Spring is finally upon Northeastern Ohio! As the weather warms and the days start to lengthen, you’ll find the staff of the Morgan Conservatory outside tending to our garden.

Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Educational Foundation’s Caraboolad Garden is possibly the most impressive aspect of the nonprofit organization. The Conservatory creates a self-sustaining cycle of papermaking by growing raw material such as kozo and milkweed. We feature one of the largest kozo groves in the United States, providing fiber for Eastern papermaking. We also cultivate a variety of botanicals used for natural dyeing processes, like marigold, dahlia and indigo.

Recently, the Morgan acquired a lot next door to the existing garden from the City of Cleveland’s Land Bank. Now with nearly a half an acre of land devoted to the garden, the Conservatory’s commitment to making the highest quality and most creative handmade papers with a variety of fibers and botanicals has been intensified. The 2015 Summer Workshop Catalog features more classes than ever using local plants and materials grown on site.

Local plant fibers used in papermaking and natural dyeing processes are featured themes throughout the 2015 Summer Workshop Program. For instance, artist in residence, Jane Ingram Allen is teaching Papermaking with Local Plant Fibers. Jane will also be featured in an exhibition in the Conservatory’s Gallery in which she will showcase works created on site, using plant fibers indigenous to the Greater Cleveland area.

Artist Kerri Cushman will teach, From Plants to Pages-A Garden Sampler Book, in which she will instruct students on making paper from local plants, such as milkweed, calla lily, hosta and carrot tops. The various papers formed in this workshop will be used as inspiration for creating an accordion-stitched sampler book. Additional basic bookbinding structures will be taught with room for surface experimentation. Workshop attendees will also discover how to play with pulp and make useful paper with low-tech methods yielding high-end results.

Natural Dyes in Bookmaking, will be taught by Anne Covell. She will demonstrate how to dye paper using natural pigments, such as indigo, which yields a deep blue hue and logwood, which can produce a brilliant purple. Students will then bind their multicolored dyed pages into unique long-and-link stitch books with exposed spine sewing.

Additionally, we have papermaking classes that make use of our staple fiber, kozo, such as Pure Hanji, taught by Aimee Lee, and All About the Bark, taught by Melissa Jay Craig, which will focus on the sculptural potential of the strong inner bark.

No matter if you are a papermaker, bookbinder, or gardening enthusiast, we have something for everyone to enjoy this summer at the Morgan Conservatory.

Pure Hanji: June 20-21, 2015

Papermaking with Local Plant Fibers: July 25-26, 2015

From Plants to Pages: August 8-9, 2015

Natural Dyes in Bookmaking: August 8-9, 2015

All About the Bark: August 12-16, 2015

For additional information, please visit morganconservatory.org

The Morgan Art of Papermaking

Conservatory & Educational Foundation

1754 East 47th Street

Cleveland, Ohio 44103

morganconservatory.org

216.361.9255