Artist Tom Balbo, founder of the Morgan Paper Conservatory, shows third-graders at Hilliard Elementary School in Westlake the process of making paper Friday afternoon. (West Life photos by Larry Bennet)

Making paper is messy, Hilliard students learn
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published March 10, 2010

Students at Hilliard Elementary School had the benefit of an artist in residence during their art classes recently.

Art teacher Will Wilson welcomed Tom Balbo, founder and executive director of the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory & Educational Foundation, to his classroom last week.

The conservatory, which opened more than a year ago, is a nonprofit art center dedicated to the preservation of handmade papermaking and the art of the book, Balbo said.

So it’s not surprising, then, that Balbo and three assistants from the conservatory helped the students make their own paper from scratch.

Students used mesh screens to collect cotton fibers that had been placed in a vat of water. The screens were then pressed onto a surface. The still wet pulp was later taken to the conservatory and placed in a dry box before being returned to the school a few days later.

Balbo said the simple sheetforming assignment is a good introduction for elementary students to paper arts.

“It’s a way of getting kids used to and interested in the arts,” he told West Life.

Hilliard Elementary students Tommy Geirguis, Nicolas Hong and Connor Scully watch Juma Ali scoop the paper slurry into the “frame and deckle” while Marcus Brathwaite of the Morgan Paper Conservatory gives instructions.

Students also had the option of using stencils to add various colorful designs to their homemade sheets of paper.

“Each class has done a group project as well as lots of individual sheets,” Wilson explained. The group project consisted of a large, 30-by-44-inch homemade sheet of paper on which each student creatively placed a individual stencil design.

Wilson said the project was popular with most students.

“It’s a lot messier,” he said, “so a lot of the kids like it a lot more.”

Most of the third-grade art students observed Friday donned old shirts, and even boots, to avoid staining their regular clothing.

Balbo, who grew up in Lakewood and has worked as a studio artist for 30 years, leads such projects at area schools once or twice a month, he said.

To learn more about the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory & Educational Foundation, located on East 47th Street in Cleveland, visit its Web site at www.morganconservatory.org.

On the Web:

• Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory & Educational Foundation
• Hilliard Elementary School