Contemporary mixed-media artist Jana Nicole uses James Cropper papers in two significant projects: a mixed-media installation for a major archaeological museum exhibition in South Tyrol, and her ongoing Foxfire work at Falmouth Art Gallery. For Nicole, paper is not a surface. It is an active material, a carrier of craft history and part of the story she is telling.
James Cropper Creates is the creative community built around James Cropper, the last paper mill in the UK still making coloured paper. It connects artists, designers and makers with one of Britain’s most storied paper-making traditions, celebrating the ways that James Cropper paper becomes part of creative practice rather than simply a substrate for it. Jana Nicole’s work is a perfect expression of what that relationship can look like.
Jana Nicole works in the hidden worlds beneath our feet: fungi, moss, roots, mycelial networks. Her practice combines intricate paper cutting, collage, relief sculpture and organic materials to create immersive visual landscapes that explore our connection to the natural world.
“For me, paper is not just something I make art on,” she says. “It is part of the art.”
That conviction has found particular expression in two recent projects, both of which use James Cropper paper as an active material within the work rather than a support for it.
The first is her contribution to Mushrooms: The Cultural History of Mushrooms from Ötzi to the Present Day at ArcheoParc Schnalstal in South Tyrol, Italy, an exhibition running until 6 November 2026. The project began with an invitation to create a mixed-media artwork for the show, which required extensive research into Ötzi, the 5,300-year-old glacier mummy, his environment and the fungi found among his possessions. The birch polypore and amadou found with him offer a window into the relationship between fungi, survival and human culture at the very origins of recorded European life. Working alongside mycologist Mariana Villani and museum director Johanna Niederkofler, Nicole translated that archaeological and scientific research into layered paper collage and sculptural form, bringing together botanical imagery, fungi, colour and hand-cut elements to create a visual journey through time. James Cropper paper runs through the work: its surface, its texture and its own craft history part of the material logic connecting Ötzi’s world to our contemporary understanding of Funga.
The second strand is her Foxfire installation at Falmouth Art Gallery, and an ongoing series of experiments making paper using fungi, plants and James Cropper paper alongside each other. Nicole is also the founder of the UK’s first mushroom festival, All Things Fungi, which bridges art and science through workshops including papermaking, celebrating craft as a form of education and connection.
Her Botanical Troupe series has been exhibited internationally, and in 2022 she was awarded the Prix Puvis de Chavannes by the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, recognising her innovative use of paper and living materials.
Website: jananicole.com Instagram: @jananicole_studio
Mushrooms: The Cultural History of Mushrooms from Ötzi to the Present Day, ArcheoParc Schnalstal, South Tyrol, Italy. Open until 6 November 2026. Photography credits: Josh Thompson (woodland portrait). Close up of The Glade in Paris.
About James Cropper Creates
James Cropper Creates is the creative community built around James Cropper, one of Britain’s most celebrated independent paper mills. Since 1845, James Cropper has been making paper in the Lake District with a commitment to craft, sustainability and creative possibility. James Cropper Creates connects artists, designers and makers with the mill, celebrating the ways that paper can carry history, support innovation and become an active part of creative practice. Find out more at jamescropper.com
Want to know more about our membership? Give us an email at members@peopleofprint.com.
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