The Paper Mill space was conceived in response to an Expression Of Interest that City of Sydney put out for a vacant building on Ash St. Creating an inner city creative hub that acted as gallery, artist studios, workshop space and zine library focused around the medium of paper was the aim of our original proposal to COS. The four founding Paper Mill directors consist of three printmakers and a designer, so the link to paper was of personal interest and also environmentally and financially viable as an easily accessible recyclable material. The original term of lease was six months, so when the lease was gradually extended by COS, The Paper Mill adjusted and grew to welcome new artists, volunteers and directors. With the help of three more directors, over fifteen volunteers and the continued support of COS in the form of subsidised rent The Paper Mill continued well beyond its original six month timeline. After eighteen months of exhibitions, workshops, zines, residencies, talks, events and public programs the lease of The Paper Mill space ended and The Paper Mill closed its doors on Ash st in December 2011. We hope that The Paper Mill will continue to live on with exhibitions like this MOP show, and other Paper Mill projects - so stay tuned! During our 1.5 years of activity we had over 30 Artists in Residence, over 20 Exhibitions with over 100 Artists. We held Sketch Club every week and workshops and public programs every month. Check out www.thepapermill.org.au for updates and more info.
