Charles Schweigert



Charles Schweigert

About The Artist

Charles Schweigert • Cleveland Heights, OH
Mixed Media • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

I am very much a mixed-media artist, producing both two and three dimensional work incorporating a variety of materials and techniques. Recently, I have been experimenting with handmade paper using a variety of different plant fibers (cotton, flax, abaca, and kozo) colored with natural earth pigments. I begin by making sheets of paper using pulp suspended in water in the traditional way with a mold and deckle, but I also make simple looms with linen warp and weft that I draw through the paper pulp, also resulting in sheets of handmade paper. The sheets are then manipulated by tearing, folding, and shaping into multi-layered pieces that are intended to be wall-hung. I also fabricate vessel shapes using individual sheets of paper wrapped around bamboo armatures, often incorporating twigs and other elements.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I make two and three-dimensional handmade paper pieces using a variety of paper fibers (cotton, abaca, flax, and kozo). Sheets of paper are made using either a traditional mold and deckle or a simple frame loom dressed with linen warp and weft; the mold or loom is then drawn through paper pulp suspended in water that has been dyed with natural earth pigments; the resulting sheets are then dried and incorporated into multi-layered, three-dimensional pieces meant to be wall-hung or wrapped around bamboo armatures in the case of the vessel shapes.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I am drawn to the beauty and versatility of handmade paper and the myriad of ways it can be manipulated into two and three dimensional pieces; the possibilities are endless.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

My finished pieces reflect my love of Japanese aesthetics that value the use of simple materials and the imperfections that can result from exploring new ways of using them and combining them with other materials and processes.