Barbara Schutzgruber – Storyteller & Weaver

Fiber Art Now —Paper Made is returning for a second year!
Enter your 2D or 3D artwork for Paper Made II
Artwork must be made primarily from paper or a paper product
or created using a paper-making process.
Juried selections will be featured in the fall 2025 issue of Fiber Art Now
and will be eligible for the on-site exhibition at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on view November 8, 2025 through February 1, 2026.

Fellow Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild member, Jan Frank, sent me the above call for submissions notice. “Thought you might like to see this. What about the map dress?” I submitted Couture Cartography.

Couture Cartography was accepted to be one of 40 juried pieces featured in the Fall Issue of Fiber Art Now. The 40 pieces selected are amazing and highlights the broad scope of creativity you can achieve working with paper. 

Couture Cartography was also selected to part of the Paper Made II in-person exhibit at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Packing the map dress for shipping would not be easy so I drove the dress to Fort Wayne, IN at the beginning of November for the instillation at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art’s.

It was fascinating to see several of the items being installed.

This was my first time visiting FWMoA so I spent some time wandering the galleries especially the The Glass Wing.

FWMoA has one of the largest permanent collection of contemporary glass work.
It is impressive!
“Since 2013, the FWMoA has committed to building a world-class collection of studio glass sculpture, with the aim of becoming a center for glass in the Midwest. Now at nearly 700 sculptures, the FWMoA glass collection includes some of the earliest experimental work of Harvey Littleton and Dominick Labino, followed by examples of the development of glass sculpture from every decade to the present from around the world. Visitors will find major works on view from Dale Chihuly, Martin Blank, Howard Ben Tré, Paul Stankard, Therman Statom, and dozens more in our 4,000 square foot Glass Wing.”

The 2nd Thursday at FWMoA event for November featured Paper Made II.
Cash bar and hors d’oeuvres with tours of the exhibit scheduled for 5:30 & 6:30. Two other artists were there – Lisa Merida-Paytes who created the large piece that was being hung from the ceiling when I delivered Couture Cartography and Diane Britt who made a miniature Armored Bodice.

For the tours we each gave a 10 min artist talk about our pieces, our process and answered questions. I also read the description card for the trench coat next to Couture Cartography and highlighted difference between its woven structure vs the map dress being sewn. Excellent turnout of people – lots of interest and questions, many conversations and hearing how the other artists work with paper was fascinating.

The Paper Made II exhibition is well worth seeing in-person! The feedback from visitors has been overwhelmingly positive. Many thanks to Brit Micho, Curator of Exhibitions, and the FWMoA staff who made this exhibit happen!!

Paper Made ll
Now through February 1, 2026
Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Fort Wayne, Indiana

[To learn how the map dress was made – see March 2024 blog Couture Cartography]

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