We absolutely love the new pieces by artist, Barbara Straussberg in the gallery. This age old technique produces these super contemporary artworks we are so taken by.

“-Most recently, I’ve been exploring a new form of paperwork called Joomchi. Joomchi is an ancient Korean paper-manipulating technique where the artist works layers of Hanji paper together while wet. In my Joomchi pieces, I layer my own lithographic prints of photographs from nature and embed them in the Hanji paper. I roll the paper with my hands, feet & arms to both bind the paper fibers together and open up the paper to create transparency. Additional fragments of paper lithographs are incorporated in to the layers using a collage technique. I approach Joomchi from a painterly background. My focus is on the potential of the paper to reveal the printed image underneath and provide visual interest through texture, lace and line.”                    – artist, Barbara Straussberg

The  art of joomchi emerged centuries ago from the even more ancient Korean art of hanji, a paper made from mulberry tree bark. Mulberry trees are plentiful in Korea, and until recently, fabric was expensive, so hanji became a kind of substitute for more traditional cloth.  They could fuse close to 20 layers of hanji by squeezing and rubbing the damp sheets between their hands. The result is the much stronger joomchi.

all works available @CSM