Clark, Kathryn & Howard Twinrocker Paper, Logo, 1971

Information

Indianapolis native Kathryn Haugh met Lafayette native Howard Clark at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she was working toward a master’s degree in fine art printmaking and he toward a degree in industrial design. After graduation, they married in 1969 and moved to San Francisco, where Kathryn worked as a fine art lithography printer at Collectors Press. In 1971, when Howard and Kathryn realized there was no handmade paper source in the United States and that artists and publishers had to import fine papers from Europe, they founded Twinrocker Handmade Paper to revive the craft. The following year, they moved to the Clark family farm on the edge of Brookston, Indiana, in White County, to build a mill for making paper pulp. In the 1970s and 1980s, Kathryn developed innovative techniques for using colored paper pulps to create artistic imagery within the paper itself. Twinrocker has since become the leader in its field worldwide.

• Twinrocker Paper Logo, 1971
• Keywords: design, logos, watercolor on moldmade paper
• Subjects: rockers, initials, molds, pulp, watermarks

The Twinrocker logo is the same as the watermark that is placed in the paper to identify its maker. The design is a back-to-back rocking chair inspired by Kathryn Clark’s initials. Two Ks sit back to back on top of a C. The arms of the rocker are based on a Lincoln rocker the Clarks own. The logo’s unusual symmetrical design is intentional so that it can be seen correctly from either side of the sheet, allowing an artist to use one or both sides of the paper. The Twinrocker watermark is also placed in the corner of each paper sheet, rocking one way if the artist uses it for a vertical image or the other way if used for a horizontal one.

Some Points To Consider

• Ask students which paper they think is more difficult to make: paper manufactured in a mill or paper made in a mold by hand. Remind them that there were no handmade paper companies at the time the Clarks started their company. Allow time for research in reference books or online so that students can compare the automated process, such as the one described at http://www.idahoforests.com/ paprmake.htm, with the handmade craft described in the video documentary about Twinrocker, The Mark of the Maker (VHS, 30 mins.). You can also make paper in the classroom by following instructions such as those at http://www.ncforestry.org/docs/ Resource%20Materials/papermaking.htm. (Art 4.7.4) Ask students why they think it is important to the Clarks to make handmade paper, and why they think artists might prefer to use it to create artworks. (Art 4.4.1)

Suggested Activities for Classroom Follow-Up

• Provide students with samples of paper showing various watermarks. Let them stand at the classroom windows or use a light box to see the watermarks and copy them in their journals. Have them find examples of other types of logos in the classroom and in magazines or online. Ask them to list reasons why a logo might be valuable to its owners. Ask them why the makers of handmade paper think it is especially important to use a watermark. (Art 4.1.3, 4.3.2)