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Torn Paper Borders and Canvas Ketubah Prints

I am combining my canvas print ketubahs with my original, handmade, torn paper borders. See Extras on my ketubah site, Artketubah.com, for details. Each ketubah is unique and made especially for you. We can discuss color and paper options to create a personalized piece that reflects your marriage and home, affordably ranging from $400 to $650.

I have been collaging with decorative papers for approximately 20 years.  I love working with paper, both the process and the product. Beyond aesthetics, why am I so passionate about this medium?

Artists often work subconsciously, instinctively.  With torn paper collage, I experience a dynamic relationship with my subconscious self that occasionally shares its intentions. While desiring to respect this relationship, I have discovered some truths about my borders.

My torn paper collage borders combine various papers that vibrate together to speak of the essence of the original artwork. The conversation between the border and the inner work becomes a revelation as well as a new creation.  The paper collage is a free, abstracted pattern that is not related to the rectangular shape of the inner or outer frame.  While it relates to the original artwork, the border becomes an abstract piece of art in its own right and the free patterning suggests that the viewer is seeing only part of a larger, continuous whole– as in Islamic geometric art, the pattern suggests infinity.  

My abstract borders hearken back to the roots of modern abstraction:  the spiritual essence of nature. The realistic, representational artworks at the center of my borders focus on the visible, concrete world we inhabit. The torn paper borders explode this representational imagery into an abstract pattern that expresses spirituality through both color vibrations and the subtle experience of infinity. The dichotomy of style and intention between these two elements is apparent, yet they weave together to build a unified image. This new creation speaks to the experience of holiness that quietly, almost imperceptibly, permeates the world we inhabit.  Perhaps we could call it infinity.