Thursday, November 7, 2024 – Saturday, December 14, 2024

Olive Hyde Gallery
123 Washington Blvd
Fremont, CA 94539

Reception. November 15, 7-9 pm

Curators’ Tour (in person). November 24
11:30 am Reception
12 - 1 pm Tour

Artists’ Talk (virtual). December 2, 6-7 pm
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/96600406672

Virtual Gallery: Gallery 1 and Gallery 2

The City of Fremont’s historic Olive Hyde Art Gallery proudly presents Connecting Cuts - a papercut exhibition featuring a diverse group of local, national, and international artists. The works, presented by Guest Curator Bianca Levan and Olive Hyde Art Gallery Curator Leah Andrews, offer a glimpse into traditional, cross-cultural, and modern papercut styles and techniques and are accompanied by descriptions of their historical origins.

Papercut art is an ancient technique with roots that even pre-date the invention of paper itself. Early practitioners of the form used a variety of common tools to carve negative spaces out of materials such as leaves, tree bark, silks, and leathers. Irrespective of the material or culture, the image usually came into being by the process of subtracting a piece at a time. These pre-paper creations have been documented as far back as 3 BC.

Today, papercutting has evolved into a ubiquitous and even experimental art form, aweing audiences with intricate structural expressions that range from traditional, to abstract, and even architectural in nature. This exhibition showcases the deep and sometimes surprising connections formed between cultures and generations as the artform is perpetually rediscovered by artists seeking to simultaneously explore their cultural roots and forge their own individual form of self expression.

Connecting Cuts represents traditional folk artistries including Jianzhi (剪紙), Papel Picado, Katagami (型紙), Wycinanki (Витина́нки/Выцінанкі), Scherenschnitte, and Wayang (ꦮꦪꦁ) originating in China, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, and Indonesia, respectively. Featured alongside more contemporary papercut works, the exhibit seeks to link techniques and identify the stylistic similarities and departures.

The opening reception for Connecting Cuts will take place Friday, November 15th, from 7-9 PM. This is a free event open to all and membership is not required to attend. All are invited to meet the artists and enjoy the evening with fellow art enthusiasts.

Featured Artists: Blanka Amezkua and Rene Mendoza, Ellen Bepp, Lucrezia Beerli-Bieler, Lorraine Bubar, Debra Collins, Marie Helene Grabman, Todd Hanson, Zhirong Hu 胡志荣, Melanie Kehoss, Kate Laster, Rosa Leff, Bianca Levan, Yiling Li 李逸泠, Ashley Liu, Ro Mottsmith, Choppy Oshiro, Sijia Pang 逄思佳, Janelle Washington, Kay Weber, Sam Wróbel, Hongxia Yue 岳红霞, Victor-Mario Zaballa, Lili Zhang 张丽丽, Xiaomei Zhang 张晓梅, Shiyi Zhou 周是一, Qiuying Zhu 朱秋