Exhibition Review - Paper Panda and Friends - Paper Cut Art

Exhibition Review - Paper Panda and Friends - Paper Cut Art

Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire - until 7th May 2017

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/nunnington-hall

Recently, on a beautiful sunny day, I drove across the North York Moors with my mum and baby boy Thomas to visit the Paper Panda and Friends Paper Cut Art exhibition at Nunnington Hall. According to its website, Nunnington Hall is a ‘picturesque Yorkshire manor house with organic garden and exciting exhibitions’. At £8.50, the entry price is quite steep but it is a National Trust property so if you’re a member you get in free.

First lesson - don’t take a pushchair! Or bother going in a wheelchair (although there is a wheelchair accessible entrance, I don’t think you’ll get to see much more than the tearoom and the gardens). Immediately the pushchair was abandoned and we had to carry baby Thomas (who, at 13 weeks, wasn’t getting any lighter). The house was a beautiful old property with rickety stairs, impressive wood-panelled bedrooms and a gorgeous, light drawing room with enormous tapestries hung from the walls.

Interesting though this all was, I was really here to see the exhibition, which is right up in the attic rooms at the top. Spread across a couple of rooms and a hallway, five paper artists have displayed their work and these have been well lit by spotlights and (mostly) bright and airy environments. 

First I spotted delightful bright and colourful layered paper cuts displayed in box frames by Lee-Ann Donaldson of Not Just Paper Boutique. In a style similar to 3D decoupage, a technique often used by card makers, Lee-Ann has created tiny landscapes with depth, drawing the eye into each picture, in a children’s book illustration style, with toadstools, gardens and forests as popular themes. Lee-Ann creates her work by cutting multiple sheets of paper and layering, using foam pads as spacers. When viewing, you can’t help but try to look at the designs from multiple angles to get the full effect. Although that’s perhaps just me - at any art exhibition you’ll see me, nose practically pressed to the artwork, trying to figure out how it’s been done!

Layered paper cuts by Lee-Ann Donaldson

Gorgeous layered 'shadow box' layered paper cut by Lee-Ann Donaldson

Detail from 'Sleepy Burrow' by Lee-Ann Donaldson

In the smaller side room, I found the instantly recognisable work of Sarah King of Apple Seed Paper Cuts. Sarah has presented a series of bright and colourful landscapes - in particular, watery locations such as the seaside, rivers and waterfalls. The outlines are cut from a single sheet of white textured card and then Sarah breaks the usual ‘rules’ of infills which have become standard amongst new paper cutters and builds up layers of colour behind the outlines to create the image. Most commonly, infills are used to provide colour in a certain section of a paper cut and artists are careful that the infills do not accidentally spill over the edges of their outline. Sarah abandons this tradition, creating new lines and features using coloured card and the technique becomes less infilling and more collage. Most of the landscapes are highly detailed, and you can spend ages finding new details in a scene. I particularly enjoyed going round the room and playing ‘spot the caravan’.

Sarah King often depicts scenes with water, as shown by this small selection of pictures on display

Sarah King adds lots of tiny detail to her landscape paper cuts

Although it was mid-week, there were plenty of visitors to Nunnington Hall wandering the exhibition and giving the artwork considered looks.
‘Pricey, aren’t they’, commented one lady to me.
‘There’s a LOT of work gone into them’ I replied.
‘Well, yes, clearly - an awful lot of work, hours of work’ she conceded.

Although I have, too, been guilty of doing the same thing myself, (£600 for that charcoal sketch?? Looks like it took about 10 minutes!!) it does irritate me when people make comments about the price of artwork. If it’s too much for you to pay but you really like it, why not consider buying a smaller piece, or a print? Too many people fail to consider the value of art, and the hours that go into not only creating that piece, but the hours of experiments, practice pieces and scrunched up failed pieces that are flung into the bin. 

Rant over, and onto the next exhibitor. Paper Panda! I had been excited to see her work. Louise Firchau is the artistic paw behind Paper Panda, and has successfully built her paper cutting business from a hobby to a recognisable brand, selling thousands of paper cutting kits and inspiring a new hobby for countless people. She has had to endure many people ripping off her work for their own personal profit and (through her own personal experience) has become a bit of an expert on copyright issues for creatives. I’ve learnt a lot from Louise, as have many others. Although (understandably and rightly so) protective of the copyright of her designs, Louise has always encouraged other paper cutters rather than compete with them. She has nothing to fear from other paper cutters - they simply can’t compete with the enormous brand that Paper Panda has become, unless their style is completely different, like the other paper cutters in this exhibition. Their varied styles complement each other and demonstrate some of the different ways of creating beautiful imagery by cutting paper.

Paper Panda has displayed some of her ‘Woodland Friends’ papercut designs, cut from a single sheet of white paper floating over deep coloured backgrounds, which cast gorgeous shadows, and a series of Alice in Wonderland illustrations, designed by Louise’s husband Ryan Firchau and cut by Panda in black paper. These float over original sheets from the classic book, again casting lovely, intricate shadows.

The instantly recognisable style of Louise Firchau of Paper Panda

One of Louise Firchau's collaborations with husband Ryan Firchau

On the other side of the room is displayed a series of thoughtful landscapes of recognisable places and landmarks. From Ribblehead Viaduct to St Ives, scenes across Britain have been lovingly replicated by Louise Dyer of Louise Dyer Paperlace. Highly detailed, each landscape is cut from a single sheet of white paper and infilled with hundreds of tiny pieces of coloured paper. It’s an interesting and unique way to present scenes that we’ve seen many times before. The skies are often created with gradations of colour which adds a beautiful painterly-like feel to the landscapes, and they peek through circular apertures within a square frame. It almost feels like you're looking through portholes!

Louise Dyer's landscapes are unusually presented in a circular format

Intricate details make up the recognisable landmarks by Louise Dyer

Last but not least is Emma King, of Bluebirds & Paper. She creates her work from mixed media, so is the only artist here who has incorporated mediums other than paper (threads, calligraphy, sequins, beads, shells etc) in her work. The result is a fusion of calligraphy and paper cutting created using gorgeously tactile handmade paper. The rough edges of the paper give a simplicity to the final pieces and show off the paper to its best. Contrasted with this are the sharp cutouts, behind which are revealed lovely colourful watercolours. Emma often uses 3D objects such as beads, shells, sea glass and sequins along with paper to create her pieces, and there’s so much to look at to appreciate each piece. Inspired by wildlife, flowers and the sea, Emma’s work ranges in size from tiny flower studies to larger seascapes but all of her work is simply delightful.

Emma King displays the whole piece of paper, right up to the rough edges

Dip pen calligraphy, watercolour, paper cutting and found objects from the sea make up this piece by Emma King

The exhibition at Nunnington Hall runs until 7th May and I would highly recommend you pay it a visit if you can. It has been a pleasure to see all five artists’ work in the flesh!
 

Links:

Paper Panda: www.paperpandacuts.co.uk/ 
www.facebook.com/PaperPandaPapercuts/

Bluebirds & Paper: www.facebook.com/bluebirdsandpaper/

Louise Dyer Paperlace: www.facebook.com/lousPaperlace/

Apple Seed Paper Cuts: www.facebook.com/appleseedpapercuts/

Not Just Paper Boutique: www.facebook.com/LeeAnnDStudio/ 

Note: All imagery above copyrighted to the individual artists. I have been granted permission by each artist to use these photos I took of their work in my blog. Thank you to each.

Many of the featured artists sell templates and/or kits so you can try creating your own paper art - or simply prints of their beautiful work. See their Facebook pages for more information. 

Peacocks wander the grounds at Nunnington Hall