Artist books is a huge, amorphous category of art making that allows full reign for the use of tactile materials in service to ideas. Who can read a book without touching it?
APPARITIONS AMONG US SERIES
Apparitions Among Us documents apparitions of the Virgin Mary that have occurred in the continental US since 1945. The lattice-like circles, relief printed on digital prints of USGS topographical maps, radiate from the precise locations of these apparitions. It exists as four accordion folios, with maps on one side and letterpress printed descriptions of the apparition events on the other. This book arose from my desire to share my Apparition Series drawings with more people.
ST. CLARE SERIES
The legends of St. Clare of Assisi—when the centuries of other people’s piety is stripped away—reveal a woman willing to live her own truth and help others do the same. This series of one of a kind artist books are hand stitched fabric with collage elements. They are made in the form of liturgical textiles known as a burse and corporal.
THE GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE SERIES
Water is an accordion book that can be unfolded and hung on the wall. It depicts, in hand stitching, the Cedar River Watershed owned and protected by the city of Seattle for over 100 years to provide safe and dependable drinking water for the city. The complex history of this civic enterprise is found on the ‘other’ side of the accordion pages.
TOO LATE IN ASKING: LAMENTATION AND METHOD
My grief for our degradation of the natural order has prompted the Too Late in Asking series which take on aspects of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. These one of a kind books are made with fabric, stitching, gesso and digital transfers.
TEND AND BEFRIEND
Tend and Befriend documents the community gardens of Seattle. The cover is made from used work gloves. Inside, a chronology of the gardens is embroidered on dirt stained silk organza pages.
CREDO
Credo uses found paper, machine stitching, graphite and rubber stamps to comment upon the constructed nature of knowledge. It includes a text from Linda Nochlin on the nature of “great art” and includes the names of artists who influenced my creative life on pages made from the envelopes of all of the sewing patterns I ever owned.
CLOTH BOOKS
These one of a kind cloth books use found textiles and hand stitching to comment upon the nature of mending, creativity and nurture. Both celebrate women’s work and its role in hard times as well as its power for self expression.