Studio Visit with Seattle paper artist, Patty Grazini

Today, I took my freshmen class for a trip to Seattle to visit with paper artist extraordinaire, Patty Grazini. Patty comes from a costume background. You can see her interest in costumes in the characters that she creates. (Watch her presentation on the link above.) Everything she makes is from paper down to the last minute detail. Patty collects paper from all over the world, mostly Japan and Europe. She has files and files of paper just waiting for the right project. 

What I find fascinating about Patty's work is the research behind her pieces. She collects old news articles and develops characters from them. When you purchase one of her pieces it comes with the original news article from the 1800's-to early 1900's. Every element of the sculpture is lovingly hand crafted from paper that has a history. Patty rarely uses new paper. The image below was taken from her Instagram account.  With this piece she has created a bug using old currency. Fabulous!