“I love the feel of paper, the immense possibility represented by every blank page,” says paper-carving artist Maude Alta White (@maude_alta), who lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. “I want to have a conversation with the paper, not on the paper.” Maude begins her pieces with a pencil drawing, meticulously planning the positive and negative space before wielding a craft knife. “Cutting paper is very meditative, and I like the weight and decision of making every cut precise and meaningful,” she says. Creating portraits of women is especially challenging, Maude explains, because she has to connect the eyes, nose and mouth to the overall piece. “That’s why they all have hair blowing across their faces!” Photo by @maude_alta