By admin 
Inside the West Bottoms Livestock Exchange building is a sunlit studio belonging to local artist Andrea Cira. The walls are covered in colorful framed original pieces of animals, fruits and cards — all made from intricately cut pieces of paper.
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Behind her desk in the corner sits a tall metal rack, each rung filled with stacks of thick French art paper. Drawers close to the floor are filled with scraps, also organized by color. It’s here where the Kansas City transplant is turning micro bits of paper into detailed landscapes and animals.
Cira, 38, who moved to Kansas City from Mexico, has made a name for herself creating intricate paper cut art and collages for brands like Starbucks Mexico and Ulta Beauty, professional sports teams like designing a shirt for the KC Current, and organizations like the National Audubon Society.
She decided to take the leap from working as a graphic designer, where she felt stuck creatively, to making intricate paper cut art.
Paper cut art first appeared during the Han dynasty in the 4th century A.D. after the invention of paper in 105 A.D. The artistic method has been adopted by cultures around the world and pieces are traditionally made from a single sheet of paper, according to the Guild of American Papercutters.
Ancient Mexico had one of the early forms of papercutting. Aztecs collected paper-like bark from fig and mulberry trees and used knives to cut spirit figures, called papel picado. In modern day, Mexican artists use tissue paper to create papel picado for altars, tables, and narrow streets to announce special occasions, according to the Guild of American Papercutters.
One style of papercutting, which Cira utilizes, is called cutting-out, which is when the artist builds an image or a pattern through layers of cut paper.
“People might see it and not understand the process of it,” she said. “I really love it and I want to keep doing it because it takes time. It takes creativity and effort. Every little piece.”
For each piece, Cira first does a sketch, sometimes directly on the color paper before cutting. She has started to dabble in painting small details.
“I think about it as layers, I start cutting the part in the back and then I move towards the front. When I have the final pieces, I see if there are any modifications,” she said. “I cut everything by hand with my X-Acto knife.”
Sometimes she creates digital illustrations and cuts with a Cricut machine. She then experiments with the layout like one would with a collage.
“I try to do most of it by hand because I feel like it’s like a way to reclaim the power of doing things by myself,” she said.
Projects take anywhere from a few hours to a week, depending on size and complexity. The art form is special to Cira, who loves texture and touching the materials.
“It reminds me of when I was a kid and I would see illustrations in books that had a playful texture, she said. “I also think it’s very unique in the sense that I haven’t seen a lot of people working that way.”
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Cira came to Kansas City in 2020, the week before the COVID-19 pandemic froze the world. The plan was for her to visit family before going to Canada for a design program. While trapped in KC, she met and fell in love with her husband.
“We fell in love very quickly … and we just started dating, spending every day together all day, because we had nothing else,” Cira said.
In 2022, she quit her day job as a graphic designer for Outreach International, and decided to make paper art full time and quickly found the entrepreneur community in Kansas City welcoming.
“All my growth and the way that I’ve been able to do this just because of what Kansas City has offered me,” she said.
One of her first projects starting out was recreating cards from the Loteria, a traditional Mexican game of chance, similar to bingo.
“Generations, like our parents grew with it, so it became part of our culture, so when I came here I found that this need of making something that represented Mexican people because I felt there were a lot of Mexicans here, but I didn’t see enough that was reflected,” she said.
Some of her larger projects, especially animal-inspired pieces, have been turned into art prints for sold by Head West Prints.
Last winter, Cira was asked to do an editorial spread for the National Audubon Society. For that project, she hand-cut and assembled prehistoric avian species from the dinosaur age.
“Each bird was cut from paper, and then photographed to preserve texture, depth, and shadow,” Cira wrote on her website. “To help contextualize these ancient species, I also created five spot illustrations pairing each prehistoric bird with its closest modern-day equivalent.”
Paired with the print spread were stop-motion animations she made of each bird for the digital magazine.
“In this day and age where AI is taking over everyone’s jobs, I want to tell people that it’s good to slow down and go back to doing things by hand and support artists that do things with their hands,” she said.
Customers interested in Cira’s work can find prints of originals, pins, keychains and more on her Etsy page. Originals can be found on her website.
Anyone who wants to visit the studio can just email her at [email protected] or see her stall at this year’s Hallmark Christmas Market.
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