Artistic Practice and the Craft of Collaboration

This multi-faceted project includes a body of artwork, A Thickening Fear of Air, alongside a written analysis of collaborative craft practice in contemporary art. The included artwork combines handmade papermaking and letterpress printing to create artists’ books and two-dimensional works that demonstrate technical and conceptual understanding of the medium. This demonstration of personal artistic development is presented in conversation with a description of the artistic development of the fine art studio collaborator in contemporary hand papermaking. The body of artwork and research were conducted concurrently, which supports my argument that an impactful artist-collaborator must have recognized artistic practice in order to confidently and sustainably facilitate artistic collaboration. The research component of this work addresses the historical models that influenced the modern artist-collaborator as well as contemporary iterations of this role.