An Artist Remembered: A Sandra Dixon Paley Retrospective

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio - August 20, 2004 - Notre Dame College’s Clara Fritzsche Library, in collaboration with the Western Reserve Calligraphers, will host “An Artist Remembered: A Sandra Dixon Paley Retrospective,” a showing of calligraphy, paper sculpture, origami, drawings, photography and mixed media creations by the late artist. Paley grew up in Madison, Ohio and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ohio University. After switching over to graphic design, she took a job at Container Corporation of America (CAA), now Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, where she was the company’s Structural Designer until her untimely death from a brain aneurysm in May of last year. Paley won many awards for her innovative designs, including several awards from the National Folding Carton Competition and a Structural Design Award for Excellence from the Paperboard Packaging Council. She also had several patents for uniquely designed folding cartons.

Paley was a beloved and longtime member of the Western Reserve Calligraphers, which she joined in 1977. She was one of the linchpins of the organization, having served in virtually all of its leadership positions, including the presidency, several times. She exhibited with other local calligraphers in yearly shows but her talent was also recognized both nationally and internationally. In 1980 her calligraphy piece “Alphabet Study” was chosen out of 2,400 entries from 25 countries for exhibition in the International Calligraphy Today Show in New York juried by pioneering graphic artist Hermann Zapf. It toured with the other 205 pieces in the show to Germany and Israel and was later published in a book inspired by the exhibit. In 1984 Paley was asked to participate in the William Morris Commemorative Exhibition in Texas. She entered two pieces, a broadside and a miniature book, which was sold. Another of her William Morris pieces, “The Fields Are All Buttercuppy,” was chosen for the 1985 Calligraphers Engagement Calendar. She continued to exhibit with the Western Reserve Calligraphers several times each year and was also very involved with the Ohio University Women’s Club, which raised scholarship funds for worthy students to attend her alma mater.

Paley’s enthusiasm for her art was contagious and she was a wonderful teacher. She taught many programs for the Western Reserve Calligraphers on such diverse subjects as brush lettering, bookmaking, origami, and making calligraphy tools out of reeds and grasses. Sandy taught beginning calligraphy in the Mayfield Adult Education program in the eighties and was an instructor at Notre Dame College, teaching Advanced Calligraphic Design.

Multifaceted and multitalented, Paley experimented with different approaches to traditional arts: bookmaking, brush lettering, gilding, paper weaving, origami, crocheting, sewing, painting, quilting and many different styles of calligraphy. She was also an accomplished photographer with a great sense of composition and won first place/best of show in a Solon photography contest with one of her forays into this area. Her sense of color and design was unique. She liked to try new things or new ways of using old things. For Paley the process of creating art was primary. She often referred to it as “playing.” This artistic philosophy manifested itself most vividly in her passion, calligraphy. “Anything is a possibility. You don’t have to be limited as you are with pens and brushes.” For Paley calligraphy did not have to be black and white, but could incorporate a rainbow of colors and a spectrum of mediums. She was constantly testing new tools and techniques and paper textures to create different effects. She whittled her own pens out of unorthodox materials-dried zebra grass, turkey quills, tongue depressors, twigs, paperclips, Stimuldents, cosmetic sponges, chopsticks, wooden skewers, etc. She found this very relaxing after working all day in the technical arena and would often reward friends and family with the fruits of her labor: carefully crafted notecards and envelopes or origami cranes in various sizes. A goal of Paley’s was to someday develop a method of clustering her interests into one work of art. This culminated in the creation of her signature piece, the CalliOrigami Quilt, incorporating walnut ink lettering, origami, sewing and beading into one magnificent work that is a lasting legacy to her talent and originality.

In addition to all of these things, one of Paley’s lesser-known talents was the ability to do backwards handwriting a la Leonardo Da Vinci, in which the image had to be read with a mirror. She was also an accomplished cook and had a copyright on a series of recipes combining renderings of fruits with her carefully composed calligraphy. Paley was prolific and always had her irons in many fires. Many of the pieces in this show have never been exhibited before, having been found in her studio in various stages of completion upon her death. These works provide priceless insights into the creative process and life of a remarkable woman.

The exhibit will run from September 12th through October 30th. An opening reception will be held on Sunday, September 12th from 2 to 5 p.m. with music by harpist Martha Meconi. The show may be viewed during library hours: Monday-Thursday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m.-5 p.m. For more information, contact Karen Zoller at (216) 373-5267.