Chinese Paper Cuts (Take Notes)

What are they? Chinese Paper Cuts also called Scissor-cuts, it is a kind of folk artwork with rich local flavor popularizing in numerous people. Chinese Paper cuts come out during the period of Chinese New Year. Colorful paper cut by scissors is often used as decoration and forms various artistic styles because of different purposes, such as for window decoration, basket decoration, present decoration and designs.

Jianzhi ( 剪纸 ) chuāng huā" ( 窗花 ) Wall Flower Chinese New Year – Year of the Dragon Shuāngxǐ – Double Happiness Good Business

History Han Dynasty - 6th century Western China (Xinjiang) Women used to paste golden and silver foil cuttings onto their hair at the temples Men used them in sacred rituals. Later, they were used during festivals to decorate gates and windows. After hundreds of years' development, now they have become a very popular means of decoration among country folk, especially women. Potala Palace, Lhasa

More Cuts..

Less traditional cut

Jewish Paper Cuts Jewish art form since the Middle Ages Ceremonies, holidays and family life. Paper cuts often decorated ketubot (marriage contracts), Mizrahs, and for ornaments on festive occasions. A story tells of Rabbi Shem-Tov ben Yitzhak ben Ardutiel, finding that his ink had frozen, continued to write the manuscript by cutting the letters into the paper. By about the 17th century, papercutting had become a popular form for small religious artifacts such as Mizrachs and Shavuot decorations. In the 20th century, the art of Jewish papercutting was revived in Israel. Today it is most commonly used for mizrachs and ketubot.

Mexican Paper Cuts Papel picado is the Mexican art of paper cutting. Tissue paper is cut into intricate designs with scissors or small, sharp chisels; this technique is frequently used to produce decorative banners

Symmetrical Paper Cuts

Other Western Paper Cuts..

Compare and Contrast Find the difference and similarities with Chinese and Other Paper cuts. Consider: The material How they are displayed The color The Process The subject At home collect and add examples of Eastern and Western paper cuts

Negative Space To make a paper cut you must cut away the negative space. Here you should cut away the white space.

Negative Space in Action Do you see a Vase or two faces?

Task 1: practice page Task: On your note page in your sketchbook, place a cutting mat under one page. Remember your craft knife safety! Practice cutting out negative space Label the positive and negative space Practice making cuts in your paper. How much pressure does it take to cut through one page?

Negative Space drawing using Ink and charcoal

Negative Space Josh Dametto, SciFi Fantasy Art

Have a go!

Make a symmetrical Paper cut Think about what you want to cut You can sketch it out on your paper first Expreriment folding and cutting out details with scissors and/or your craft knife How creative are you? Aim to finish in 20 mins

Artist Research Homework : Choose one Paper cut artist and make a research page. It should have: –Images of his/her artwork. –How the work is made and what from. –What you think about the work and why. Choose from one of these artists: Peter Callesen Karen Bit Vejle Nikki McClure