Artist Michelle Scarlett to display a collection of her work at the UMaine Machias Art Gallery

Michelle Scarlett is a Downeast papermaker who uses sketchbooks and journals to create art in the mediums of papermaking, printmaking and book arts. She will open her show, “Placemarkers – The Inner Workings Of Sketchbook Ideas” at the University of Maine at Machias on April 12 from 4-6 p.m. in Powers Hall. 

“Through the mediums of papermaking and printmaking, I explore observations and creative ideas” said Scarlett. “In my practice, paper is the key element. I create my work in stages. First, I chart my thoughts in my sketchbook and journals. Next, I translate those notes and drawings into a print design and/or papermaking recipe. 

“I use my experience in hand papermaking processes to create papers that begin conversations on themes such as nature, cultural heritage, the impacts of global events and the human condition. I use pigments, paper fibers and papermaking techniques such as watermarks and color pulp painting in this process.”

Part of Scarlett’s show will include sketchbooks stored in flat glass cases. Every few days, the pages will be turned to reveal another “inner working,” allowing viewers who make repeat visits the opportunity to see a different show. 

“My current students who have seen her sketchbooks, amassed over twenty years, have been inspired to start keeping their own records of ideas as they continue their studies,” said UMaine Machias professor of art and book arts, Bernie Vinzani.

Scarlett is a UMaine at Machias alumna of 2004 who earned her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary fine arts with a concentration in visual arts. She returned to UMaine Machias Creative Arts program in 2022 to earn the Book Arts Certificate . 

Her family has lived in Washington County for generations, and Scarlett now lives in Baileyville with her husband, Kevin Scarlett. She has a deep love for Maine’s history, people and land, and has drawn inspiration for her work from the natural beauty of Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Baring. Her current work explores traditional and contemporary papermaking processes and how paper structures can create interplays with movement, color and texture.

Michelle Scarlett has received many awards and achievements. She has been published in the UMM Binnacle, Helen Hiebert book, The Art of the Paper Craft, and collaborated in various Book Art Publications. Scarlett has also participated in several papermaking workshops: a 2022 Master Papermaking with Helen Hiebert in Red Cliff, Colorado a 2023 Penland School of Craft, Korean Paper and Textile with Steph Rue in Penland, North Carolina, and in2023 Dieu Donne, Parts of the Whole: Quilting, Collage and Accumulation with Kelly Taylor in Mitchell, Brooklyn, New York.

For more information or to request reasonable accommodation, call 207.255.1279.