In this workshop, students will learn how to turn plant fibers into paper, specifically banana fiber.

We will collect the banana leaf waste from the previous night’s Kamayan feast and will learn to clean, prep, and cook this fiber down to make our own sustainable papers.

Students will leave with at least 5 sheets of banana fiber paper, and the equipment to continue papermaking at home. Papers can be used to create artwork, wrap gifts, make cards, and so much more.

Maeve Leslie (they/them) is a multi-media artist whose research revolves around unseen labor in the United States. Their work expresses identity, erasure, social justice, and diaspora through printmaking, hand papermaking, book arts, and installation. The importance of material exploration is emphasized in their work through learning and incorporating other mediums when necessary. Maeve’s work strives to challenge their viewer’s ideas around immigration, immigrant labor, and the ways children of immigrants have to navigate multiple cultures.

Maeve has shown at the Zhou B Arts Center in Chicago, the Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, and other venues nationwide. They currently live and work in Denver, Colorado where they are an Assistant Professor and Area Coordinator of Printmaking at the Metropolitan State University of Denver.