IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS -- Herron School of Art and Design will host two papermaking workshops as part of an exhibit of artwork by veterans who have transformed combat-worn clothing into handmade paper for art projects.

Herron will display art from the Combat Paper Project in an exhibit opening Sept. 25 in its Eskenazi Hall galleries on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus. In workshops affiliated with the Combat Paper Project, veterans and other volunteers transform uniforms worn in service into art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper, which is then used for art projects that express the soldiers’ military service.

Combat Paper Project co-founder and veteran Drew Cameron will conduct papermaking workshops open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, and Thursday, Sept. 26, at IUPUI in Herron’s Eskenazi Fine Arts Center, 1410 Indiana Ave.

“Coming home from war is a difficult thing. There is often much to account for as a survivor,” Cameron wrote in an introduction on the project’s website. Combat Paper Project’s papermaking activities give warriors “a language” with which to communicate their military experiences with others, he said.

“The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms," Cameron wrote online. "The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration.”

Herron’s “Combat Paper Exhibition” runs Sept. 25 through Nov. 16 in the Berkshire, Reese and Paul Galleries of Eskenazi Hall, 735 W. New York St., on the IUPUI campus. More than 60 pieces of art will be on display.

In addition to leading the papermaking workshops, Cameron will give an opening night artist’s talk at 6 p.m. Sept. 25 in Eskenazi Hall. The talk is free and open to the public.

Cameron’s talk and the workshops are part of a weeklong celebration of the exhibition’s opening. Lunch will be provided from noon to 1:30 p.m. during each workshop. Participants may bring a piece of clothing that they would like to incorporate into the batch of paper that will be made during the event.

Anyone interested in attending the workshops may reserve a seat and lunch by contacting Paula Katz at katzp@iupui.edu.  

Learn more about the exhibit, including gallery hours, on Herron’s website.