"Paper Artist"
Barbara Melby-Burhans

I began pursuing handmade paper in 1982. At the time, I was painting abstract watercolors and experimenting with weaving strips of paper into my paintings. By making my own paper I found I could have more control over the work I was creating because I could change the size, shape or texture of the paper.
In 1980, I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting at St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota, where I was introduced to weaving techniques. Later I began experimenting with combining handmade paper, weaving and watercolor to generate repetitive patterns across a horizontal plane.
I worked from an array of dyed yarns, handmade paper sheets and small paper cast objects fabricating three-dimensional paintings I called Paper/Fiber Compositions.
These works were clearly descendants of my earlier abstract watercolors. They both share strong horizontal character suggesting layers of field, beach, and sky.
I later added the kimono image because of it’s strong horizontal plane and humanistic form. At first, I depicted an abstract landscape across its back. Now, I emboss its coat with leaves and vines.
I received numerous awards for this work and still enjoy making one on request from time to time.
Most recently, I began to cast the paper fibers into molds to create cast paper wall sculptures called Fish of a Different Color and Other Wild Animals.

"I find my line of cast paper wall sculptures featuring fish, cats, insects, boats and other wild animals to be very exciting because; they are fun and whimsical, they have endless possibilities, and have become quite collectable".