The hard (but fascinating!) work of maintaining the Guild’s programming, newsletters, and membership events, as well as organizing our theme-based exhibits and our occasional in-person conferences (Collections), is handled by our volunteer Board members. Board members have a three-year term (sometimes renewed, if desired), and, together with our part-time First Cut newsletter Editor (Sam Wróbel), Museum Curator (Rebecca Raupach) and Bookkeeper (Mona Johnson), are the heart of the Guild’s organizational structure. Board members have usually been GAP members for at least a few years — some much longer, some less long. The only requirement in addition to being a current member is to be willing to give of your time to make GAP the wonderful, warm home for paper artists that it has been since 1988. Say hello to our wonderful current Board members! And do consider becoming a Board member yourself at some point.
David’s bold graphic papercuts are a fusion of fluid lines, intricate details, and the interplay of positive/negative space. The eye travels around looking for a beginning, ending, or both. David treats the viewer to a reinterpretation of his subject matter—from animals, to figures, to maps, and more—boiling down to a minimalist view on the one hand, or a celebrating a riot of texture on the other.Â
Using tiny stilts, David adds dimension to these otherwise flat works of art, raising the papercuts off the surface. He often laminates color to the back of his papercuts, casting an intriguing colorful blur behind the work. His influences come from artists like Paul Klee, Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chaggall, and Ben Shahn, not to mention what’s right in his field of view. Believing an artist benefits from exploring a variety of media, David is an eclecticist, having worked in scratchboard, digital art, manipulated photography and more.Â
David graduated with a BFA in painting from the University of Illinois in 1983. While there, a workshop in Hebrew calligraphy likely planted a seed that influenced his current body of work. David serves on the board of Art in the Pearl, is a founding member of Portland Open Studios, and is often seen trailed by his dog Poppi.
Donna Reiss is new to papercutting. Retired from careers with words as writer, editor, publisher, and English professor, most recently at Clemson University, she lives in Greenville, a cultural hub in South Carolina, where she volunteers at several art venues. Always drawn to imagery in the visual and performing arts and their relation to imagery in language, Donna is making mixed media collages and assemblages as well as binding unique blank books and journals using specialty papers and fabric. Donna has always admired Kara Walker’s narrative paper art. a class in papercutting by GAP member Barbara Stoop, an exhibition and talk by Beatrice Coron, and online posts by Ella Richards among others who inspired Donna to join GAP and learn this venerable art. She is grateful that two scissors papercuts have been accepted into regional juried shows. Donna looks forward to bringing a newcomer’s perspective to the GAP board.
Yang Pulongbarit Cuevo is a hand-cut paper artist based in Chicago who began as a political cartoonist in the Philippines. Her work often draws inspiration from nature, anatomy, music, and folklore.Â
As an immigrant born and raised in an archipelago with rich cultural heritage contrasted by a history of political unrest, Yang also creates pieces informed by societal observations and emotional abstraction. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in California, New York, Illinois, and the Philippines, as well as publications including The Chicago Reader. She was also named Etsy Design Awards Finalist in 2023 for her custom maps that she offers at papercutmaps.com.
Yang is currently Managing Director for a local nonprofit arts organization dedicated to printmaking and hosts a weekly show for 107.1FM, an independent radio station in North Center Chicago.
I’m a Swiss-born artist living in Florida. I studied for 6 years Art at the Hochschule der Künste in Zürich, Switzerland, and graduated with honors as Scientific Illustrator. I create cut-paper images using scissors. They pay tribute to the beauty of nature and its complexity. I work on two series for several years: women interacting with nature and endangered key species and their ecosystem. For the women-nature compositions, I use a style that reminds me of medieval millefleur tapestry or impressionist paintings. For the key species art pieces, I love to use the form of a mandala (Sanskrit: “circle”): an embodiment of the symbolic order of the universe. For each artwork, I use a single sheet of black paper and scissors to make complex cut images. The material and the production process reflect the delicacy and also fragility of nature. All things are interconnected and interwoven and have an impact on each other. My work discusses these interactions in nature: the internal flow of life. All beings have their place in complex ecosystems and are essential to keep nature healthy. I design my images so that they appear harmonious and balanced, like nature. My work is included in museum collections and shown nationally and internationally, and has received many awards. My work is represented by the Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA.
Michelle is a contemporary folk artist living in Wilmington, NC. Having loved folklore and fairytales since childhood, she became acquainted with papercutting after discovering the works of Hans Christian Andersen in 2009. She was in awe of the fact that he could tell a tale and cut a design at the same time with a giant pair of scissors! Although she has no formal education or training, she’s always had a gift and eye for design. She worked for a custom home builder for 12 years where she designed and decorated award-winning homes and helped people build their dream homes. She has also designed quilts and taught quilting all over the country for over 35 years. The skills she learned from papercutting and being able to read blueprints helped her create her signature “Reverse Wool Applique” method that she was known for in the quilting industry and she spent the last 12 years working in that area. The housing market crash in 2008 and the pandemic in 2020 changed the course of her career once again and she decided to take a leap of faith in 2024 and be what she always wanted to be, a full-time folk artist. She was absolutely thrilled to find the Guild of American Papercutters and truly loves being a part of this talented, kind and generous community. She’s looking forward to this next adventure.
Randall Williams is a Maryland-based artist that focuses on creating layered, expressive images. He finds inspiration in nature, literature, and the arts. Randall has been crafting art out of cut paper for about six years. When asked, “Why cut paper?,” the usual response is, “Because I am a terrible painter.” Randall started as chair of the museum committee for GAP in 2020, before leading the Guild’s first strategic planning effort and becoming president in 2021. He creates art in the evenings and on weekends when allowed by his cats.
