Big Community Paper
Big Community Paper is excited to announce that we have been granted the 2025 Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant and will begin programing large scale paper pours at local community farms, beginning spring 2026.
This project combines Kim’s background in craft and Michelle’s in educational outreach to create space at Hart Lane Farm where neighbors can share skills in papermaking and zine-making using accessible, natural, and upcycled materials. Rooted in DIY curiosity and mindful expression, the project draws a direct line to the land and water around us, offering paper as a medium to explore rest as resistance and agency through shared creative experience.
Geared toward youth and families, we invite community members to join the full process—from foraging and preparing pulp to pouring and collaging with found materials. Using six portable moulds and deckles, we teach papermaking across several days in an open, hands-on format.
The resulting large-format sheets (60" x 36") will dry outdoors, exposed to the elements. The project culminates in a pop-up exhibition and community show-and-tell in the farm garden. These six sheets will become a collaborative zine centered on the theme of "emotional weather"—adapted from a mindfulness-based drawing and writing exercise we use in workshops to guide collective reflection and deepen connection to the natural world.
Big Community Paper centers our collaborators, neighbors, and community members throughout the process. By partnering with H&H Books and Hart Lane Farm, we are able to connect with neighbors beyond our immediate circles and foster new relationships across communities. Participants will learn to make paper from start to finish using natural and foraged materials, with hands-on workshops held at Hart Lane Farm. We will also share knowledge about the land itself, including its history and native plants, to deepen connection to place.
The project culminates in a celebratory potluck at the farm, where neighbors can see the finished large-format sheets and collaborate on a one-page zine responding to the theme "emotional weather." This theme helps frame emotional reflection in connection to the land and weather patterns around us.
We envision the project growing beyond this initial gathering. Future ideas include inviting participants back for hands-on workshops in building moulds and deckles or collaborating with H&H on a land- and community-focused reading series. Our extended community—including Circle Thrift, The Nava Center for Trauma Therapy, Rinyu Rebuild & Restoration, CARP Harm Reduction, Philly Dye Club, and others—offers strong support and shared values that will help sustain and expand the impact of this work.