Nan Thompson, a retired Interior Decorator, makes handmade paper and then transforms it into both decorative and practical objects d'art. Her art vessels and bowls often incorporate flowers, leaves, twigs and other bits of nature. She even scrapes rock into her papers.
While raising four children, she managed to squeeze in many different art mediums, including stained glass, drawing, acrylic painting, Sumi-e (Chinese brush painting), polymer clay and photography, all self-taught. When the kids were half-grown, she went back to school and earned her art degree with a major in photography. She has had photography and haiku published and has participated in local art shows.
A love of Asian design led her to papermaking and after the first batch, she was hooked. And she tries to hook others. She has taught papermaking in schools, workshops, stores, and senior centers in Bel Air and Baltimore, MD, California, and Colorado. Kids as young as three and seniors in their eighties have dipped their hands into the oatmeal-like pulp and pulled their first sheets of handmade paper. And Nan is at least as delighted as they are.
Nan is a member of The Friends of Dard Hunter, the national group of papermakers, and The Haiku Society. She is planning a series of vessels with her own haiku. Her home and studio is in Nottingham, MD, north of Baltimore, MD, which she shares with her partner,Tim. All of her 6 grandchildren took a big bite of that hook and love making paper with Nana.
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