The Krakow series is my response to that city's spirit in stone.

These structures survived the centuries because their architecture continues to express the contradictions of the Slavic spirit -warm but brooding, heavy yet aspiring upward, real and solid yet the romantic product of another age. In Krakow the city you can feel the tension between present and past, with the ubiquitous arches offering glimpses of the almost-seen centuries beyond.

In the Krakow series I worked to evoke that tension by pitting light against dark, coaxing monumental shapes out of the flat and fragile paper. The past is receding into the fibers, but it's always there.

Dyed Kozo pulp, processed using traditional Japanese technique, was poured into a Western mold. Templates were used for the shapes. Sheets were sun-dried, after which the images were "pulled out' and enriched with colored pencils and gold-leaf, creating a tension of surface/image/light.

- Gayle Fitzpatrick