Artist Layla May Arthur created the work Selwerd Is that can now be seen in Selwerd at restaurant De Duindoorn. But the metal sculpture is actually an exception within Arthur's career: normally she creates enormous worlds with minuscule details from paper. Kunstpunt spoke to Arthur about her fascination with paper art, how her sculpture in Selwerd was created, and about why she works lying on the ground.
Where does your interest in paper art come from?
Just before I came here to Minerva, I saw an exhibition about paper art in Jersey, where I am from. I was immediately fascinated. Normally you use paper for another purpose - you paint or draw on it - but here the paper became a story in itself. I was also impressed by the scale of the work: meters of installations that you could walk through, making it a real experience.
How did you then get started?
I was already working on printing techniques, which is similar to when you visualize what you want your image to be: what should you cut away and what can remain? When we had an exhibition in a synagogue in our first year, I thought that the light could work very nicely with paper cut-outs. From then on I started making more and more paper art. Towards the end of the year I contacted the people of Jersey to let them know how inspiring the exhibition had been for me. They then invited me to participate in their exhibition in Denmark. So in my second year I was already working on a large installation for an exhibition. That gave me the confidence to say, okay, I've found my thing. And since then I've basically only worked with paper, in different ways.
Lying down, I am naturally very close to the paper
Your work is incredibly detailed, but also large-scale. Can you tell us something about your working methods, and how you navigate these aspects in your creative process?
For my installations I need to know to some extent what the composition will be, so that I know what to cut and what to keep. Many paper artists use 3D models for this, but I am very hands-on, and do everything from sketches and by putting things together. But I also improvise, especially in the details. I also work lying on the floor. That has to do with the fact that I always have my nose on the paper, and if you do that while sitting, it is very bad for your back. Lying down, I am naturally very close to the paper and can see what I am doing. In addition, working on large sheets at the table can cause fold lines, and I want to avoid that.
For your sculpture in Selwerd you suddenly worked with a completely different material: metal.
Yes, that was a challenge. I started by drawing everything on paper, as always, but then I had to turn it into a digital drawing that could be used to cut the metal with a laser. We did a number of tests to see how much detail could be added. Normally I work much smaller than is possible with this material. As a result, the sculpture has a slightly different style than my paperwork. But I do think that in the end we were able to push the technology to the limit so that I could work in as much detail as possible.
Finally, two of your works have recently been added to the Kunstpunt art collection. What kind of works are these?
Both were part of my graduation work. I worked with installations, light, projections, and shadows, but these two flat works were actually the starting point of this project. At the time, I was busy with the stories we hear from our parents as children, the details you remember and how you sometimes have to revisit them as an adult. These two works are about a story with creatures that are connected to the trees in which they live. As a child I took that literally: I thought they were stuck to the trees. Now I understand that the meaning was meant metaphorically. But that image of those creatures, stuck to the tree in which they live, has always stayed with me. The cutouts are visualizations of that.
The two works by Layla May Arthur from the series Their lives were tied to the trees where they made their home. Both can be borrowed and purchased via Kunstpunt's Art Rental.
Text: Ruby de Vos
Photos Layla + Selwerd Is: Rohan Hoeksma