Artist Statement

These works were inspired, in part, by the composition and structures of gardens.  As I arranged patterns, textiles, plants and threads using a papermaking collage process, I thought about the topography of garden spaces. The way that gardens can be structured; rows, paths, beds, and the placement of plants and seeds. And how the sense of order imposed on these landscaped spaces is often disrupted by the variables of place.  

These works were made using the process of hand papermaking. I pour a specially prepared pulp (in this case either abaca or flax fiber) into a frame called a deckle box, which rests in a tub of water.  As I arrange the collage materials; textiles, fibers and plants in the wet paper pulp in the deckle box, the static space of the sheet of paper becomes both dynamic and fluid. When I lift the deckle box out of the water, the collage materials float around and reposition themselves, often creating a sense of organic movement and disrupting the sense of order I’m trying to create. The frame of the deckle is like a photographic frame, preserving a moment in time and arresting the movement of the organic materials within.  The paper puckers and shrinks as it dries, reacting to the objects imbedded in its’ surface. Through the process of making paper, these works become meditations on the endeavor of creating order amongst prevailing circumstances.

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