In this virtual talk, Timothy Barrett will give an overview of how his team at the University of Iowa Center for the Book produced paper for the reencasement of the Charters of Freedom (The Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and The Declaration of Independence), Barrett will share decisions related to raw fiber sourcing, water quality, cooking, beating, and additives employed when making archival papers for this project and others. He will also share his view of factors that impact the aesthetics of papers made for use in the conservation of rare books and works of art. Paul Wong will discuss his experiences with developing conservation-quality papers at Dieu Donné. Working with the Library of Congress, the Newberry Library, and conservators and bookbinders in private practice, Wong refined techniques to create sheets that matched the conservators' needs for endpapers and paper case bindings. Building on this research Dieu Donné created custom papers for many years that were used to rebind national treasures in our libraries. Both speakers will discuss the delicate balance of aesthetics, function, and long term stability that make this kind of work both fascinating and challenging.
Moderated by Dieu Donné Director of Artistic Projects & Master Collaborator Tatiana Ginsberg.
About Paul Wong
Paul Wong was the Artistic Director at Dieu Donné from 1978 to 2017, guiding and assisting over 1,000 artists and collaborating one-on-one with 400 artists such as Lesley Dill, Jim Hodges, and Do Ho Suh, among many others. During the 1980s and 90s he and the team at Dieu Donné developed specific papers for conservation purposes, including the Library of Congress’s Endpaper Project, and went on to produce custom archival papers for many years. In recognition of his work as an individual artist, Wong has been the recipient of many awards including the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and New York Foundation for the Arts Grant, among others. He uses the papermaking techniques that he developed at Dieu Donné in his own work to create major installations and works in paper for exhibitions at institutions such as the Plains Museum, Fargo, and the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York.
About Timothy Barrett
Timothy Barrett is professor emeritus in the University of Iowa Center for the Book and the School of Library and Information Science. Following a Fulbright Fellowship studying papermaking in Japan, his research on early European handmade papers was funded by the NEA, the Kress Foundation, the Institute for Museum and Library Services and a MacArthur Fellowship. His primary research interests have been Japanese papermaking, early European papermaking technology, the role of gelatin in paper permanence, and aesthetics in handmade paper. Specialized handmade papers produced by Barrett and his students were designed for use by fine press printers, book artists, and conservators of rare books and works of art on paper. Barrett is author of three books, one website, eight videos, and thirty-six articles or book chapters on the history, technique, science, and aesthetics of hand papermaking. He was director of the UI Center for the Book between 1996 and 2002 and again became director in the fall of 2012 until his retirement in May of 2020.