Working Loose presents
CHEWED PAPER
October 18th–November 18th, 2025
Working Loose: 49 Main Street, Blue Hill, ME 04614
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 18th 5pm - 7pm
This fall Working Loose gathers a dynamic group of artists to explore the modest medium of paper and glue. Chewed Paper is a celebration of papier-mâché—a deceptively humble medium that has endured across centuries, cultures, and continents. From the fortified surfaces of medieval armor to the festive vibrancy of piñatas, masks and costume, this exhibition honors the tactile, transformative nature of a craft born from the simple union of paper and paste.
The exhibition features works by Elizabeth Atterbury, Michael Berryhill, Strauss Bourque-LaFrance, Meghan Brady, Taussen Brewer, Margot DeMarco, Brianne Doak, Annika Earley, Mary Fleming, A. Kori Girard, Alexis Granwell, Lina Puerta, Eamon Monaghan, Wilson Minnows, Park Pardon, Melissa Scherrer Paré and Paul Wackers.
Papier-mâché, quite literally “chewed paper,” holds a unique place in the artistic lineage of humanity. Its accessibility belies its power: scraps and refuse become vessels of imagination, protest, play and use. It speaks to the necessity of physical making in a chaotic world. The labor of layering, molding and drying becomes a quiet act of resistance against the ephemeral. It’s a call back to the kind of creativity that doesn’t require a Wi-Fi signal—just a pile of old newsprint, some paste and a good dose of artistic ingenuity.
In an age increasingly mediated by screens and fleeting digital imagery, Chewed Paper urges us to slow down and get our hands dirty. This show invites viewers to reconsider paper not as something to be thrown away, but as something to be chewed on—reworked, reshaped, and reimagined into something new.
