Conversion of Invasive Grasses into Hand Made Paper for Artistic Creations

Abstract

The devastating impact of invasive grasses has created serious challenges for casual workers who consistently deal with this nuisance. The paper explores the possibilities of converting invasive grasses which are prevalent at the Department of Painting and Sculpture, in the Faculty of Art, into hand made paper to enhance artistic creations. Two grasses were identified namely Goose grass (Eleusine indica) and Japanese Lawn grass (Zoysia Japonica). Basic experimental procedures such as boiling and retting were followed before achieving the desired results. Artistic creations made on the paper revealed appealing, interesting and natural results. In sum, the tensile strength, and opacity of the paper produced was standard and an artistic medium for art explorations. It is a new material that engenders new forms of contemporary sculptural and painting works and challenges traditional philosophical ideas of artists to go beyond to create new vistas in art.

Keywords: Art, invasive grass; papermaking; artistic creations