All About Lois Cordelia Buelow-Osborne

Balancing the blade's precision with free-flowing designs, I cut spirited paper silhouettes by hand using a scalpel. The finished piece may be an intricate web of fine, interconnected paper strands, or a sturdier, partially 3-D paper sculpture.


As a child, I watched my mother creating Scherenschnitte (literally: "scissor-cuts") in the traditional methods of her German homeland. Since the sixteenth century, silhouette outlines have been cut from paper to create illustrations, decorative motifs, Valentine gifts, often incorporating elements of symmetry and repeated patterns.

I prefer to use a scalpel, because I feel it gives more control in pushing back the limits of this folk-art tradition, while allowing also for extremely intricate perforation. A finished piece may consist of a spidery web of fine, interconnected paper strands, a little thicker than pencil lines.

The technique has parallels with subtractive sculpture, in which pieces of the original material are gradually removed to "reveal" the image. The challenge of silhouette "sculpture" therefore lies in cutting a structure out of a single sheet of paper that must remain basically intact, despite its fragility. Equally, it should convey maximum expressive quality via minimal lines, to evoke facial features, dynamic tensions, or surface textures.

Sometimes, I allow parts of a design to break out of two dimensions into three, by folding or warping the paper, so that raised features and deep recesses add to the interplay of light and dark. I enjoy working in diverse styles, but always incorporating elements of fluidity, dance and energy. In order to balance the precise cut of the blade with a free flowing line, I often do a very loose sketch which I then proceed to cut out with the precision of a design.

Born in Ipswich in 1982, I am a self-taught artist. Since graduating from Edinburgh University in 2006 with an Honours degree in Arabic, I have renewed my focus on the visual arts, through exhibiting in a series of solo and joint shows in the UK and Germany. In addition to paper-cut art, I have featured work in diverse media and styles, including portraits in acrylics and pastels, wildlife art, still-lifes, T-shirt designs, and sculpture. At present, I am focussing on paper-cut art and also beginning to explore the expressive visual potential of Arabic script via this unusual medium.

Studio Directions

West of Ipswich rail-station: turn left beneath rail-bridge from Ranelagh Rd (B1075), follow Ancaster Rd, Gippeswyk Ave, Birkfield Drive. Continue to U-bend. Turn left into Annbrook Rd, left into Sheldrake Drive, left into Heywood Close.

Ipswich Open Studios