I am fascinated by ruins and abandoned objects; decayed, burned out structures sinking into the earth, rusted, busted artifacts, things once useful, that got rained on & thrown away. I especially love tattered old books and ancient stones.
My Books: I have my own mythology about books. More than once as a child I visited houses with neglected bookcases full of dusty old hardbacks, with old-fashioned illustrations, smelling of mold. To me they were mysterious, fascinating objects. Often in my work I reenact the experience of discovering something darkly mysterious within that familiar object – an old book. The books I use are discards, rescued on their way to landfill.
My Drawings: I have been working in graphite on paper for about 10 years and still feel deeply engaged with this medium. The Japanese Surface Gampi paper was a chance discovery that opened new graphic possibilities for me. I also make and bind artist books and some small edition multiples.
In 2010, during a residency on the West Coast of Ireland, I found myself in a long-cultivated landscape where many ancient stone monuments of extreme simplicity lay open to the sky. The drawings I made there reflect that simplicity and the basic materials of things made thousands of years ago.
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