the Special Collections department! We’ve been collecting the work of this organization for years and now have a handy-dandy finding aid to help our researchers navigate this ever-growing collection! I had the opportunity to get to know this collection rather intimately as I began processing it and preparing the finding aid over the summer months. Despite having handled just about every piece, I somehow manage to see and feel something new every time I return to it.
Shown above are selections from some of the materials still in process: primarily the Riots, Revolts, and Revolutions series as well as artwork crated by Peace Paper founder Drew Matott in response to a series of Veteran Paper Workshops while doing an artist residency at Fresh Press (University of Illinois) in 2013. The handmade paper is made from clothing and the printing is done both with wood type and pulp printing (a method that merges screen printing and stencil spray art).
We encourage our followers to check out both our finding aid for the collection and most especially the website for the Peace Paper Project to learn more. And, since this collection continues to grow, you might find new treasures added to the collection and its finding aid every few months!
-- Katie, Special Collections Graduate Intern