Hillsdale, New York's Pamela Dalton is a master of the art of Scherenschnitte, a type of paper cutting which was popular in the Pennsylvania Dutch regions of the U.S. in the early 19th century. Each piece is sketched and cut by hand, so no two are exactly alike. Dalton’s work has been featured in periodicals including Country Living Magazine, in exhibitions at the Albany Institute of History and Art, The American Folk Art Museum in New York City and others, and hangs in the private collections of art lovers all over the world. She’ll be exhibiting her work on Sunday, July 30 at the Austerlitz Blueberry Festival. But for a more hands-on introduction, you can participate in her workshop at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Mass. on Thursday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
I live in Harlemville, right across from Hawthorne Valley Dairy Barn, and I feel really blessed to be in the community I’m in. I moved to the area in 1978 to teach elementary school at Hawthorne Valley School, and then my kids started being born. So I was home with three little kids, and I began snipping paper and selling my work to augment household expenses. It became my full-time gig because I could schedule it around my kids’ needs. I attended the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, but I didn’t graduate. At the time, I was hoping to be a children’s book illustrator. I was living in Denmark in my 20s when I came across the papercutting of Hans Christian Andersen. I was smitten and mystified. I love all things Danish, so of course I had to try it myself. Mine were simple and primitive at first, but people loved them, and now it’s my full time job.
I’ve sold to individuals, galleries and museum shops for 25 years, and more recently my craft has lead me back to my original love of children’s illustration. My first book, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, came out in 2011. My editor is close friends with Katherine Paterson and I am forever grateful, because it was so lovely to work with her, and she did such a brilliant job with the text. I worked on that for about a year, but for my Christmas book they gave me only about 10 weeks to finish it, which was cruel and unusual punishment! Next spring, Chronicle Books will publish Under the Silver Moon, a collection of traditional lullabies.
All of my work is created from one piece of paper. It’s exactly like making paper snowflakes as a child. I get all of my cutting casualties out of the way first, and that helps create the contour for the next step, which is illuminating them with watercolors. I teach a few classes each year, where I go over the history of the craft, and show examples from all over the world. Participants will learn the technique, starting simply and working up to more complex designs, and they’ll go home with knowledge of single fold and double fold, plus lots of examples and a variety of patterns.
