NaNo Interview: 2023 Camp Designer Elizabeth Goss

Camp NaNoWriMo is almost here! You’ve probably already seen the beautiful papercut inspired designs in our shop. Today, we’ve interviewed our graphic design Elizabeth Goss about her project!

Q: Your design for Camp this year is unique: it’s our first time working with a papercut artist! Can you tell us a little about your history with papercut, and how you got started in this art form?

In college, I had to create a cut paper animation inspired by the work of Lotte Reiniger. I fell in love with the process of papercutting. I’ve gone through several style changes over the years, but I’ve been cutting paper since that project.

Q: What was the trickiest element of the process for you? What was the most fun?

I really enjoyed this whole process. It was wonderful to have so much creative freedom. The trickiest part was wanting to turn all my sketches into final art! That’s pretty unusual. I may try to finish a few pieces over the summer, just for myself.

Q: NaNoWriMo is all about challenging ourselves to take on the sometimes painstaking work of writing and editing. What parallels do you see between noveling and papercutting?

I think there are some powerful parallels between writing a novel and papercutting. Whether you’re working with words or paper, it takes tremendous patience and persistence to create a finished work that matches the vision in your head. I also think both processes require a little audacity. It takes courage to bring something into existence and even greater daring to share that precious creation with strangers.

Q: If your papercut practice was a sandwich, what kind of sandwich would it be?

Oh, what a fun question! If my papercutting were a sandwich, it would be a grilled cheese—simple ingredients, endless creative possibilities. Papercutting is a wonderfully accessible art form. It doesn’t require specialized or expensive tools, just paper and something to cut with, yet you can create an enormous variety of work. I love a classic grilled cheese sandwich, but I appreciate that, if the mood takes me, I can throw in some caramelized onions or pesto and enjoy something totally different and delicious. Papercutting is the same way. It offers endless variations and styles to explore.

Elizabeth Goss is an illustrator, author, and papercutter based in the Pacific Northwest. Her first picture book My Way West: Real Kids Traveling the Oregon and California Trails (West Margin Press, 2021) won the Paterson Prize for Books for Young People. Her new picture book, All About Nothing (Charlesbridge, 2023) is a collaboration with decorated children’s author Elizabeth Rusch and celebrates all the positives of negative space.