Exhibition

The Newark Public Library is featuring art by veterans in a new exhibition, The Combat Paper Project: Healing through Art. The exhibition highlights art on paper made from military uniforms and may be viewed from April 1 through June 26 in the third floor gallery of the Main Library, 5 Washington Street, Newark.

The exhibition is named after the project through which the work was created. The Combat Paper Project is a grass-roots initiative founded in 2008 to introduce veterans to the process of papermaking as a form of cathartic art therapy. In residencies at the Green Door Studio in Burlington, Vermont, and roving workshops across North America and the U.K., veterans repurpose and transform uniforms they wore in combat into handmade paper: uniforms are cut, cooked, beaten into pulp, and pounded into sheets of paper, onto which text or images may be added through stencils, screen-printing, and pulp painting. The project provides veterans with a supportive community and a creative process through which to reconcile and share their personal experiences as warriors, and ease the transition back to civilian life.

For more information about the exhibit, please call the Special Collections Division at 973-733-7745, or e-mail Jared Ash at jash@npl.org.

Panel Discussion and Opening Reception

Thursday, April 22, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Main Library, Fourth Floor Auditorium

The Newark Public Library and Rutgers-Newark are proud to present a panel discussion and reception for the exhibition, The Combat Paper Project: Healing Through Art. Reception is from 6:00 - 7:00 pm, followed by panel discussion from 7:00 - 8:00 pm. Panelists include Drew Cameron and Drew Matott, artists and cofounders of the Combat Paper Project, and Jon Michael Turner, Marine Corps machine-gunner turned book and paper artist. Jared Ash, curator of the exhibition, will moderate.

During the reception, in addition to the exhibition on the third floor gallery, visitors will also be able to view work created earlier in the week during a papermaking and creative writing workshop hosted by Rutgers-Newark, and presented by the Office of Student Veteran Affairs in partnership with the Newark Public Library.

Reservations are appreciated, but not required: 973-733-7745.

Exhibition Tours and Demonstrations

Thursday, April 22, and Friday, April 23, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Main Library, Third Floor Gallery
5 Washington Street

On April 22 and 23, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Drew Cameron, Drew Matott, and other artists featured in the exhibition will present tours of the exhibition, and demonstrate the process of transforming uniforms into paper. Groups are welcome, and encouraged to make arrangements in advance. For additional information, please call 973-733-7745.

Combat Paper Papermaking and Writing Workshop for Veterans

Monday, April 19 - Wednesday, April 21
10:00 - 4:00 pm
Rutgers University, Newark campus

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Office of Student Veteran Affairs at Rutgers-Newark is cosponsoring and hosting a free, three-day papermaking and creative writing workshop for veterans. The workshop is open to veterans of all wars and branches of service, from Rutgers and the general community-at-large. For registration and additional information contact Gerald Massenburg, Veteran Services Coordinator, Rutgers-Newark at 973-353-5541 or geraldm@andromeda.rutgers.edu.