My liberator Paper art

“Before I went to Korea and met REAL paper artists, my concept of it had been limited to paper swans which are taught in every kindergarten in Mongolia” said D.Odtsetseg, the delegate of creative Mongolians who is aiming to develop paper art in this country.

It’s stated that one of the very first arts was paper art which began in China. Now this art form has spread all around the world and is highly developed in Japan and Korea. When D.Odtsetseg was working in Korea, she noticed that almost every cafe or coffee shop was filled with paper decorations making a warm and cheerful atmosphere. She thus desperately wanted to develop this art in Mongolia and learned the art form eagerly.

She presented some of her works at the “UB association 2012” exhibition and won “NEW” and “BEST” nominations. This motivated her and many other artists develop the art.

She tells how paper art requires aesthetic connoisseurship and a lot of patience from the handicraftsman. The artist should be excessively creative and meticulous. Also, any minor fault is unforgivable in paper art because of the paper and cloth material; once you make a mistake you have no option but to start over. She uses every single spare bit of material available such as newspaper, magazines, watercolors and construction papers to make her creations with. It usually takes her three to 10 days depending on the size and intricacy of the piece. Mongolians usually order ”Tumbash” (Elephant, monkey, rabbit, pigeon), peacock and flowers requiring a great deal of patience and hard work. These works take 8 days and cost 80,000-100,000MNT.

There are many kinds of paper art. For instance “origami” involves folding while “kirigami” involves both folding and cutting the paper. D.Odtsetseg said that dividing paper art into categories was one-sided since a craftsman could make everything within his imagination, with anything in any form. She added “that’s the beauty of this art.”

She also said ”We are establishing an NGO aiming to develop paper art in Mongolia and we will be incredibly glad to work with anyone who’s specialized in this art. Our first step is to cooperate with the Center Against Abuse – we will open children’s’ minds and inspire them to achieve something valuable by teaching the children paper art for free.

The paper craftsmen’s problem has previously been that there are almost no professional papers and tools available in Mongolia. All construction paper has its code on color, thickness, material etc. These materials are imported from Inner Mongolia at a high cost. The second aim of the NGO would be to solve this problem.

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