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The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs... - The Open College of the Arts

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The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs… thumb

The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs…


Tutor Irena Boobyer has her latest exhibition at A La Ronde in Exmouth until 6 March. Called Feathers and Friezes, Irena’s papercuts are inspired by the extraordinary interior decoration of the building which was built in the eighteenth century for the Parminter cousins.
Irena’s father was a Polish soldier who came to England after the Second World War and her personal interest in paper cuts originates from childhood summer holidays spent in Poland where the rich cultural tradition of paper cutting (wycinanki) influenced her first experiments. It was whilst working on a project for Devon Arts in Schools Initiative that she returned to paper cutting, teaching children in primary schools how to create their own paper-cuts in the tradition of the Polish paper-cutters.
Close inspection of this second piece reveals some of the intricacies of the method which combines photography, screen printing and paper cutting:


Finally as an aside, UK based readers of WeAreOCA may be more familiar with wycinanki from its adoption by British Airways as a tail design in 1997


Posted by author: OCA

2 thoughts on “The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs…

  • I am in support of the arts in various forms.From dancing to
    performing.From painting to photography.from pottery to needle
    work.ect.I have heard of origami but this leaves me speachless.
    Surely it is worth a look.

  • I have seen this paper cutting being performed by a wizened elderly Chinese person and have the peices framed. I’m so glad that the art is continuing – it is truly beautiful, made even more so when seeing it done.

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