“Our work blends the contemporary and traditional and reflects an understanding of a centuries-old craft within the context of an artist’s book.”
Working together at Cave Paper, O’Malley and Degener have been book artists for over 17 years. There are only a few contemporary artists in the world who have been making creative papers for as long and as consistently as Cave Paper. The two artists work in partnership daily, collaborating with many talented and famous book artists from coast to coast. Cave Paper is known for teaming with private presses worldwide, often providing and designing custom papers for deluxe limited editions. O’Malley and Degener’s attention to detail and high quality of the finished papers are central to Cave Paper’s mission and reputation.
“Our work blends the contemporary and traditional and reflects an understanding of a centuries-old craft within the context of an artist’s book,” says O’Malley. “We continue to invent variations in the steps of fiber preparation, sheet forming, pressing, drying, and hand dyeing.”
Cave Paper’s groundbreaking work in the hand papermaking field has led to invitations to teach and lecture in Japan, Sweden, Australia, Korea, Italy, Canada, and China. The artists’ work can be found in many public collections including the Walker Art Center, Library of Congress, and St. John’s University. O’Malley has taught papermaking at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design since 2005, was an artist in residence at MCBA from 1994 to 1996, and lectures and teaches workshops in papermaking, bookbinding and printing at MCBA and many other schools. Degener was active at MCBA during its founding years, was the organization’s first artist in residence, and later, its artistic director. O’Malley and Degener are committed to teaching and mentoring, and Cave Paper has hosted over 80 interns.