Sister Mary Jean Dorcy - Preserving the Art of Paper Cutting

Sister Mary Jean Dorcy's graceful pieces are generating renewed interest in this 6th-century art form.

Paper is usually thought of as something to be written, drawn or painted on. But the very old art form of cut paper is being rediscovered and appreciated today by a wide audience.

The art was first practiced in China in the 6th century. Today, work is still being done in Poland and America, among other places. Scriptural and religious themes have been favored cut-paper subjects since the Germans and Swiss in the 17th and 18th centuries depicted saints and biblical scenes; in this country, about two years ago, the delicate, continuous-line Madonnas created by Sister Mary Jean Dorcy captured the attention of the president of Roman, Inc., of Harwood Heights, Illinois, Ron Jedlinski. "We were looking for religious work done in a unique medium. Sister's work was pleasing, intricate and appropriate for us because of its refined quality," he remembers.

Sister Mary Jean Dorcy's scissors art has been adapted by Roman into a collection of Lucite embedments, framed etched brass gift items and an engraved crystal plate titled "Fairest Flower of Paradise." They are all available from about $10 to $45. Roman also published a book by Dorcy, Spring Comes to the Hill Country, with 52 paper cuttings accompanied by religious verses in calligraphy, which sells for about $15.

"We had no idea cut-paper art would become so popular," Ron Jedlinski explains, adding, "there's a lot of grass roots support. We've had several hundred letters about her work." Because of the increased interest, Roman recently introduced four porcelain figurines based on the Sister's graceful scissors art, which are available for $75 to $250.

Dorcy was introduced to cut-paper art more than 50 years ago. She was a novice at a Dominican Convent in Washington when she was asked to copy an Austrian paper cutting. She recreated it easily. Since then she has created more than 3,000 paper works for magazines, newspapers, greeting cards and children's books, from ships and nursery rhymes to her respected flowing-line Madonnas and Holy Family scenes.

Recently her work was accepted for the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection. Her skill as an artist reflects a background that includes a master of fine arts degree from the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. "Sister works from her own impressions of the Madonna and from ideas and images she's studied," explains Dan Paulos, her student, a friend and now her agent.

Paulos, an artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has studied the Sister's work for years. He says that Sister Mary Jean Dorcy begins each piece by sketching it in ink. However, Paulos says, "when she cuts the work, she doesn't follow the sketch exactly." It takes about two days to cut each piece. Dorcy was bedridden with arthritis and lung problems for the last years of her life. But she still had many unfinished ideas and uncut designs, Paulos says. Since he's an accomplished scissors artist, too, Paulos became her hands, cutting each piece after Dorcy had sketched it.

Dorcy's early paper cuttings were about 4 1/2 inches by 6 inches in size. She began to cut larger pieces of about 14 by 18 inches or more when it became difficult for her to use her hands. Paulos says that the last paper cuttings Sister cut herself were done in the late 1960's.

Paulos believes that of the more than 3,000 works, only 500 original pieces remain, of which he and the nuns have about 150. "We're still trying to find old pieces. One woman who had a Dorcy paper cutting said she'd be happy to sell it back to us for $12,000!" Paulos exclaims. The pieces could be worth that much, he says, but they couldn't afford it. "It's hard work to track down the pieces," he adds. "Many of them have been lost or thrown out by mistake over the years."

Elaine Evans Dee, curator of Drawings and Prints and organizer of a recent cut-paper show at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York City, thinks the art has become much more sophisticated today. "It's always been popular in a regional way. But it's transcending folk art. Cut-paper art is extremely skillful and ambitious. It's entering into the realm of pictures, which opens the gate to people who may be interested in collecting cut-paper pictures."