FARMERSVILLE - When folks see Natalie Wellborn’s jewelry or portraits, they move in for a closer look, then realize that all of the intricate negative spaces in her works are not drawn, they are cut out! Natalie is a paper-cutting artist. Paper cutting is an old art form that dates back to the fourth century, and it is not commonly seen in today’s art scene.
Natalie discovered the art of paper cutting in 2008. She started as a hobby and got good at it. Friends told her that she should do something with the new skill she honed. She toyed with the idea, but she was busy with so many other things,
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
including trying to stay in a corporate job that wasn’t a good fit for her.
Natalie then learned that she had ADD, and that she was on the spectrum for autism as well. This explained, in part, why she found corporate demands so arduous. She left her job and started an exhaustive job search that forced her to re-evaluate her life.
Husband, Zachary, told her she should step back and take a break from searching for the right job. He encouraged her to give her art a chance. So, she started selling pieces of her work that she had accumulated.
“The change been fantastic. I spend my time making my art and selling it,” she said. “Being in a place that allows me to work and grow at my own pace has made my life so much happier. I’m healthier. My autism is why I find comfort in the intricacies of paper cutting. The biggest struggle I face is getting people to understand that the
details in my subjects are cut out of the paper!”
Natalie met two paper-cutting artists who totally understood her craft. “When I saw their beautiful intricate pieces that looked like photos it blew my mind! Dave Thegas and Korina Lucey became my mentors. I found the right tools and just kept going, pushing myself to get more intricate in my cutting.”
Natalie’s love of handmade is also her rule. No paper-cutting machines for her. “Everything I do is done by hand using an Exacto knife. There’s something extraordinary about art created by the human hand. I’ve learned a great lesson from my art: mistakes are okay. Often, I’m the only one who sees them. Occasionally, a mistake will make a piece better than what I planned. It’s a beautiful lesson that I apply to life in general.”
You can view Natalie’s work up close and in person at the Heartland Gallery, 315 S. Main, Hillsboro, on her website: welbornpapercuts.com,
Instagram: Instagram. com/nwelbornpapercuts? and at facebook.com/profile.php?
More like this:
