The University of Toledo

"This Little Piggy Went to Market" by Mary Gaynier

It’s been snowing in Grand Rapids, Mich. OK, maybe there were just a few flurries — 17 snowflakes to be exact.

The cool, comic creations by paper-cutting artist Mary Gaynier are on display in the Peaches Bed and Breakfast, 29 Gay Ave. SE, in Grand Rapids, where ArtPrize is taking place. The international competition kicked off Sept. 23 and features works throughout the city by more than 1,200 artists. The top prize: $250,000.

“Aliens, Dragons and Dinosaurs, Oh My!” is the title of Gaynier’s show.

“The story is aliens landed in Roswell, New Mexico, and I thought how funny it would be to have a Martian working on a farm, so I had a motif of an alien with a cow and a pig and the little spaceship in the barn,” said Gaynier, who graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from UT in 1989.

In “There Goes the Neighborhood,” an alien and cow are seated at the Roswell Diner while some locals are shocked and others continue eating. In “This Little Piggy Went to Market,” an alien tries to push a swine into a spaceship.

"A Capitol Luncheon" by Mary Ganier

Gaynier added some dragons as she and the seven other artists with works at Peaches Bed and Breakfast wanted to have a theme that might entice families to visit. And since “Edgar,” a giant dragon sculpture by Anthony Jackson, is in front of the B&B …

“I threw the dinosaurs in because a lot of the dinosaurs are eating politicians. I just thought it was funny,” Gaynier said and laughed. “With the arguments going on now in Congress about the health-care situation and the stimulus bill, it seems people aren’t really happy with our politicians, so I thought it would be a popular theme.”

She uses an X-acto blade to craft the intricate paper cuttings, which range in size from three inches to 30 inches in diameter, which is the largest snowflake she’s made to date. “Breaking News II” was created for the competition and depicts a dinosaur plucking someone from the Capitol as people scurry and news crews cover the event. Gaynier estimated she put 1,000 hours into the big piece.

“People appreciate the skill and craftsmanship because the snowflakes are so detailed. And then they understand the humor and the surprise,” she said. “You can see them more than once and find something that you missed the last time.

“I think the pieces are engaging,” Gaynier continued. “Because I worked on them so long, I immediately see everything; it’s neat to see somebody else just sort of peruse the works and discover these things — the design, the images, the story.”

Mary Gaynier worked on a snowflake in her studio.

The Toledoan’s tale began to unfold eight years ago when she discovered Scherenschnitte — the art of paper cutting — while making snowflakes during the holidays.

“I just started cutting freehand and I had to cut a lot of snowflakes to decorate my house and the more I cut, I just got bored and started making little bunnies and reindeers and that sort of thing,” she recalled.

Since then, Gaynier’s paper precipitation has fallen in more than 70 juried exhibitions around the world. And she designed a kit, “The Art of Paper Cutting,” for the Toledo Museum of Art to sell in its gift shop.

In Grand Rapids, the UT alumna took her art to the street in an effort to win votes. In 10 minutes, she used scissors to snip a forest scene complete with a bunny and a deer. Another showed a cow breathing on a not-so-happy snowman.

“You try to hold the public’s attention; you don’t want to go much longer than 10 minutes, but I can do those fairly fast,” Gaynier said. “We had a lot of people stop and watch me do demonstrations in the street. In fact, I was out in front of a restaurant doing a demo and when I looked up, there was a TV camera on me.”

Even though she didn’t place, Gaynier said the ArtPrize competition and visiting Grand Rapids has been an amazing experience.

“I enjoy people, and I definitely met a lot of different people,” Gaynier said. “The people here are really receptive to what’s going on and discussing the works. I like that part, the communication about art.”

Visitors who registered and checked out the art in Grand Rapids voted on their favorites. The top 10 finalists were posted Oct. 1 at www.artprize.org. Winners will be announced Oct. 8. All works will remain on display through Oct. 10.

This entry was posted  on  Monday, October 5th, 2009 at  5:21 am and is filed under  Arts.
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