This summer, UICB Lecturer and Papermaking Specialist Nicholas Cladis, spent 1.5 months on fellowship in the Echizen papermaking region of Japan. While there, he conducted extensive interviews with the original members of a non-profit arts organization called Imadate Art Field. IAF has operated a contemporary paper art exhibition series since 1979. In doing these interviews, he was able to develop a narrative of this organization which he will be sharing partially at a conference this autumn in Dresden, Germany, and later in a publication. These members were eager to share personal anecdotes and memories, from Lee Ufan’s tenure as juror, to the organization’s transition to a public exhibition model.

Kanoura Seibun, one of these original members, recalled frequent curry cooking parties in the original studio space of Imadate Art Field: “not the best tasting,” he said, “but more about the people who ate together.” Cladis couldn’t help but be reminded of our kozo harvests here at the UICB.

The second half of Nick’s fellowship was spent making a new body of work. He held a solo exhibition featuring this new work in a historical storehouse. This exhibition included a new series of pulp paintings, a large pulp-poured piece made in collaboration with the Igarashi Paper Mill, and an installation of prismatic light that shone on various papers made by Echizen artisans.

Cladis’ last few days in Japan were spent at Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, and Temple University Japan, where he met with faculty teaching papermaking, conservation, and book arts.

Nick’s fellowship possible was made possible by: the Ishibashi Foundation, Japan’s Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, Imadate Art Field, and the Echizen papermaking cooperative.