The Great Hall of the Historic Salem Courthouse
Last Wednesday through Friday I moved all the work that had been accumulating in my living room into the Great Hall of The Historic Salem Courthouse.
I had a plan. I wanted to create a feeling in the hall. I wanted it to feel like a happy place.
Paula Krieg's work at the Salem Historic Courthouse
I spent a good amount of time considering each of the eight sections of the hall. There are six different groupings. I think it would be exhausting for me to write about each grouping, and it would be exhausting for your to read about each grouping in just one post, so I'm thinking I will write a series of posts, as I have thoughts I want to linger over for each section.
Entry to the Historic Courthouse is under arches, including a stunning arched window. I wanted to create the feeling of an entry to my work. My solution was to make two arched pieces, facing each other, that The first section is the entry, those arched white on light blue pieces hung on facing walls, that visitors walks between..
What you are seeing here is paper folded into box pleats, which I learned from studying Paul Jackson's work. This is a form of folding that I've taught at the beginning of some pleating classes. There are other ways of folding that seem more exciting, and I'm always concerned that people who are learning from me might not stop long enough to appreciate this simple fold. Funny thing...I hadn't originally intended to make two walls of box pleats, but once I got started with them they just kept pulling me along. Eventually, I noticed an opportunity:
I realized that folded pieces of paper could be slid into the box pleats, and that those papers would stay put. The wall already seemed meditative to me, and it seemed natural for it to feel like a prayer wall...or a suggestion box, depending on the person. Prayer wall is what I connect to. For it to be a wall to accept a prayer, or a gratitude, or a suggestion, I placed paper, pencils and pens, and an invitation next to the wall.
An invitation to write a note
As you can see from the close-up photo above, people did, in fact, add to the wall. I had thought that people would slide their notes in so that they could only be seen from a certain angle, but no, people let them peek out of their cradle. So lovely!
The blue paper backing is a gorgeous heavy paper made by the Crane paper company, which means that it is a high quality plant (not wood) based paper. To make it easy to transport (yes, these practicalities need to be considered) I hinged them together with a system that looks like dovetail joints that I learned years ago from Paul Johnson.
Prayer Wall under construction
Finally, I wanted something special above the rows of paper, to settle nicely into the arch. This time the paper wizard I channeled was Ekatrina Lukasheva, who has published a treasure of a book on curve folding.
I happened to have some silver stardream paper hanging around. Just perfect!
There was one last detail...how to hang these pieces. I was afraid that, being long sheets, that they wouldn't lie flat on the wall, but would curve away from it. I experimented a bit with what I had on hand. What worked nicely was affixing a strategically arranged row of tongue depressors on to the back of the panel.
Tongue Depressors, Chicago Screws, and Yarn
I then drilled a hole through the wood, inserted Chicago screws (from a box that my dad had found and given to me when I was a teenager!) and this all worked to create a hanging system that worked out great. The Chicago screws show on the front of the panels, which is just fine with me.
There you have it, The piece, the story behind it, and all sorts of details. It was nice having these walls hang in my home for many days, as when light came through the window it would play with the piece in surprising ways.
Light Coming Through
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