Dene Ross

Category: Visual, Printmaking

Address: 1 Elm Street #4D
Tuckahoe, New York 10707
Phone: 914-589-7375

Contact: Dene Ross
E-mail: dene18paper@yahoo.com

Artist Statement
Teaching Artist

My interest in papermaking began in the mid-1970\\\'s, when I realized that books were printed on paper that would not last a century. As a photographer and printmaker, paper was the foundation for my work, and I sought a more permanent material. From this research, I gained a fascination for the process of papermaking, and paper itself became the medium of my artistic expression.

Over the years, I learned natural dying techniques during my stay with a Navajo tribe, explored the Chinese process of embedding organic matter such as flowers and leaves, created organic pulps, and applied pure pigment to create pulp paintings.

Since 1979 my artwork has been exhibited widely. Selected exhibitions include The Tulane Medical Center and Loyola University in New Orleans, La, Bloomingdale\\\'s White Plains where they designed rooms around the artwork, The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Hudson River Museum, College of New Rochelle, Nordstroms, Executive Suite at the Westchester County Office Building, Rhinebeck Art Fair.

Since 1979 I have been teaching workshops in papermaking and have conducted residencies in schools in NYC, Westchester County, Southern Connecticut, Rome, Italy and Athens, Greece. I also teach a college graduate level course in papermaking for art education and art therapy master\\\'s degree candidates.

Teaching Discipline

Visual

Specialized Training

Masters of Fine Art and Art Education, Art Staff Development Classes Educator. Ms. Ross has been lecturing and exhibiting handmade paper and pulp paintings throughout the United States since 1978. She has been a guest lecturer at the NY Botanical Gardens, Mamaroneck School District, Dieu Donne Papermill in NYC, Silvermine Guild Arts Center in CT, schools in Westchester County, Connecticut, Rome, Italy and Athens, Greece. She trained teachers for Queens District 28 at the New York Museum of Art and had a studio residency at New Rochelle High School. She teaches college graduate level courses in papermaking for art education and art therapy master\'s degree candidates.

Papermaking, completed in a short period of time, provides an immediate sense of
accomplishment and bolsters self-esteem & creative development. She has taught curriculum through the arts and also art for art\'s sake, believing both are vital for learning other disciplines.

She has conducted a paper-making studio and residencies including: The Arts Education: A Common Ground for Learning conference, sponsored by the NYS Alliance for Arts Education; Dows Lane School in Irvington; French American School of New York in Larchmont; Woodlands High School for the Greenburgh Empire State Partnership project; and a mural residency at the Van Cortlandt Middle School in Croton, where she was selected as the first of four residency artists for an intensive year-long Arts Partners program for 6th graders.

Recent Projects

Ms. Ross and 6th grade students created a permanently installed mural at Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. She began with a slide lecture of the history of papermaking. Next, students made two pieces of 5\' X 8\' \"papyrus-like\" paper of cotton and yellow flower petals. On one paper students wrote their first and last names in hieroglyphics. On the other, Egyptian imagery was researched by students, transferred and colored on the second paper in colors used by Egyptians. The final hanging contains a work from every 6th grade student.