Meditative, explorative, playful ways of merging form and content lie at the heart of my handcrafted books. The bookmaking process allows me to meld so many things I enjoy—writing, paper textures, image-making techniques, and printing processes. With each new project, I experience the word book unfolding in unanticipated, magical ways.
I thrive on following an idea from hazy visions and broad sketches to book prototypes and the first finished form–”finished” in the sense of whatever feels vibrant in some hoped-for way. With every book, I seek to create an elegant simplicity by selecting beautiful materials, meticulously crafting each feature, and incorporating distinctive details. One-of-a-kind and small-edition (for me, 30 or fewer copies of a book) artist’s books are my specialties.
Various one-of-a-kind and editioned books are described in other parts of this site: Artist’s Books and Books & Tales. You might also like to see the two photos of my artist’s book Primary Melody that appear in 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form (Lark Books, 2008).
I offer two types of blank books—one that incorporates a brief original poem along with the blank pages and another that can be tucked into a pocket or purse or worn as a necklace.
I enjoy designing group bookmaking projects that nurture rich, unique experiences. Tailoring projects to each group, I offer a wide variety of opportunities. For instance, you or another group member can act as the leader while I supply all needed instructions and materials, or I can complete books using text and images your group members create. Collaboratively planning such projects is a fun challenge!
Since poetry writing is another passion of mine, I weave poetry into many of the Books & Tales descriptions, in which I share the experiences from which particular books grew.
If you’d like to see one of my artist’s books, Remnants Gathered is currently part of the North Carolina Artists Exhibition, sponsored by the Raleigh Fine Arts Society and hosted March 1-May 3, 2009, at Raleigh’s Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.
For those interested in classes, I’ll be teaching at the Paul and Florence Thomas Memorial Art School, in Glendale Springs, NC, this summer and early fall. An August 24-26 class, “Entering the Art of Bookmaking,” will be an introduction to various kinds of handmade books. A September 12 class will be on edge-sewn (or stab-bound) books and haiku writing.
Welcome to book arts journeys with me . . .
