The versatility of paper is well-known in sustainability circles. After all, not only can paper be made into a wide variety of useful, earth-friendly, and biodegradable products, it can also be used to construct beautiful and sturdy buildings.

Of course, paper can also be used to make paper art, as seen in these incredible paper-cut pieces by artist Pippa Dyrlaga. Based out of Yorkshire, England, Dyrlaga has been carefully crafting paper cuts since 2010, in addition to working as a printmaker.

Much of Dyrlaga’s childhood was spent in rural Yorkshire, where her family lived in a canal boat. Those days of youth spent closely connected to nature are a huge factor driving her art, she says:

Dyrlaga’s work often features plants and animals, and the distinct patterns that one might see on leaves, flowers, roots, scales, fur, and wings—except that they are reinterpreted in a new and refreshing way.

In particular, Dyrlaga says she is often drawn to creative potential of paper and its ubiquity:

Dyrlaga says her art pieces often begin with a simple hand-drawn sketch on the underside of the paper, which is then gradually and meticulously cut out bit by bit with a razor-sharp scalpel. This process can take anywhere from four to 300 hours to complete, depending on the amount of detail. But as Dyrlaga points out, the final result is not necessarily an end in itself:

Often, Dyrlaga’s work is flat and monochromatic, but sometimes, she adds dimension and color. For example, to create a bit of depth, this piece of a honeybee has a background of yellow paper behind it.

Other works feature paper-cut creatures that have bursts of color, brushed carefully with acrylic paints.

Other pieces will have these gorgeous, wispy touches of torn paper, which are made out of Japanese washi paper, which is a tougher paper than wood pulp-based paper. Washi paper is traditionally made out of fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (Edgeworthia chrysantha), or the paper mulberry (kōzo) bush.

With washi paper, Dyrlaga can create cloud-like effects among the organic lace-like patterns …

… or create images of these improbable but compelling characters: a robot called “Arber” who is tending to the plants (and named after the famous botanist Agnes Arber).

There is also the life-giving “Garden Spirit” himself, seen here sleeping underground as a crown of leaves and flowers rise out of his head.

The patternings seen in Dyrlaga’s work aren’t necessarily realistic; instead, they purposefully combine plant, animal, and folkloric elements to convey a dreamlike aesthetic that suggests the inherent interconnectedness of all living things, including the living continuity of the myths we tell ourselves.

Ultimately, in creating these nature-inspired works that honor the role of nature in our collective imagination, Dyrlaga believes art and artists have a role to play in changing the tide in the widespread environmental crisis we now face:

To see more, visit Pippa Dyrlaga and Instagram.