David MacPhee: Artist and Engineer

New member of the Arkansas Craft Guild, David MacPhee, Papergraphics Paper Paintings, is truly unique. For his art, he applies drafting techniques learned for engineering graphic applications while getting his degree from UVA, a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. For his day job he made technical drawings to scale in MS Paint for his work as a Design Engineer at Arkansas Nuclear One.

His unusual art form is self taught, founding his company, Papergraphics in 1983. He took an art history course at UVA where he was exposed to influential artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Robert Stella, Andy Warhol, other Op Artists.

"I started as an acrylic painter, working in the defined style of Robert Stella in his geometric period. I’m a fan of color, light, and definition. I have been working with cut paper and doing photography since my college days. Papergraphics Paper Paintings are all hand made, start to finish with hand tools. Unlike a two dimensional painting, my method of painting with paper results in a rise into the third dimension since I layer my paper to match the contours of my subject. This adds more photo realism to my paintings at the expense of resolution. I like to control the shades of my paint, (paper in my case) which is easier to do than with brush painting. The colorants on paper may be watercolor markers, berol sticks, India ink, pastels, or others. They are applied with a makeup sponge or rubbed on."

Harvest House, built 1882, Eureka Springs, AR. This is a Victorian Queen Anne located on Wall Street. "I stayed many times in this wonderful B&B while Mrs. Conner ran the place in the 1980s. These lovely shades of green are no more, she is now a purple lady but still a bed and breakfast." (metal frame behind plexiglass) by David MacPhee, Papergraphic Paper Paintings

"I started making cut paper creations out of thick poster board paper (card stock). At an art supplies store in Little Rock I discovered the wide variety of colored art papers by Canson Mi-Teintes and Crescent. This delighted and motivated me to create. I invented my engineered process to make these layered paper paintings, and I was off to the races, as these new materials were much easier to cut than card stock with an X-Acto knife."

Bogie, a shadowbox print by Papergraphics

He's made over 60 Papergraphics Paper Paintings. These include large, medium, and small framed Papergraphics, a group of 5 x 7 original cut paper Christmas cards, and commissioned pieces. When he retired in 2020, he started making large artwork again. He is currently working on a dog portrait for a client commission, while setting up new equipment to upgrade techniques. He's hoping to produce more Papergraphics Paper Paintings this year.

His work is for sale now in the Arkansas Craft Gallery now, downtown Mountain View, AR. Our Gallery Facebook page is a good place to stay current with new work being hung.

For more examples of his art, visit David's artist roster page here on our website.

Online sales are at his Papergraphics website.

David MacPhee's Papergraphics Paper Paintings Arts and Crafts Store on Facebook.