The Incredible World of Paper Art

Do you have a budding young artist at home or at school? Or do you know one who you would like to inspire? Try paper art—the process of working with paper by cutting, folding, and/or quilling. Students can easily experiment with this medium using inexpensive, easy-to-find materials.

Initially, the process of working with paper art may include copying another artist's previous designs or techniques. There’s nothing wrong with learning paper techniques by copying. The creative part comes when individuals take those copied techniques and use them in different ways to generate fresh interpretations.

Here are some great places to look for inspiration and ideas, whether your student is copying another artist's techniques or creating her own:

• YouTube—Search for “Paper Art,” or “Origami,” or “Paper Folding,” to name just a few, and you will find all kinds of videos showing how to create paper art.
• Magazine Mosaic—Design an original mosaic using a paper plate and cut up magazine piece 
• 100 Extraordinary Examples of Paper Art—I promise that you will love this website. Here, 13 artists showcase their amazing pieces of paper art. Some of the artists featured here use simple materials, while others resort to the unexpected to create stunning work.
• WebUrbanist—Here, more artists showcase their paper art. There are some repeats from the preceding website, but this website is still worth viewing.
• Jen Stark's Paper Art—Here is a video showing how one artist uses very inexpensive materials to create wonderful examples of paper art.
• And here is Jen Stark’s website showing her many paper sculptures.