Handmade Paper by Jody Williams

Jody L. Williams (she/her) (1/26/56-10/17/23) will be remembered by the many former students whose talents and careers she nurtured, as well as for her admirable artistic legacy. Always artistic, she enjoyed jewelry design in high school (ETHS class of 1974) and printmaking at Carleton College (1978) before deciding to earn her MFA at RIT (1983), where she discovered paper-making and numerous printmaking techniques. Back in Minneapolis, where Jody spent the rest of her life, she was an early member of the WARM artist collective, traveled nationwide to participate in American Crafts Council shows, became an adjunct professor at MCAD, established Flying Paper Press for her uniquely crafted artists books, and exhibited through the Form + Content Gallery. Her weekend book-making workshops at MCBA drew a loyal following, and she presented lectures at museums and universities worldwide. Jody won the Artist Book award twice from the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, received a Jerome Foundation fellowship, and garnered numerous other grants and awards. Her work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Minnesota Historical Society, and countless other museums, universities, libraries and private collections. She passed away after a 10-year battle with ovarian cancer.