Books
In 1994, artist Nora McGillivray showed me a unique artist book that she had made and I knew immediately that I wanted to begin to understand the art form of book arts more deeply. I have always loved the more intimate forms of art, art forms that invite you in and up close, and book arts accomplishes this for me.
Fortunately, Minnesota Center for Book Arts was just a few miles from home and I began to take classes there regularly eventually earning an Advanced Certificate in Book Arts. As my own confidence grew, I traveled to New York, Penland and Haystack to study with teachers whose work I was drawn to. I’ve been fortunate to work with Hedi Kyle, Barbara Mauriello, Julie Chen and Jody Williams, just to name a few. They inspired me as they taught me and I still revisit lessons from them when I work on my own.
I believe that books and boxes, whether they are unique, useful or simply decorative, should be strong enough to invite handling and play. Everyone is curious about what is in a book or a box and I want people to feel comfortable picking up them up, never afraid. I’m particularly interested in the way that artist books combine structure, visual art and text to make something entirely original.
