The book is simultaneously a conveyance for information and a tactile object, deeply steeped in sensory associations. My work investigates the book as an object, which communicates its own conceptual content with or without text and imagery. I work sculpturally, focusing on the experience of reading and creating new ways to look at the structure of a book by avoiding the expected interactive experience in favor of a static, sculptural experience. My media range from the traditional (handmade paper, bookcloth, leather, fibers, and metal) to the unconventional (plastics, cardboard, glass, and liquid ink). I utilize traditional and innovative book structures and box making techniques, letterpress, relief and intaglio printmaking, papermaking, and metalsmithing. The materials my book objects are made from often takes over for text as the content, allowing the book to speak emotionally, rather than intellectually.
My background is in antiquarian bookselling and book and paper restoration. Moving away from a relationship with shelves full of crumbling old books, my artwork perpetuates my interest in the processes of rot, decay and corruption, as well as notions of repair or preservation. My education in historical bindings and printing techniques influences the aesthetics of my work, reflecting my deep interest in the visual and symbolic languages of the nineteenth century in particular.
I’m interested in exploring the relationship of the reader to the book. The content of the text of a book is generally less interesting to me than the physical and mental relationships we have with books and text. We use our physical bodies to read, and we’re left with our minds and memories permanently altered by text. What we feel and remember about touching and holding the books we’ve encountered is more important to me than creating an interactive reading experience within my work. For me, books represent the inner workings of human psychology and are loaded with meaning.
My background is in antiquarian bookselling and book and paper restoration. Moving away from a relationship with shelves full of crumbling old books, my artwork perpetuates my interest in the processes of rot, decay and corruption, as well as notions of repair or preservation. My education in historical bindings and printing techniques influences the aesthetics of my work, reflecting my deep interest in the visual and symbolic languages of the nineteenth century in particular.
I’m interested in exploring the relationship of the reader to the book. The content of the text of a book is generally less interesting to me than the physical and mental relationships we have with books and text. We use our physical bodies to read, and we’re left with our minds and memories permanently altered by text. What we feel and remember about touching and holding the books we’ve encountered is more important to me than creating an interactive reading experience within my work. For me, books represent the inner workings of human psychology and are loaded with meaning.