October 29 & 30, 10am-3pm

Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME

Papercutting is a centuries-old art form with many different approaches and styles. Artist Dylan Metrano will teach its history and explore various techniques with examples of traditional and contemporary styles.

Throughout the course of the workshop, students will draw inspiration from the Farnsworth Mural Project: James Prosek, as well as from seascapes featured in Maine: A Force within American Art (1890–2026). Drawing inspiration from this imagery, and combined with hands-on instruction from Dylan, students will leave this two-day workshop with several pieces of their own artwork, exploring different methods and approaches.

Dylan Metrano is a papercutting artist based in Bath, Maine. He spent many years living on Monhegan Island, ten miles off the coast of Maine, drawing inspiration from its centuries‐old buildings and migratory birds. Drawn to the simplicity of form, the boldness and relationships of colors, and the cleanness of composition, Dylan’s artwork is entirely composed of meticulously cut and carefully layered paper. A self‐taught artist, his artwork has been featured on numerous album covers, book covers, posters, and in exhibitions throughout New England. In 2016, Scholastic published “Every Day Birds”, a children’s book which Dylan illustrated with his papercuttings.

Supplies: Students should bring a self-healing cutting mat, an X-Acto knife, a notebook and pencil. Paper will be provided, but students are encouraged to bring paper they may personally wish to incorporate. Students may also bring photos or drawings they wish to recreate through papercutting. All other supplies and materials will be provided.

Cost: $250; $225 for members. $10 materials fee. Suitable for students aged 14+. Access rates available. To ensure the program can run as planned, a minimum of 6 participants is required. 

Register here.

Registration Open!

The Art of Papercutting Workshop
w/ artist Dylan Metrano
2-day workshop: Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2
10am – 4pm both days
Location: Gallery
Registration + supplies fee: Member $200 / Non-Member $225
Ages 12+

More info & registration here.

The 2026 Dylan Metrano Papercutting calendar is all birds this year.

sold out.

Rebecca and I are showing our collaborative mail art once again! It’ll be up in May in Biddeford at Elements, and we’re having a reception with the artists on May 16th. One of my favorite musicians Hello Shark will be playing as well. Come on out for a great night of art, music, an friends.

My 2025 papercutting calendar is now sold out.

I’m showing my papercut concert posters, created over the last three years for Diaspora Radio at Ceres Bakery in Portsmouth, NH through November.
Each image is created entirely with cut and layered paper, and is an interpretation of the album art for the album that Diaspora Radio plays each month at the Press Room in Portsmouth.
Ceres is open 8am to 2pm Tuesday to Saturday. All the work is for sale.

Knife vs. Scissors is the result of a year-long mail art collaboration between cut paper artists Dylan Metrano and Rebecca FitzPatrick.

Dylan and Rebecca met and became friends while living and working on Monhegan Island, Maine. The artists bonded over their shared love of paper cutting while also recognizing the vast and very specific differences in their methods, processes, and final work. For example, Dylan uses an X-Acto knife to carve images from a single black sheet of paper, then adds colored paper underneath, while Rebecca creates collages using a meticulously curated collection of scissor-cut images. The collaborative work in this show was created by each mailing the other unfinished pieces, scraps, and other random images for the other to build upon or incorporate into their own work. It would be passed back and forth again to slowly reveal the final artwork. The resulting art often reveals the humor in the juxtaposition of imagery. Some pieces become like wordless comics, others just simple assemblages of beauty. While maintaining the distinctive looks of both artists, they created a look and feel unique to this collection.

View the show at Ocean House Gallery.

Photographer Brian Fitzgerald visited my tiny studio to watch me make some artwork and take some photos. He posted some and wrote a little bit about it at his blog HERE.

I designed a flag for SPACE Gallery in Portland. “ONSTAGE/OFFSTAGE”. This flag celebrates the ecstasy of ONSTAGE and the quiet familiarity of OFFSTAGE. The couch and posters are a tribute to SPACE’s quiet and humble greenroom, steeped in musical history. The flag accompanies a terrific exhibition at Space featuring twenty years of concert posters. Photos by Carolyn Wachnicki.