Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Couch.
Colleen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
While studying sculpture at the Memphis College of Art, I enrolled in a papermaking course and instantly began merging the medium into my sculptural work. Being a single mom of a toddler, I had to work while going to college and took a job waitressing at a fine dining restaurant. I started dating the chef of said restaurant….who just so happened to be the brother of my papermaking professor. His father is also a well-known local artist who started the papermaking program at MCA.
The universe was lining me up to be a papermaker! Even though I thought that relationship would be short-lived, we ended up getting married, opening a restaurant that is still thriving, and having two kids together. After graduating I continued to make art but it was more of a side hustle, as the restaurant and children kept me busy in ways that made studio time challenging. Unfortunately, the marriage did not survive and I made the difficult decision to leave.
Slowly but surely I got back into the grove of creative output. The final piece to this puzzle was the summer that my brother, his wife, my sons, my best friend, and my stepfather rolled up their sleeves and helped build the studio of my dreams.
In the summer of 2021 my brother, Andrew, and his wife, Tiffany, came to town for a long visit. The garage at their Memphis home (where I currently live) had seen better days and needed major repair. Since the roof was the most critical component needing a complete demo and rebuild, we all brainstormed a fresh new design for the structure. Inspired by architectural elements at my alma mater, MCA, we devised a plan that offered ample light yet plenty of privacy. I’ll spare you the hilarious yet frustrating parts of the renovation!
But let’s just say it truly was built with love and a whole lot of “F*** This!”. I cannot thank my brother and sister-in-law enough for bringing this dream into reality. This space brings an unmeasurable joy to my life and sparked the creative burst that I am still riding today. In addition to a couple of local gallery shows, I’ve had work accepted to several papermaking shows in other cities. Maybe this magic has always been there and I wasn’t seeing it. But I truly feel like the studio itself unlocked something within me that is just bursting at the seams after being held back for so long.
I’m enjoying this process, even when it is pure lunacy. On the fine art side, I create abstract wall sculptures made mostly from handmade paper that is stretched over wire or wood armatures. Commercially I have a business called Flax & Fern, a home decor-focused shop that showcases the custom light fixtures I create from handmade paper.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The journey to where I am today has not always been smooth. I put my art aspirations aside for a long time and let resentment over that fester. The restaurant my ex and I owned consumed a lot of energy from both of us. It was difficult to set aside time for studio work but also hard to fully enjoy and be focused on it once I had it. There were constant distractions and just arranging things so that I could carve out some studio time exhausted me.
Because I allowed myself to fall into this pattern of negative thinking it kind of surrounded me with negative energy. And the quality of my art reflected that. Once I began the difficult process of shutting down the negative thinking and prioritizing some personal growth, my creative output began to fall into place the way I needed it to. I wish that I had made this shift in thinking so much sooner!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a papermaker, which already makes me stand out from the crowd. But the way I use that medium is also unique. Typically in art, we think of paper as a substrate for other media. We write on it, paint on it, print on it. Not much creative value is given to the paper itself.
By using handmade paper sculpturally, I take what would otherwise be a flat surface, begging to be covered by something else, and elevate it according to the qualities of the fiber from which it is made to be something completely different. Paper made from fibers such as abaca, flax, and bamboo has the perfect qualities to apply to dimensional work.
These papers can be applied over wire armatures while they are still wet after pressing. They shrink as they dry and form a tight, almost skin-like appearance. Perfectly translucent paper is a highly desired quality in my light fixtures especially, so I will alter the fiber processing to arrive at this result.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Spending time with my creative and kind children brings me the most joy in life. It just amazes me to see what they have become!
Studio time and listening to music are next….honestly, I’d be lost without music. Pets, books, plants, and cooking complete the set.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.colleencouch.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instantkarmen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flaxandferndecor/
- Other: https://www.flaxandfern.net/
