Jaq Belcher

Jaq Belcher is a New York-based artist working with hand-cut paper. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Belcher received her Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University, studied gold- and silversmithing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and received her Master of Arts Administration degree from the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts. Belcher explores energy, consciousness, light, and form through drawing on paper with a blade. She uses an X-acto knife and handmade stencils in the shape of the vesica piscis (sacred geometry) in minutely scaled sizes. She composes and creates fields and imagery – both figurative and abstract – on pristine sheets of archival white paper. The vesica piscis forms in the paper can be made of two, three, four, five, or six cuts. They are either completely excised from the sheet or left attached by a corner or small arc and then raised to catch light and form shadow. Each cut is accounted for, and the final count is noted at the base of each work alongside three dates: the date the underlying drawing was started, the date the last cut was made, and the date the work was completed. Originally a trained sculptor while studying metalwork at Melbourne University, Belcher turned to paper as her preferred medium upon moving to New York as she prioritized simplicity in her practice. Her investigations into the paper are studies in matter manipulation. The blade ruptures the paper's surface, which holds the memory of this energy transfer in its completed state. The resultant work is electric with this memory – radiant both as a whole and as a sum of its parts. Stillness and focus are the foremost tenets of her studio practice, of which calmness and serenity are the direct results.