One Spirit Studio was born from a belief in restoration.

Through handcrafted mixed media art made largely from recycled and reclaimed materials, artist Denise Aludo creates pieces shaped by texture, imperfection, and transformation.

Denise is a Tennessee-based mixed media artist and founder of One Spirit Studio. Working primarily in paper mâché, ceramics, and paint, her art explores themes of restoration, texture, memory, and shared human connection.

Influenced by years living in Kenya, a childhood rooted in rural landscapes, and a lifelong love of handmade objects, Denise creates pieces that feel both contemporary and ancient-as though uncovered rather than made.

Using recycled paper, layered surfaces, and hand-finished textures, her paper mache work reflects the beauty of imperfection and transformation. Through sanding, carving, glazing, and experimentation, ordinary materials are shaped into forms reminiscent of weathered stone, earth, and artifacts shaped by time.

What is discarded becomes something whole again.

A quiet reminder that beauty often emerges through imperfection, time, patience, and care.

About the Medium Paper Mache

Paper mâché is, at its heart, a story of transformation. Born over 2,000 years ago in ancient China and once used to form warrior shields and helmets, this humble medium has traveled through centuries carrying both purpose and beauty. Later named by the French, meaning “chewed paper,” it remains the original recycled art form—where what is discarded is gathered, softened, and made whole again.

Denise is passionate about sharing its possibilities with her community because paper mâché offers extraordinary freedom: a medium with few boundaries, where imagination is shaped by hand into objects of beauty, meaning, and story. Through One Spirit Studio, it is her hope is to expand its perception—from childhood craft to meaningful contemporary art shaped by hand, imagination, and vision.