About

I’m May Babcock, a papermaking artist using natural materials in New England. I grew up in rural Connecticut surrounded by forests, rivers and ponds, vegetable and flower gardens. I received scholarships to attend the University of Connecticut for a BFA in painting and printmaking, and went to Louisiana State University for my MFA and to learn papermaking.

As a biracial artist of Taiwanese-Chinese descent I never felt like I belonged. Exploring specific sites is a search for belonging, plant fibers, and connection with place.

Artist Statement

I’m a papermaking artist who uses foraged natural materials to craft textured sculptures and installations. Each paper work explores place, belonging, and local ecologies.

I begin by immersing myself in sites that have emotional resonance. Each season, I collect abundant plants, seaweed, sediment, sketches, and research. As a biracial artist of Taiwanese-Chinese descent, witnessing place is a search for belonging and a spiritual ecology. Papermaking as a craft and many diasporic plants (so-called “invasives”) originate from China, and so working with both connects me with my ancestry. As I become familiar with plants, they start to tell the stories of distressed sites and expand my own ecological sense of self.

In the studio, I craft fibers and site materials into paper pulp. Innovative papermaking techniques fuse the watery fibers into textured pulp paintings and paper sculptures that evoke the waterways, colors, shapes of plants, and emotions of place. Expansive installations and Earthworks use local materials and become participants at each site.

The dominant culture is disconnected from nature and spirituality, and is fearful of what is unfamiliar. My art creates ecologies between people, plants, and paper, giving opportunities for healing and deep communication in a distressed world.

Bio

May Babcock a papermaking artist who uses foraged natural materials to craft textured sculptures and installations. Each paper work explores place, belonging, and local ecologies. Babcock has exhibited nationally and internationally at the Boston Athenaeum, RISD Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, The Center for Book Arts, and National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute. Forthcoming in 2026 is a solo exhibition at the New Bedford Whaling Museum and an outdoor installation for the Trustees. Her work has been collected by RISD Museum, Boston Athenaeum, and numerous private collections. Babcock has installed public art at Brown University, Illinois State Museum, Rhode Island State House, and T.F. Green International Airport.

Awards and grants include a Creative Community Fellowship from National Arts Strategies, and the Citizen’s Citation for Environmental Education from the mayor of Providence. The artist was the keynote speaker for the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association Annual Summit, and in 2026 will speak at the Annual Cronin Lecture at deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum. Her work has been featured in the Boston Globe, Art New England, and Hand Papermaking. She had taught papermaking at Rhode Island School of Design, SMFA at Tufts University, Penland School of Craft, and Women’s Studio Workshop. Babcock has been artist-in-residence at the White Mountain National Forest, Cape Cod National Seashore, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. She was the guest editor for the “Ecology and Paper” issue of Hand Papermaking magazine, and is a certified invasive plant manager and master gardener. She founded Paperslurry.com, a hand papermaking blog.

Outside the Studio

I volunteer for a horticultural therapy garden, The Garden at Daggett Farm.

Main hobby: telling my partner how healthy lentils are every time we eat lentils.

You may also know me as the founder of Paperslurry.com.

For further reading:

• Read my Master’s Thesis, Latent Landscape

• Take a look at my full CV if you dare

• View reviews and press

• Learn about the intersection of ecocentrism and creativity from Haumea Ecoversity.

Each series in my portfolio has more you can explore.