If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary to wrap your mind around, Kresge Art Museum is the place to be.
Rags to Riches: 25 Years of Paper Art is Kresge’s new exhibit featuring the Dieu Donné Papermill of New York City and will be on campus through Oct. 28.
Paper might sound boring, but this installation certainly is not as sculptures hang from the ceiling and leap off walls.
Dieu Donné program Director Mina Takahashi and Director James Abruzzo were on hand Sunday to introduce the exhibit, which opened last Tuesday.
“It’s a fabulous medium for artists to create their work,” Takahashi said. “It can be just exquisite.
“It has a lot of possibilities.”
Dieu Donné Papermill, Inc. is a nonprofit organization in the heart of Manhattan that makes paper of all sorts which artists use to make their magic.
Takahashi said she joined the studio because it was new and contemporary, after studying paper making on a fellowship in Japan.
“We’re also trying to push the medium because it’s a versatile medium,” she said.
Kresge Curator April Kingsley said the museum got the idea of hosting the exhibit from artist Alan Shields, who has added a work to the permanent collection.
“We were interested in it before they had it all together,” Kingsley said.
MSU is the first stop on the Dieu Donné’s tour, which will head off to Maryland at the end of October.
Already, Kingsley has set up opportunities for kids to get involved.
“In September October we’re filled with school kids,” she said. “We’re already fully booked.”
There will also be a children’s paper-making workshop Sept. 29.
Eric Fazioli, an ancient studies senior, showed up on Sunday to hear Takahashi talk about the artworks.
“I saw it being put up,” he said. “I like how people can find something so incredible out of something so ordinary.”
Kingsley said students should be interested in coming to see the exhibit.
“This is a whole lot of major artists,” she said. “If they want to see the big stars of the art world they get a chance here.”
She said this exhibit may be of some interest to art students, as paper-making is no longer taught at MSU.
Shields, one of the artists on display, will come to campus at the end of the month to talk about his work and do a demonstration in downtown East Lansing at The Art Apartment, 210 Abbott Road.
For more information on events and museum hours, call Kresge Art Museum at (517)353-9834 or visit www.msu.edu/~kamuseum.
