Date: Fri 26-Feb-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

library-Cochraine-papier-mache

Full Text:

A Papier Mache Menagerie

(with cut)

BY JAN HOWARD

A lion, cows and frogs and other papier mache animals and figures are included

in an exhibit at the C.H. Booth Library until Easter.

The papier mache creations by Kay Cochrane of Newtown can be viewed in the

display case located on the ground floor of the library near the children's

room.

Mrs Cochrane, a 20-year resident of Newtown, has been a member of the Society

of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN) and the Garden Club of Newtown for almost

20 years. She is a former president of the Garden Club.

She is a graduate of the New York School of Applied Design for Women in New

York City where she studied fashion illustration.

Self-taught, Mrs Cochrane has been creating papier mache art objects for 35

years. It all began as a result of a Halloween party, which featured papier

mache rats she had created.

"Everybody wanted one," she said.

Every year, she donates Santa figures to be sold during the Garden Club's

Christmas greens sale, she said.

She also sells her papier mache figures through the Brookfield Craft Center's

holiday sale. "Last year I sold 13 of 15 I exhibited there," she said.

A frog with a fish in one flipper and a frying pan in the other, featured in

the library display, was on exhibit at The Silo in New Milford for a month,

Mrs Cochrane said.

The library exhibit also features a papier mache cat, chicken, mermaid, geese,

other frogs, a bird in a tree, and a witch with a pumpkin.

Mrs Cochrane created a four-foot-long by three-foot-wide turtle for the Garden

Club for the Labor Day parade. "We pulled it along with us," she said. "It's

too large for this exhibit. Where would we put it?"

She also created the heads for mannequins displaying period clothing at the

library.

A painter in oils, Mrs Cochrane creates landscapes and seascapes. Despite

taking some adult courses in painting, she considers herself self-taught

because of all the books she has read on oil painting. One of her paintings

placed first in a Bethel art show last year.

Mrs Cochrane said she also likes to knit and crochet.

While some papier mache artists use wire and other materials in addition to

paper, Mrs Cochrane said she only uses "wads of newspaper" to make her

creations.

"I make my own glue of water and flour," she said.

After the figures are formed, she decorates them with acrylic paints.

She said it takes about 30 hours to make one of her cows. "I work about four

hours a day on them," she said.

The exhibit items can be purchased by calling Mrs Cochrane at 426-3222.