Attaining visual interest with color and texture is the fun part of working with Hanji, the handmade mulberry paper from Korea. It begins with experimentation and observing how the colors of the various papers play off each other.  My fingers get into the action by ripping the Hanji into various amorphic shapes. The textural magic begins when I start fusing them together with water!

When working with the Hanji I am attracted to the elements most compelling to me: malleability, color and texture. There is a never ending fascination with the end product.  Even though I may have an idea of what it will look like once it dries, each piece dictates what it wants to be in the end.  Serendipity rules the day.

Let Your Mind Dance No.4

With this new series, “Jiao Ceng”, “stitched layers”, random machine stitching is added to keep the eye moving across the artwork. I follow the rhythm of the colors and shapes already fused throughout the piece. Thus the name of this group in the series, “Let Your Mind Wander” (LMW).

The “LMW” group is a physical manifestation of my collaboration with the paper during the different events of the 2020 pandemic in the small Colorado town where I live.  There was a quietness in the two months that evolved as the town went from almost no one on the street to slowly emerging back to life.

The final piece, “Let Your Mind Dance No.4” comes back to my characteristically optimistic self depicting dancing images — Knowing there are brighter days ahead.

PJ Bergin  October, 2020