Sara Gilfert

Gilfert was born in Tarkio, Missouri but spent most of her early life in Janesville, Wisconsin. She graduated from Janesville high school and then moved to Yellow Springs, Ohio to attend Antioch College.^[1] At Antioch she met her future husband, James Gilfert, and they married at the Antioch College chapel in 1949. After they both graduated, they moved to Columbus and continued their studies at The Ohio State University.^[2] James studied physics and Sara studied home economics. In 1967, they moved to Athens, Ohio where James taught electrical engineering at Ohio University.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1970s Sara wanted to continue her studies. Her home economics credits were only transferable for the School of Art at Ohio University.^[3] She worked with textile art and weaving and submitted her Master of Fine Art exhibition in 1979. From 1980 to 1985 she taught at Ohio University in the Textile Department until it closed.^[1] Also in the early 1980s she started a women's collective of textile artists known as The Athens Tapestry Works.^[1] The group created commissioned works for businesses such as bank lobbies. Gilfert was also involved in the early Quilt National exhibitions that happened at the Dairy Barn Arts Center. In 1981, she coordinated the show.^[4]

In addition to textiles, Gilfert discovered paper making in 1979 and found her true artistic passion. In 1983, she travelled to Japan for a three-month apprenticeship focused on traditional hand paper making techniques. In the village of Obara she learned a paper making technique invented by Ando Kazuhiza, from Kazuhiza himself.^[3] When she returned to Athens, she began building paper making equipment and started producing her own paper-based artwork. One way she made paper was to harvest the white fiber from the inner bark of the mulberry tree.^[5] In the early 1980s Gilfert also taught natural dyeing, spinning, and weaving classes at Ohio University, including at satellite campuses in Lancaster and Chillicothe, and at the University of Rio Grande.^[3]

To share her knowledge and love of paper making she founded the store and studio Paper Circle in Nelsonville, Ohio in 2003. Paper Circle closed after 22 years soon after Gilfert's death in 2025.^[6] Paper Circle was a nonprofit organization that was dedicated to the celebration, advancement, and preservation of paper and book arts. Paper Circle became not just a place to work and sell products, but a community gathering place where artists could exhibit and teach.^[7] Each summer for 15 years, Paper Circle ran a summer art program for children called The Circle Round the Square.^[3]

For her work in southeastern Ohio, Gilfert received a Jenco award (2023) posthumously. This award “celebrates unsung heroes who, outside of their paid positions, give their time, talent and passion in ways that contribute to quality of life in Appalachian Ohio.”^[8] Gilfert was an active member of the Friends of Dard Hunter, now the North American Hand Papermaker’s Association.^[3] She was awarded in 2023 Papermaking Champion from the North American Hand Papermakers.^[2]

• “Myth, Magic and Meditations,” Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking in Atlanta, GA, in 1999^[2]