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Grolier Club Exhibitions

The 1990s: The Advent of the Internet and Globalization

Many factors resulted in America’s increased interest in decorated paper in the 1990s. The advent of the Internet was transformational for artists as it simplified collaboration, training, research, and commerce. Artists also produced more publications, exhibits, workshops, and conferences including the first of several international marblers’ gatherings. Widespread interest in rare books and book arts additionally inspired enthusiasts to acquire historic and modern papers. By the end of the 1990s, an economic downturn and globalization caused the market for American paper to retract and fewer new professional artists entered the field.

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Jake Benson (b. 1969)
Marbled paper, Old Dutch pattern, ca. 1997–ca. 2004. Watercolor on Neenah Classic Laid paper.

Jake Benson is a bookbinder, conservator, marbler, and a historian of Islamic manuscripts. Benson learned marbling at a Faith Harrison workshop in 1991. He later developed a line of papers reproducing 17th- and 18th-century patterns for use in his work and for sale to individuals, conservation labs and retail shops. Benson’s large, hand polished papers are colored with his own water-based paints.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Jake Benson

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Susan Kristoferson (b. 1952)
Itajime patterned paper, ca. 2018–19. Calligraphy inks, Golden fluid acrylic paint on Chinese handmade paper.

Susan Kristoferson, originally from the US and active 1990–present, is one of two Paper Legacy artists living in Canada. She specializes in making traditional and modern paste papers, as well as fold-and-dye papers, based on her knowledge and experience in Japanese textile patterning techniques, such as shibori, itajime, and orizome. In the 1980s Kristoferson taught these techniques on the college level, subsequently focusing on her studio practice and historical paste paper research.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Susan Kristoferson

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Andrea Peterson (b. 1966)
Moon Paper, 1999. Handmade paper with fiber manipulation, cotton rag pulp, pigment.

In La Porte, Indiana, hand papermaker Andrea Peterson, active 1997–present, shares a home farming and art business with her spouse Jon Hook. Peterson makes handmade decorated paper using techniques like paste paper, stenciled pulp, and fiber manipulation. Moon Paper, a popular pattern which entered Peterson’s catalog in 2000, is made by spraying and hand-manipulating white cotton rag pulp on a black cotton base sheet.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Andrea Peterson

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Garrett Dixon (b. 1954)
Reproduction of a late 19th century Stormont pattern, 2012. Proprietary watercolor paint on commercial paper.

Garrett Dixon of Franklin, Pennsylvania, worked under the name The Marbler’s Apprentice, active 1991–2017. Dixon is a self-taught marbler and practicing physician who learned to recreate traditional Japanese and European marbling patterns with authentic handmade paints from reading historical treatises. Dixon was joined in the work by his wife Gretchen in 2002. They taught workshops, accepted commissions, and sold at conferences.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Gretchen and Garrett Dixon

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Gretchen Dixon (b. 1954)
Curl pattern, mid-late 18th century reproduction, undated. Proprietary watercolor paint on Hahnemühle Gutenberg paper.

Gretchen Dixon, active 2002–17, a biologist, apprenticed with her husband and traditional marbler, Garrett Dixon. By 2004 she was marbling Dutch, Dutch Curl, Placard, and Persille patterns as well as contemporary designs. Over the years, the Dixons replicated most of the European patterns and variants known from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Gretchen and Garrett Dixon

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Andrea Peterson (b. 1966)
Chicken Paste, ca. 2012-2019. Paste paper with stenciled and freehand design; paste with acrylic on handmade sisal paper.

Andrea Peterson’s decorated papers are bold and experimental. Chicken Paste was made with a combination of techniques and is based on one of Peterson’s woodcuts. The sisal used in the paper’s base sheet was collected from hay and straw bale twine on her farm. Peterson’s papers are popular with artists, designers, and bookbinders, who have commissioned up to three hundred sheets.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Andrea Peterson

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New York Central Fine Paper trade catalog. New York: New York Central Art Supply, 1990.

New York Central Art Supply closed its doors at 62 Third Avenue in 2016 after 110 years in business. Their paper department was legendary. It carried every type of art paper imaginable, including American decorated papers made by Paper Legacy Collection artists Nora Ligorano and Virginia Buchan, Claire Maziarczyk, Ashley Miller, Iris Nevins, Kay Radcliffe, and Sage Reynolds and Colman Rutkin.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Peggy Skycraft and Jack Townes

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International Marblers’ Gathering. A New Celebration of an Ancient Art program, San Francisco, August 6-9, 1992.

The Second International Marblers’ Gathering, organized by the California Marblers’ Guild, was held at the Fort Mason Center. It included a juried exhibition, demonstrations, a trade show, suppliers' room, a marblers’ store, and a series of lectures by American and international experts including Ann Chambers (UK), Eva van Bruegel (Holland), Hikmet Barutcugil (Turkey), and others.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Katherine Radcliffe

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Bridget O’Malley (b. 1963). “O’Malley Crackle” from Design and Pattern in Decorated Papers: Wet and Dry Techniques. Washington, DC: Hand Papermaking, Inc., 1994.

Hand Papermaking has produced limited-edition portfolios of handmade papers since 1994. The O’Malley Crackle is a walnut-dyed flax, gelatin-sized paper. O’Malley, active 1994–2017, studied papermaking at the University of Iowa and was in partnership with Amanda Degener from Cave Paper, from 1994 to 2017. During this time, they expanded production from 500 to 10,000 sheets per year. O’Malley teaches papermaking at the Minnesota College of Art and Design.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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Josef Halfer. The Progress of Marbling Art. Taos, NM: Fresh Ink Press, 1989.

Fresh Ink Press was created by Dexter Ing and Polly Fox to produce publications on marbling history and technique. This facsimile of Halfer’s influential treatise includes an introduction by marbling historian Phoebe Jane Easton and was produced from her copy of the 1893 edition. The endpapers were marbled by Polly Fox who was co-founder and editor of Ink & Gall journal from 1987 to 1993.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mary C. Schlosser

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Polly Fox. Marbled paper from Design and Pattern in Decorated Papers: Wet and Dry Techniques. Washington, DC: Hand Papermaking, Inc., 1994.

Self-taught marbler Polly Fox, active 1980-1996, from Taos, New Mexico, became inspired to marble while studying bookbinding in Santa Cruz, California. Her papers are marbled in traditional European styles in bright colors, inspired by nature. Fox produced papers for use in bookmaking, framing, and sculpture in editions of twenty-five to fifty sheets.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York