My recent work has been an artistic exploration of ancient water-marbling traditions and their convergence through process and paper. Suminagashi, or “ink floating,” is an improvisational approach practiced with plain water in Japan at least as early as the 12th century. Ebru, or Turkish marbling, is a more controlled and pattern-based approach that emerged later in Central Asia and Turkey and uses a thickened size (in this case, water and carrageenan).

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​My wild marbling is a journey through inner and outer landscapes rooted in the natural world and inspired by liminal spaces and place. By floating pigment on water and creating patterns made through reciprocity with the natural world (movement and memory, vibrations of land and breath), as well as manipulations with marbling combs and styluses and other tools, I create monotype prints that express the unique realities of the current moment. My work is a celebration of edge effect evolution and ecotones and the energy and chaos therein and investigates how these marbling styles might interact and engage in new ways of being. I also explore each tradition on its own and seek to create within a living, evolving artscape in ways that honor past, present, and future in tune with timelessness.

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​​The history of marbling is long and layered, and I discovered it through a confluence of loves, including book arts, landscape, and contemplative practice. Marbling is, for me, an invitation to celebrate curiosity and intuition through the responsiveness of water and relationship with the elemental. It is a healing pathway by which to explore and embrace the deep and multifaceted interconnection that draws us closer to ourselves, to each other, and to our local landscapes—and, ultimately, to our shared world as a place of profound and everlasting belonging.

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See Events page for scheduled workshops.

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Suminagashi

Bookbinding

Paste Paper

Papermaking

Retreats

Three-Part Workshops featuring suminagashi, pamphlet binding, and mindful journaling

... and more

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Dawn Tevis is a public librarian and paper marbler whose affection for the natural world is deeply rooted in the Appalachian foothills. She now finds home in the Driftless. Dawn is passionate about creative placemaking and community engagement and explores through her programming and art the dynamic reciprocity of inner and outer landscapes in order to help further the vitality and diversity of the evolving and collective narrative of place. Dawn holds a master's in library and information science and a master of liberal studies in literary nonfiction and Appalachian studies. She was the recipient of a 2022 and 2025 Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council emerging artist grant and a member of the 2022 Creative Community Leadership Institute cohort.