Visiting Artist – Regine Neumann
The NI Linen Bienale is delighted to be able to support some of Canda-based paper and fiber artist Regine Neumann’s residency in Northern Ireland this summer for her research project Flax-Paper-Lab.
Regine is an instructor in Fibre Art and Papermaking at Bishop's University, Quebec. Her FlaxPaperLab project is inspired by the digital FabLab movement – digital Fabrication Laboratories which provide access to digital tools and knowledge for free or very low cost in a highly creative and generative environment. FlaxPaperLab aims to create such a comparable collective learning environment and to develop new strategies for working with flax pulp and for integrating collaboration into the creative process.
Regine will undertake a production residency at Flax Artist Studios in Belfast between July 15 and August 26
During her time in Northern Ireland she is interested in collaborating with other artists, flax growers, groups and organisations and cultural institutions, facilitating papermaking workshops and sharing experiences with other papermakers, sculptors and printmakers.
If you think Regine’s work is interesting, she would love to hear from you.
Get in touch rneumann@ubishops.ca or connect with her on instagram @regine_neumann_arts or her project page ‘Growing Material for Art’
WANTED
A key piece of equipment Regine is looking to source is a Paper Beater – do you have one or know someone with one?
BIO
Originally from Germany, Regine Neumann lives in Canton de Hatley, Québec, Canada. Her work combines digital and traditional methods in sculpture, using locally found or grown materials, and participatory art projects that seek collaboration with materials, places, and people. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Bishop's University and an M.F.A. in Sculpture/Installation/New Media from Alanus University in Germany. Regine's former work has been included in national and international sculpture exhibitions. In recent years she has participated in several artist residencies in Japan, Taiwan, Finland, and Germany and teaches currently fibre art and papermaking at Bishop's University.
Artist Statement
In my work, I explore the potential of repurposed and organic materials in sculptures, installations, and collaborations. Combining digital technologies such as laser cutting and CNC milling with techniques used in traditional sculpture, papermaking, and ecological architecture, I explore new possibilities for forms achieved through stacking layers of materials, accumulation, or concretion (solidification of form, something that has grown over time). In these works, inspired by processes in nature, I explore open spaces, movement, and continuous surface, as well as the relationship between internal and external form. This research is extended through a
collaborative art practice that aims to create social-ecological awareness and action to promote environmental restoration and community revitalization. I explore the role of art and the artist in developing sustainable communities and environments through the implementation of participatory and site-responsive art projects. Through actions, workshops, and conversations, I invite people to participate in the artistic process and to ask questions about human nature, culture, and the interactions that sustain people and their environments.
Examples of Regine’s work below.
