Jersey next stop on two artists’ paper trail

Friday 16 September 2016

Two internationally celebrated paper cut or psaligraphy artists, Professor Xiaoguang Qiao from China and Norwegian artist Karen Bit Vejle, are bringing their “world-class” exhibition to Jersey for its British debut.

Entitled ‘Paper Dialogues – The Dragon and Our Stories’, the exhibition is an artistic collaboration between these two renowned psaligraphy artists and features a nine-metre long Chinese paper-cut dragon and seven large paper-cut dragon eggs.

From Thursday 12^th October to Saturday 30^th October, islanders will be able to view the paper sculpture exhibition’s UK debut in the Assembly Rooms of the St Helier Town Hall. The paper-cuts will be encased in glass with lights shining through them to show the intricate details of the psaligraphy as well as casting shadows on the walls and floors.

The dragon is a mythical being which connects China and Norway, the home countries of each of the collaborating artists. ‘Paper Dialogues’ tells the story of Prof. Xiaoguang Qiao and Karen Bit Vejle’s quest in search of these creatures. Using paper cuts, Xiaoguang and Vejle have interpreted their own culture and history to create a visual conversation between these two mythologies.

This will be the first time ‘Paper Dialogues’ will be displayed in Great Britain, having already been exhibited to great acclaim in Beijing, Shanghai, Oslo and Trondheim.

As part of an initiative created by the Jersey Arts Trust, during their time in Jersey, Professor Xiaoguang and Karen Bit Vejle will be running a combined Masterclass to teach six local artists how to paper-cut. After honing their own psaligraphy skills, these artists will then work on sharing the techniques they have learned with schoolchildren and the general public as part of a widespread community outreach programme.

All of the work created (by artists, students and the community) will be exhibited in a celebratory showcase in 2017 entitled ‘Paper Talks’. The exhibition will tell the story of the process and relations that have formed as well as what has been discovered through the work. 

‘Paper Dialogues’ is sponsored by the One Foundation, the States of Jersey and supported by Jersey Heritage, the Parish of St Helier, Signtech and Normans.

The exhibition will be open Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm and on Saturday 15^th October 10am – 4pm.

For more information, click here to visit the Jersey Arts Trust website.