Claire Louise Reynes

A Somatic Echo is a body of work that reflects the relationship between the body we inhabit, the materials that surround us in our practice, and the sometimes autonomous nature of those materials.  I begin by making handmade paper using several different fibers including cotton rag, flax, kozo, and abaca.  Each fiber has its own unique qualities, which can only be manipulated to a certain degree.  Rather than attempting to control these qualities I respond to them through comparisons between the substantial human form and the spiritual/emotional experience.  I may introduce a sculptural element of tension by including other materials and objects in some pieces while others serve more simply as a surface for imagery.

This particular “body” of work is a result of many experiments and chance discoveries.  There is a spectrum of control and predictability, where some pieces were highly planned and others were created out of rhythm and instinct.  Many of the pieces were created at Hook Pottery Paper in LaPorte, Indiana, during a mini-residency where I was able to play with pigments, dyes, and embossing with the paper studio all to myself.  I would start by drawing on a stainless steel table with a hot glue gun, letting the glue cool on the surface of the table.  The hot glue lets me create a raised line drawing that I can pick up, move, use, and reuse.  When the glue was cool I would peel the entire piece off the table and lay the drawing into a freshly made sheet of paper.  The next phase was more uncontrollable than the drawing.  I applied combinations of dyes and pigments in both powder and liquid forms.  Each colorant behaved in its own way when making contact with the wet pulp and would continue to evolve as the sheet dried.  Some colors bled into each other while some stayed just on the surface of the fibers.  The hot glue drawings were not removed until after the sheet was dry, leaving an impression of the line work.