The French-American Cultural Foundation is proud to announce our support of Paper Routes – Women to Watch 2020 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington, D.C. Our contribution will facilitate the participation of Georgia Russell, an artist who is based in Méru, France. Russell was nominated by Constance Rubini of the Musée de Arts décoratifs et du Design, and her collaboration with NMWA was facilitated by the museum’s Paris-based outreach committee, Les Amis du NMWA. Russell will represent France in the exhibit.
Women to Watch increases the visibility of and critical response to emerging or underrepresented women artists. Paper Routes highlights the versatility of paper well beyond its traditional role as support for drawings, prints and photographs with works that range in scale from intimate to immersive. The exhibit will open to the public on October 8, 2020 and it is the museum’s largest installment of the series to date.
Born in 1974 in Elgin, Scotland, Georgia Russell studied Fine Art at the University of Aberdeen and then at the Royal College of Art in London, where she earned a Master’s degree in Printmaking. She has participated in numerous international exhibits, notably at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington, D.C. Her work can be found in private and public collections including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Paper cutting is a longstanding tradition in paper art and includes silhouettes, developed in 18th-century France, and the art of scherenschnitte, or “scissor cuts,” brought to colonial America by German immigrants. Russell creates sculptural works and collages out of used books, musical scores, stamps, maps, currencies, and other paper sources. Reconstructing historical texts into new forms allows the artist to ponder and assess their meaning and value in the present day. “Cutting for me is some form of expression and freedom because when you cut something, you’re almost freeing it from what it’s been before,” Russell explains.
“The Women to Watch program offers an unprecedented opportunity for women artists to show their work, often for the first time, on a national and international level,” said NMWA Director Susan Fisher Sterling. “No other museum outreach effort is so targeted in its commitment to discovering and promoting women artists working today. We are delighted to welcome such a talented group to the museum.”
Located in Washington, D.C., NMWA is the only major museum in the world solely dedicated to championing women through the arts.
Cover Photo Credit: Gilles Mazzuferri