About

Artist

 I work primarily in the mediums of printmaking, artist’s books, and sculpture.  I have also made paper but use the paper sculpturally.  If a metal sculpture is flat enough I will ink and print it as though it is a collagraph.  I tend to go through cycles of one medium until an idea or ideas feel resolved. Computers and design programs are tools that I use regularly in my work.

      Much of my print and book work incorporates political or social issues; some are apparent while others are deliberately ambiguous.  I believe that art as visual literacy must have a cogent structure, a meaning and value beyond what is readily apparent.  My sculpture has been described as being “more lyrical” than my prints. However my books can be viewed from different angles both physically and as metaphor. Either way, I work to create objects that satisfy my own criteria as well as to try and give pause to the viewer.        

      How do I make choices?  Sometimes I agonize over detail, other times it is quick, simple, and seemingly instinctive.  I enjoy creating visual and technical problems.  The relationships of color, texture, and form, and how best to fill a space, whether it is a sheet of paper, a codex, or steel, it must be meaningful. The work to resolve these problems maintains my curiosity. 

I learn more from challenging problems than from random success.

      Textures are a consistent concern in my work and varying textures can differentiate forms as well as ideas.  The carving of woodcuts, bookbinding, or working a sculpture, is a physical process. Cutting, gouging, carving, shaping, all while evolving ideas of resolution, is satisfying.  Painting and drawing hold a set of different, though related problems.         

      Drawing is important to my work and I use it for developing ideas for all mediums.  I sometimes scan my sketches and bring the digital files into Illustrator where I can trace and extrude, and refine them. The results can then be edited and rotated to any view from any angle.