Master of Arts / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Gerad D. Middendorf / The label “fair-trade” might seem to be a definitive designation: either a product is or isn’t. In fact, a continuum exists, resultant mostly from the participation in fair-trade by diverse groups of producer organizations, buyers, certifying organizations, and consumers. Therefore, the way fair-trade is perceived and practiced cannot be presumed to be homogenous. In order to better understand the complexities of fair-trade, a qualitative study was carried out to examine one fair-trade product and its producers. Two Nepalese handmade paper companies, Bhaktapur Craft Paper (BCP) and Get Paper Industry (GPI), were studied to gain insight into the producers’ perceptions, interpretations, and practices of fair-trade. This study also assesses the impact of fair-trade affiliation on the socio-economic conditions of producers and workers. To provide the opportunity for comparison, the cases of BCP and GPI were also compared, where possible, to those of a non-fair-trade company, Bagmati Paper Industries (BPI). The study finds that the fair-trade producer organizations were affiliated with fair-trade networks primarily to promote their business by way of the multiple and committed trading partners involved in fair-trade. Also, affiliation seemed to have positive impacts on the overall business of the paper companies, contributing to growth in sales over the years. Likewise, different training programs sponsored by fair-trade organizations, such as Fair Trade Group Nepal and World Fair Trade Organization-Asia, and fair-trade buyers also contributed to the capacity enhancement of producer organizations. The producers in the paper companies lacked an understanding of fair-trade due to a lack of participation in decision making, a high level of illiteracy among producers, and because management did not consider producer awareness of fair-trade as significant. The study finds positive impacts of fair-trade involvement on the producers’ socio-economic position: a company’s participation in and practice of fair-trade is positively related to improvement in the socio-economic conditions of producers. Considering wages, work-hours, working conditions, and job satisfaction of workers, the fair-trade companies were determined to more favorably affect workers’ lives than the non-fair-trade company.

Hedgehog runs across the sidewalk is a collection of texts about the everyday beauty of the world, about slowness and concentration. These are stories seen, perceived, heard by me. Stories where I stopped or they stopped me. About how the sun and the plant create a shadow, how storks fly in a circle over us, how a badger runs in the dark, how a pine cone falls from a tree, how cats sit in the dark, how they caress a plant over leaves, how a night butterfly sits in the corner of the room the dog watches something in the grass, as a rainbow spot lies on the road, as they find that it rains the least of the trees under the pine tree around, as a cloud of steam hovers over the forest, as tamarinds close their leaves at night, ... I write these texts and transfer them to handmade paper, which I made from collected papers and plants. I pin them story after story with a pin. They then meet together on a round table, where people can meet them and experience them with their eyes and touch.

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I regard the culturally rich bookbinding as formats that hold great meaning; I made models of books that existed in different cultures through the history of the book. I became interested in how each structure had unique features and how the books themselves transmitted knowledge about their form. This interest in bookbinding formats led me to explore ways to add content to The binding plays a powerful role in producing my artist's books, the look and presence of these bindings is an integral part of my work and they are linked to the content and aesthetics. The final pieces encourage the viewer to interact with the work.

My work is a response to the miraculous energy exhibited in nature, an invisible power that creates exquisite structures and designs in every living thing around us only to destroy them and begin again. Specifically, it is inspired by a lifelong fascination with the detritus left behind. Shimmering maple tree seeds, decaying oak leaves, or delicate marine relics awash on the beach are tangible (and daily) reminders that life is precious and fleeting, but also hopeful as that energy is always transformed into something new. The drawings, pulp prints and sculptures produced for my thesis are futher animated by the belief that nature is telling us something with its expressive vocabulary of lines, shapes, textures and colors. In every weather-worn remnant, there is a narrative—a life history and lessons to be learned. Captivated by the recurring forms and patterns found on land and in the sea, I find myself trying to decipher this language through close observation and interaction with the objects I collect, study and draw from, as well as the natural materials used to produce the work. Through the rituals of drawing and erasing, steaming, cooking and preparing fiber, concealing and revealing imagery, form and text, I find myself connecting with these narratives and participating in an age-old dialogue with nature.

The Venus Series is an attempt to recreate the power, mystery and primal beauty of the pre-historic Venus Figurines. I created my own Venus Figurines out of handmade paper incorporating history, contemporary culture and autobiography. I then photographed these sculptures with the wet-plate collodion process in order to re-create the beauty and drama of the original Venus Figurines.

This master thesis consists of two main parts: the theoretical and the practical one. The theoretical part is focused mainly on artist book, its history and some authors, who worked in this sphere. It peripheraly deals with invention of paper and paper development history. In the practical part, the motivation sources influencing processing of this topic and technological procedure during artist book production are explained.

My MFA project titled, “Lantern's Diary” is a synergy of colors, tactile experiences, and reflections on change. The artwork is based on cultural influences. The physical form of the lantern is a metaphor of culture identity—in Eastern culture, paper has been used in architecture, furniture, clothing, funerals, writing materials, and lanterns. Its function as a material is to fulfill the necessity of daily life and ceremonial rituals. Hence, paper plays an important role in the Eastern society. The color spectrum representing “Change” corresponds with the western system of color organization. The gallery space plays a spatial aesthetic role in guiding one's interpretative journey through the artwork. The cooler colors were placed closer to the entrance of the gallery. Then the warmer colors were arranged and set in the furthest end of the left-hand corner of the gallery. As a result, the warmer colors would draw the viewers to walk around to the other end of the exhibit, signifying the importance of looking on the bright side of things as we go through life changes, with bright hope at the end. I was interested in the thinking and production process. I sketched a lot in my sketchbook and made some prototypes as references. The lanterns were made from reeds and handmade paper. Each of the thirty lanterns is about seven to eight feet tall and hangs from the ceiling of the gallery. The structural form of each lantern may vary a little in detail, but they are all based on the same design concept—a chrysalis. Reeds, commonly used in basket weaving were used to make the skeleton structure of the lanterns. Understanding the profound process of making the lanterns is important, as it mirrors us making sense of changes in our lives as they unfold.