TISDALE 鈥� Artist Jessica Richter hosted a workshop at the Tisdale Community Library, showing community members how to make scherenschnitte paper cut sculptures.
Scherenschnitte is a German art form where silhouettes are cut from one piece of special black paper with scissors or knives, creating a picture.
鈥淢y family is German, so I started doing it as a way to reconnect with my family鈥檚 heritage and tell stories,鈥� Richter said.
聽鈥淚鈥檓 not very good with scissors so I kind of changed and updated it a little bit so I do almost three dimensional drawings using paper cutting and whatever materials I have on hand.鈥�
For Richter, scherenschnitte represents her German-Canadian identity.
鈥淚鈥檓 really interested in German-Canadian identity in post-World War II Canada, because for my family that鈥檚 when we immigrated. I like to think about how that identity is formed, how it鈥檚 maintained and you know it鈥檚 a good way to think about how so many of us are from different countries and how we maintain our culture or choose not to.鈥�
Richter said for her own art, she鈥檚 inspired by folk and fairy tales.
鈥淭here鈥檚 something really meditating about paper cutting that I really like doing. It makes me think about drawing in a different way.鈥�
She said anyone can do it at home, and encourages others to try it 鈥� even if they don鈥檛 have German heritage.
Richter said she started learning how to do scherenschnitte from watching videos at home.
鈥淔rom there I taught myself. There鈥檚 really no substitute for practice and trial by error I鈥檓 afraid. Sometimes you have to keep going and going and you look at the first thing you did and you鈥檒l think, 鈥榯hat鈥檚 awful鈥� and you realize how far you鈥檝e come simply by practicing and practicing.鈥�
The workshop was alongside the scherenschnitte Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Council鈥檚 display being hosted at the library for the public to view from Feb. 4 to 19. The display featured works from Richter, as well as the artist Waltraude Stehwien.
鈥淭raditions die unless we rediscover them and pass them on,鈥� Richter said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fun and not a lot of people do it, so it can be a great way for people to think about drawing in a different way.鈥�
