{"id":32,"date":"2025-10-21T13:12:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/?p=32"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:18:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:18:37","slug":"art-and-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/art-and-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring paper\u2019s evolution as an artistic medium"},"content":{"rendered":"
Research Impact<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

In the 1960s, the use of paper in art and design \u2013 from sketches to paperboard models to recycled \u2013 underwent a fundamental transformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nebraska art historian Katie Anania explores how U.S. artists used paper to redefine the relationship between the body and its surroundings in her first book, \u201cOut of Paper: Drawing, Environment, and the Body in 1960s America\u201d (Yale University Press, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Courtesy of Katie Anania<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis book is primarily about the material properties of paper and their significance to artists \u2013 basically, the ways we construct meaning around the things that we create ideas on. My research revealed that paper truly is an environmental medium. It\u2019s something that makes us reconsider our relationships to our surroundings writ large,\u201d said Anania, associate professor of art history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her book, a 10-year endeavor, developed from interviews with artists as well as research and studies of drawings themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis act of drawing was starting to be understood as a way to participate in a democracy, a way to involve yourself in public life,\u201d Anania said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artists recognized that paper allows you to not just notate your environment but create a physical connection to supply chains and environmental cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carolee Schneemann, for example, went dumpster diving for shredded paper to use in her performance art. William Anastasi sat on the subway with paper and pencil and, eyes closed, let the train draw. The paper became a way to collaborate with the machinery of everyday life, illustrating how bodies are connected to urban infrastructure and helping Anastasi distill mid-century fears of nuclear destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuman beings are not these powerful agents acting on passive and inert materials,\u201d Anania said. \u201c[The book] invites almost anyone in any discipline to think about the nature of their materials and their ideas, where they both come from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This act of drawing was starting to be understood as a way to participate in a democracy, a way to involve yourself in public life.<\/p>\nKatie Anania<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She also hopes the book encourages readers to consider how, as we engage less with paper and other analog material, shifts in media affect what is produced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anania\u2019s new book project, \u201cDevour Everything: Feminist Art After Agriculture,\u201d explores the uses of food and land as artistic media, which became popular among African American and Latina\/e\/x feminists in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additional Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Nebraska Today<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The Daily Texan<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Website<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Art and Design<\/a>, <\/span>Art History<\/a>, <\/span>Breakthroughs<\/a>, <\/span>Connection<\/a>, <\/span>Innovation<\/a>, <\/span>Katie Anania<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In her first book, “Out of Paper: Drawing, Environment, and the Body in 1960s America,” Nebraska art historian Katie Anania explores how U.S. artists used paper to redefine the relationship between the body and its surroundings. The book, a 10-year endeavor, also explores how drawing emerged as a means of participating in democracy and public life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[18,146,182,148,186,147],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-impact","tag-art-and-design","tag-art-history","tag-breakthroughs","tag-connection","tag-innovation","tag-katie-anania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":498,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/498"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}