Workshop and Exhibition by Jonatan E. Jurkowski
Workshop in Hannover
Handmade Paper – From Leaves to Japanese Washi
Weekend workshop: Friday 8 May, 18:00 – Sunday 10 May, 15:00
Textile and paper artist Jonatan Jurkowski will held this workshop in English. But as it is a very practical workshop, there is no need for more than just basic English!
Participants will learn how to make handmade paper from different plant-based materials, including leaves, hay, cotton cellulose, and Japanese kozo fibers. The workshop begins with the preparation of fibers—soaking, cooking, dyeing, and blending the material. Participants will then learn how to form sheets of paper using both European and Japanese paper-making techniques, which require multiple pulls of the paper mold.
During the workshop, several experimental approaches will be explored. Participants will create flat paper sheets, learn how to embed objects inside the paper, produce “paper paintings” using resist techniques, and experiment with three-dimensional paper forms.
Participants are asked to bring additional plant materials for experimentation; a list of recommended materials will be sent in advance.
The costs of this workshop are 185 Euro, register at Workshop Hannover e.v. Zentrum für kreatives Gestalten. Lister Meile 4. Kulturzentrum Pavillon 30161 Hannover. Tel. 0511 – 34 47 11 box@workshop-ev.de · https://www.workshop-ev.de
Exhibition “Roots Are Important” in Workshop Hannover
Jonatan E. Jurkowski is a Polish textile and paper artist, born in 1995 in Stargard, Poland. In 2022 he graduated with distinction in Paper and Textile Art from the Władysław Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. Since 2023 he has continued his work as a PhD student at the Academy of Art in Szczecin, where his focus is on fiber art and design.
His works combines textiles, paper, and fibers and are created using a variety of techniques such as knitting, weaving, embroidery, as well as experimental methods. The materials and processes he uses include paper, sisal, jute, knitted and knotted structures, ropes, silk, rose petals, handmade paper, and his own mixed techniques. For example, the work ‘Mandorla for Heaven’ combines paper, sisal, jute, knitting techniques, and a self-developed method.
Conceptually, his works often revolve around themes such as transformation, transition, crisis, memory, roots, healing, and spiritual resonance. This is reflected in titles and descriptions of works such as Lazarus, Mandorla for Heaven and Earth, Harranu isi, Oreuda, Granum Orans, and Pesvebi (Roots). These works are frequently connected with ideas of return to life after loss, prayer, roots, and renewal.
His work has already gained international visibility. It has been exhibited in Poland, Latvia, Colombia, Canada and South Korea, and pieces are held in public collections, including the Book Art Museum and the Paper Museum in Poland. In 2026 his personal exhibitions will take place in Hannover, Germany, at the Paper Museum in Poland and an group exhibition in Xalapa, Mexico.
Among his notable awards is a prize in the Textile Art category for the work ‘Mandorla for Earth’ at the 4th Triennial of Young Textile Art at the Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź in 2022. At the 7th Riga International Textile and Fibre Art Triennial, he also received the third prize for ‘Mandorla for Heaven’.
In 2025, he had a solo exhibition at the Book Art Museum in Łódź, which was reviewed on November 19, 2025 in the Textile Forum Blog. Works shown there included Granum Orans, Oreuda, Lazarus, and Harranu isi.
The exhibition „ Roots are important“ will be shown also in Workshop Hannover from 11 May till 8 September 2026
On Sunday, 10 May at 7:00 pm, the exhibition of Jonatan E. Jurkowski will be opened at Workshop Hannover, introduced by Beatrijs Sterk.
