Maureen Richardson

Paper Making | Sculpture | Applied Arts | Textiles

“I would use the following words to sum up my approach to life and work: CREATE, RECYCLE, RESEARCH, PLAY, SHARE, REINVENT”

Dedicated craftswoman Maureen Richardson has spent a lifetime manipulating natural materials and transforming found objects.

Instilled with a respect for the living landscape at an early age by her mother, an intuitive and gifted gardener, Maureen’s connection to the original essence of any given media is the fundamental thread that connects all aspects of her work within the act of ‘making’.

Highly regarded for her extensive work developing papermaking from plants, Maureen has both taught and written several books on the subject, and has exhibited at venues all over the world. She sold her first paper to Falkiner Fine Papers (London) in 1975, and continued to send a monthly consignment until 2015.

She has travelled widely, learning techniques and processes in Japan and Egypt, and ultimately expanded her practice to include the making of vegetable and fruit papyrus, a method that creates a translucent pressed slice akin to a shard of stained glass, revealing the intricate structure of each individual form.

Whilst best known for papermaking, to focus solely on this would be to tell only half the story of Maureen’s constant involvement with the production of objects and artefacts. A collector and maker of ‘domestic treasures’, Maureen’s home bursts with the fruits of her labours, from delicate kinetic sculptures and found object assemblage to joyful automata and dancing mobiles.  Her ceaseless creative engagement encompasses an extensive range of traditional applied arts including rush and straw-work, basketry, fabric patchwork, mosaic and pottery, jewellery making and collage, and wood and stone-carving.