3D artist Liza MacKinnon has spent years collecting fine papers, studying fairy tales and imagining how a story can take physical shape.
Now, all of that work is coming together in “Fairy Tale Forest,” an immersive new exhibition built around Little Red Riding Hood, paper textures and the feeling of stepping into another world.
“Fairy Tale Forest” will debut during Final Friday at Phoenix Underground. The exhibit will open from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 31 and remain on display through Aug. 24 below Phoenix Gallery, 825 Massachusetts St.
Originally scheduled for July 2025, the show was postponed after MacKinnon got sick with COVID-19, delaying the creation of the work.
The exhibit will feature three larger freestanding “Little Red Riding Hood” dresses made from paper and wire. There will also be eight paper dresses with crochet hoods that will hang surrounded by white trees drawn on black paper.
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The idea began after MacKinnon designed a class meant to spark a conversation about how fairy tales affect the people who encounter them.
“Fairy tales are so interesting because they’re so embedded in our, at least in Western, consciousness,” MacKinnon said. “There’s so many different iterations of the same story.”
As the concept evolved, MacKinnon said she needed a way to unify the show, and it eventually centered on Little Red Riding Hood.
“I can’t really say why,” she said. “But it’s kind of an intriguing story.”
MacKinnon said she wants the show to be immersive, with the gallery transformed into a story landscape. She said she also wants visitors to think about the emotional scale of fairy tales and the way they linger in the imagination.
The three dress forms, titled “Red Stag Heart,” “Little Red of the Raven Clan” and “Little Red Wing,” are built on top of a metal fencing armature.
The cape and hood of “Red Stag Heart” are made from pages of the “Little Red Riding Hood” story and covered in red tissue paper so that the viewers can still see the words on the page.
Fur cuffs on the cape are by MacKinnon’s friend, Irene Tsuneta, and are also paper, sewn together and cut into points to mimic wolf fur.
MacKinnon said the challenge came after finishing the first of the dresses.
“I think after I made this I realized that I had set the bar really high,” she said. “It did inspire me to look at all my papers and say, OK, this is the time we’re gonna go for it.”
After collecting fine papers for years, including many mulberry papers, she decided it was time to use them.
Mulberry paper is made from the bast fibers of mulberry tree bark and is known for being soft, strong and flexible.
MacKinnon said the exhibit also reflects the collaborative side of her practice. One dress includes a basket made by printmaker Theresa Martin, and another features an apron by Evan Johnson of Fred Paper Company. She also recently began an apprenticeship in papermaking, which she said is opening new possibilities for future work.
She hopes that viewers slow down long enough to notice the smaller details, including the backs of the hanging pieces, the crochet hoods, and the various textures and papers woven throughout the show.
“There’s a lot of details, and you have to really pay attention to see them,” she said.
For MacKinnon, the exhibit also reflects a larger artistic impulse: to keep pushing work further with each show. She said this project led her to think more deeply about paper, storytelling, and how to keep expanding her practice.
She and storyteller Priscilla Howe also plan to host an event featuring stories and casual conversation with the audience from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18. at the gallery.
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Courtney Lane (she/her), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. She can be reached at [email protected].
Read her complete bio here. Read her work for the Times at this link, and see her photography for the Times at this link.
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