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 Friedman
Oregon; Digital Communications and WebsiteDavid’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.
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.
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.
Debra A. Collins
CaliforniaDebra is a paper cut artist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. After 36 years of teaching a variety of public high school art courses, Debra is now a full-time artist. Her biggest accomplishment has been showing a paper cut in the De Young Museum in 2020. Surfing the internet to find other paper cutters, she stumbled upon the guild’s website, so full of useful information. Her interactions with guild members have been positive, jovial, and supportive. She knows she has found her tribe and wants to actively support the organization’s efforts. She is also a board member of the Diablo/Almeda branch of The National League of American Pen Women and the Sun Gallery of Hayward, CA.
Donna Reiss
South Carolina; ExhibitsDonna 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 https://www.beatricecoron.com/ @cutstories, and online posts by Ella Richards https://www.scissorsdrawings.com/ @scissorsdrawings_artdiary_ among others 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.
https://dreissartstudio.net/ @dreissart
Jason Koons
Pennsylvania; TreasurerI am a paper cutter, illustrator and art educator. It is hard for me to believe, but through these various artistic ventures, I have been involved with the art making process for close to 20 years. All of my imagery is original, and all of my papercuts are hand drawn and hand cut. I find inspiration in pretty much everything – however, I currently find myself producing work that centers on geometry, nature, or pattern study. When I am not moonlighting as a paper cutter, I am working full time as a high school art teacher in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. I currently teach drawing and painting at both an introductory and intermediate level, and in the past, I have instructed at the Advanced Placement level. I love teaching and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to help many of my students develop, further, and achieve their artistic goals.
Lorraine Bubar
California; Programming and EventsLorraine Bubar is a native of Los Angeles and received her B.A. from UCLA. She studied animation at Yale University and her short independent films won awards at animation festivals around the world. Bubar worked for many years in the animation industry, animating television commercials, special effects, and film titles. During that time, she exhibited her watercolor paintings in numerous art exhibitions and was the featured artist for a calendar published by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and illustrated a children’s book, Lullaby by Debbie Friedman. She also taught animation at Santa Monica College. Her love for drawing and painting led her to get a Masters in Art Education and a Teaching Credential at CSULA and then teach studio arts to middle and high school students. Bubar’s love of traditional crafts and traveling made her aware that in numerous cultures around the world artisans create varied forms of papercuts. Developing her own painterly approach to papercutting, she honors the heritage of papercutting and captures the unique environments that she has explored, and uses handmade colored papers from countries where she has traveled. Her love of hiking and beautiful places and her unique artwork has led her to Artist-in-Residencies at Denali, Zion, Petrified Forest, Lassen Volcanic, and Capital Reef National Parks. Working in paper has opened many opportunities to exhibit including at the International Paper Art Biennale in Shanghai; Paper Global, The International Triennial of Paper Art in Germany and at The International Exhibition of Paper Cuttings in Lithuania, as well as in local galleries.
Lucrezia Bieler
Florida; VP ExhibitsI’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 May
North Carolina; MembershipMichelle 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
Maryland; PresidentRandall 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.
