Saskia Jetten first discovered Tengujo paper in Montreal while she was an artist in residence at Atelier/Galerie Alain Pirior, August 2012. Using this very inexpensive and lightweight machine made version of this amazing Japanese paper she has created collagraphs, dry points with chine colle and became inspired to return to paper to work in three dimensions.
"I was so fascinated by this delicate, yet strong paper that resembled thin fabrics like the silks and cottons on which i had been printing on previously. It made the transition clear to me to go back to paper as my printing surface but use it as if it was fabric. I started to experiment, to sew the Tengujo paper. I love the fact that it is transparent but not translucent. It prints great with stone lithograph, linocut, woodblock, dry point and collagraph. It is also great as a base for chine colle. As it is priced very attractively, I felt free to experiment and did not have to worry much about mistakes and spoiling paper".
"In this work, the Tengujo washi tissue makes up the clothing of these figures. The images resemble their true being; there is no body in the clothing. The imagery printed on the clothing refers to the figures facing their fears, their hide and seek, their anxieties".
A note about Tengujo: these papers come in both handmade and machine made sheets. The handmade Tengujo is 100% kozo and is only 10g all sheets are dyed with synthetic dyes. There is no white sheet. All sheets are approximately 21 x 31 inches. There is an inexpensive and popular machine made version. It is 12 g, 25 x 37 inches and comes only in white. It is made of 60% kozo and 40% abaca. It is almost impossible to tell the difference even with both sheets in your hand! Both are beautiful.
