{"id":58494,"date":"2026-08-02T13:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artoronto.ca\/?p=58494"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:30:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T17:30:32","slug":"looks-good-on-paper-at-propeller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artoronto.ca\/?p=58494","title":{"rendered":"\u201cLooks Good on Paper\u2026\u201d at Propeller Art Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What the Hand Leaves Behind: Paper and the Preservation of Memory at Propeller Art Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Lea Ov\u010dina, Stories told must face the present and see it stands differently<\/em>, lithograph and intaglio prints, konnyaku paste, machine sewn, light and heavy Usu Kuchi <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a cultural landscape increasingly shaped by digital technologies, paper has become so commonplace in memory that its material presence is often overlooked. \u201cLooks Good on Paper\u2026\u201d<\/em>, guest curated by Nancy Jacobi at Propeller Art Gallery, arrives at precisely this moment, inviting viewers to reconsider a medium whose significance extends far beyond its everyday utility. Featuring forty-eight works selected from more than two hundred submissions, the exhibition celebrates paper as an eternal medium of artistic invention and culture. Every work reflects a deliberate engagement with the material itself, revealing how the choice of paper can and undoubtedly does influence meaning just as profoundly as image, form, or technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nancy Jacobi’s longstanding commitment to handmade Japanese paper informs the exhibition from the outset. Her curatorial vision grows from decades spent introducing artists to washi and advocating for traditional papermaking practices whose future has become increasingly uncertain. Rather than presenting paper as an obsolete medium preserved for sentimental reasons, the gallery demonstrates its remarkable vitality through contemporary artistic practice. Washi appears alongside Korean hanji, archival drawing papers, cardboard, flax paper, cotton paper, vintage postage stamps, and commercially produced coloured papers. Each carries its own physical character, allowing viewers to recognize the importance of paper as a material that is never simply a neutral surface. Texture, translucency, absorbency, weight, and fibre become essential elements within the visual language of each work.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Joan Burdett Ness, Arctic Glacier and Kittiwaki<\/em>, molded washi paper, konnyaku, watercolour, copper wire, Japanese Oguni, snow bleached<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition showcases this sensitivity to material. Moving through the gallery, it becomes impossible to separate the artwork from the paper upon which it exists. Joan Burdett Ness’s Arctic Glacier and Kittiwaki<\/em> emanates its elegance from snow-bleached kozo paper, whose delicate structure mirrors the fragility of glacial formations. The sculpture seems to inherit its character directly from the material, its lightness suggesting landscapes that appear both enduring and precarious. Sharron Corrigan Forrest’s Wakami Series #1″ <\/em> reaches a similarly compelling effect through Sekishu Banshi, wrapping the paper around living branches until its flexibility becomes visible in every curve. The paper records the contours of the wood while retaining its own distinct presence, bridging interaction between natural form and handcrafted material.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sharron Corrigan Forrest, Wakami Series #1<\/em>, natural inks & water-based pigments, Sekishu Banshi HW, Taniai Kozo Nagaban HW, Taniai Kozo Udaban & HW Washi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical memory emerges as another defining thread throughout the exhibition. Loretta Faveri’s Apology <\/em>recalls the internment of Italian Canadians during the Second World War through paper handmade by the artist’s aunt using local fibres. The work carries a sense of inheritance and archive, connecting personal history with a broader national narrative. The work possesses a meaningful dignity that feels inseparable from the paper upon which it is constructed.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Loretta Faveri, Apology<\/em>, handwritten text on paper, torn and stitched, paper made by my aunt with locally sourced fibres<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar sensitivity appears in Marjut Nousiainen’s My Political Papers<\/em>, where years of notes, correspondence, and newspaper articles accumulate into an installation resembling a carefully prepared fire. The work reflects on political advocacy with remarkable restraint, suggesting both persistence and exhaustion through documents that once promised change. Paper becomes empirical, preserving the traces of conversations, struggles, and histories that resist disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Marjut Nousiainen, My Political Papers<\/em>, paper on insulation board, newsprint, printer paper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What gives \u201cLooks Good on Paper\u2026\u201d<\/em> its lasting resonance is the way these individual works contribute to a broader reflection on the place of paper within contemporary culture. Jacobi raises an important question in the exhibition statement. As handwritten letters, printed newspapers, tickets, menus, and countless other paper objects continue to yield to digital alternatives, what becomes of the tactile knowledge once embedded within everyday life? The exhibition never proposes a nostalgic return to an earlier era, nor does it frame technological progress as something to resist. But instead, it seems to ask viewers to consider what forms of attention emerge through physical materials, and perhaps why we have always turned to them to represent our lives. Paper slows perception. It preserves evidence of the hand. Every fold, stitched seam, printed impression, and torn edge records an encounter between artist and material that cannot be fully translated into digital form. This emphasis on touch feels especially significant because paper has always occupied an unusual position within cultural history. It has served as the foundation for books, maps, correspondence, official records, sketches, photographs, and countless other forms of communication. Entire civilizations have preserved their histories upon its surface. Handmade papers such as washi survive through generations of accumulated knowledge, each sheet carrying techniques refined across centuries. Their continued presence within contemporary art reflects technical craftsmanship alongside a representation of the survival of cultural practices whose value becomes increasingly apparent as they grow less familiar within everyday experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cLooks Good on Paper\u2026\u201d <\/em>installation view at the Propeller Art Gallery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accompanying artist statements further enrich this experience by revealing the extraordinary care invested in each material decision. Reading them alongside the works deepens an appreciation for the dialogue between concept and craftsmanship that defines the exhibition. Every selection of paper carries intention, whether rooted in cultural heritage, environmental concerns, personal memory, or formal exploration\u2014 the exhibition encourages visitors to recognize these decisions as integral to the work rather than incidental details of its construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLooks Good on Paper…\u201d<\/em> ultimately succeeds because it restores visibility to a material that has quietly receded from ordinary life while demonstrating its enduring artistic relevance. The exhibition honours centuries of papermaking traditions without confining them to the past, revealing instead how deeply they continue to inform contemporary creative practice. At a time when so much of human experience is mediated through screens, Jacobi’s exhibition offers a thoughtful reminder that materials possess histories of their own. Paper remains one of the most eloquent among them, carrying our memory, craftsmanship, and imagination within every fibre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yehyun Lee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Images are courtesy of the Propeller Art Gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Exhibition information: \u201cLooks Good on Paper\u2026\u201d \/ group show, curated by Nancy Jacobi, July 8 \u2013 26, 2026, Propeller Art Gallery, 30 Abell St, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed \u2013 Sat, 1 \u2013 5:30pm, Sun 12 \u2013 4pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Yehyun Lee<\/strong>
\nJacobi’s exhibition offers a thoughtful reminder that materials possess histories of their own. <\/p>\n

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