Working with books is my attempt to consider the dialectics of time and identity. Within Time one experiences manifestations of the past and the future within the present moment (memory, hope, awareness). I am also interested in the relation of the self to the world in both public and private ways, and the relation of this self within time. The opening of a book, the turning of its pages, operates as a clock of internal, subconscious time. The continuity of the bookbinding craft allows for a bridging of past, present, and future; new innovations of classic structures affirm the past while embracing the future.

Inherent in my work are story and identity-the story of a person, an object, and a time. The Book is the place where identity can be portrayed or interpreted, but never fixed. I am compelled by the book's ability to connect a varied range of media, to express through movement and a combined language of color and texture, image, words, and ideas. The presence and interplay of these elements render a complex yet seemingly static object; an object that seems permanent, but will change and evolve with the turning of a page, both through a reader's interpretation, as well as through use and the forces of time. I am also drawn to the codex book for its aspects of portability and privacy, characteristics that greatly influence how a reader uses and relates to the text.

I believe books are a portal to the inner life, or reflective self, of the individual. They house our personal symbols, secrets, and struggles. Boxes, too, act in a similar way. My work attempts to promote exploration of the inner life and recognition of the everyday serendipities. Through the creation, preservation and conservation, books lend themselves to reframing the human endeavor and allow us to think long term.

My work explores adapted use of historical structures-particularly early codex structures-and is invested in organic materials, a moody color palette, as well as oil pastels, indigo, and other natural dyes & pigments. I use images from nature and history as a way of placing the self in a larger context. I incorporate text and listen for story as a way of exploring the universality and questions of the human condition.