The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking

The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking: Material, Methods, and Applications provides a comprehensive collection about the contemporary practices, media, and value of hand papermaking as social engagement, art therapy, and personal voice.

Divided into three parts that highlight each of these areas, contributors explore topics such as advocacy, work with survivors, community outreach, medical challenges, and how papermaking can empower creative expression, stories of change, recovery, and reclamation to address trauma, grief and loss, social action, and life experiences. Previous books have covered hand papermaking or art therapy media as stand-alone subjects; this text is the first of its kind that unites and describes the convergence of papermaking in all these forms.

Art therapists, art educators, and artists will find this book essential to their education about how papermaking can be a powerful process to make meaning for the self, groups, and community.

"In The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking: Material, Methods, and Applications, editors Drew Luan Matott and Gretchen M. Miller have gathered an important series of essays by practitioners who have seen, again and again, how therapeutic the craft can be. This book is essential for anyone who cares about the craft of papermaking, and its ability to help nurture and heal."

Tim Barrett, director emeritus, University of Iowa Center for the Book

"This wonderful book is what happens when artists and art therapists get together to rediscover an age-old yet uncommon material. Every aspect of papermaking is described: from how to approach this fascinating medium and invite participants to explore its alchemical potential, to the practical details and endless therapeutic adaptations that can be made. But it doesn?t stop there: More than a book on papermaking, it offers a soul-stirring testimony to the work of reclamation ? as people courageously free the fibers of their military uniforms, baby blankets, public records, t-shirts, love and hate letters, and more ? to be pulped, recast, and transformed with radical insights that inspire far-reaching transformations in their lives."

Lynn Kapitan, Ph.D., ATR-BC, HLM, professor emerit of graduate and doctoral art therapy and author, Introduction to Art Therapy Research

"The Art & Art Therapy of Papermaking?is an accessible guide to transforming meaningful materials and experiences into sheets of paper and works of art. An insightful book filled with examples of healing through the papermaking process ? the first of its kind!"

Helen Hiebert, author, The Papermaker?s Companion, artist, and educator

"Serendipity often led contributors to this book to papermaking. Fortunately, readers can engage with papermaking more intentionally and knowledgeably with Matott and Miller?s The Art and Art Therapy of Papermaking as their guide. Teachers, art activists, art therapists, students, and artists of all experience levels will find practical and inspirational material here. The book is replete with examples, instructions, and resources that are relatable and accessible. The authors have made papermaking, often perceived as too complicated for novice users, approachable by all. Highly Recommended!"

Lisa D. Hinz, Ph.D., ATR-BC author, Expressive Therapies Continuum A Framework for Using Art in Therapy