 ROLODEX, Climate and Man, #1/1, 2024 Belt artist's book with 41 hand-sewn signatures, altered book pages, ledger sheets, timecards, acrylic paper marbling, collage, weaving, chain stitching, acrylic marbled silk, linen thread, found canvas belt with brass buckle Altered book details: Climate and Man, 1941 Yearbook of Agriculture, House Document No. 27, 77th Congress, 1st session, United States Government Printing Office 33.5"l x 5"w x 4"d - open 14"diameter x 5"h - displayed in circle  Not So Fast, #1/1, 2025 Layered Concertina bound into found metal & wood tool box drawer Tiger Eye (aka Sunburst or Eyes of Ra) Paper Marbling on Masa paper, Hahnemuhle Bugra paper, linen thread 12.5"h x 6"w x 3"d - extends to 13" How did you get into making artists' books? Who are some of your book artist influences? My book arts journey began with creating handmade wedding albums for my photography clients. The offerings for commercial albums were quite sad with their plastic pockets and heavily padded covers. Not really what I have in mind for my photojournalistic, black & white photographs. My solution came into focus when I found the amazing resources for bookmaking at local art supply stores like Paper Source and Utrecht. That was 25 years ago. I experimented with my own ideas, bought books on bookmaking, and finally took a short workshop that presented hand-sewn, softbound structures. It was a revelation. From there I added basic accordion binds and hardbound Japanese puncture/stab binds, mainly through my own studies. My clients were thrilled with the unique look of these, and my photo business grew as these set me apart from other photographers. Fast forward to 2005 and my time at the School of Museum of Fine Arts Boston for their Post Bac graduate program. Ann Pelikan, SMFA book arts teacher and Boston Athenaeum book conservationist, gave me an amazing foundation for the book arts and has continued to be an inspiration in the area of art education as well. At that point, I had been an arts educator for 12 years, so she shared more than book arts with me. Her teaching approaches and some of her book prompts have stayed in my head and in my classroom ever since. Another influence on my art practice has been Todd Gieg, a Boston-based photographer, photo teacher, and a life-long journal writer. His passion for alternative and historical photo techniques was also addictive. With the power of visual journaling released, and my art began to evolve. Photo-based mixed media is where I was heading. Not exactly a known or popular medium, this again set me apart from other artists. Do you have a favorite medium or materials to work with? Opening the flood gates with mixed media was certainly exciting and stimulated a renewed interest in art studies, collaborations, new colleagues, and more exposure. Cyanotypes, Polaroid transfers, photo collages, photo weavings and creating visual narratives were part of my early career. Making smaller versions of the photo albums that my clients enjoyed gave a boom to my art career. Selling a single, framed image slowly gave way to the entire series of photographs being presented in one petit artist's book. Book sales of my art began to eclipse the wedding albums. For the past 10 years, found objects have become a starting point for most of my artist's book projects. Family heirlooms, yard sale finds, thrift store bargains, and the "shed" of detritus that comes from living continue to provide my favorite book supplies. Belts and broken handles, spools and odd tubes, shoe laces, rusty metal parts of unknown origin or purpose, all can find a home in one of my artist's books. As co-founder of the New England Book Artists (NEBA), you've brought together book artists across New England. Could you share a bit about what that entailed? What are your hopes for the organization going forward? In September of 2019, I was vending at the Jamaica Plain Open Studios weekend, selling my artist's books, blank books, and marbled goods. Several shoppers and previous art students of mine mentioned the surprising lack of book arts presented at the event. Their concerns ranged from book arts workshops to exhibitions and opportunities for artist's books in the metro Boston art scene. Within a few months I joined forces with a few other book artists and New England Book Artists was born. It's been a crazy ride, but we're in our 6th year. Our mission: NEBA is a professional organization of book artists and bibliophiles. It celebrates, promotes, and supports the book arts and its makers, fosters public education, and nurtures an understanding and enjoyment of the discipline through exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and related activities. Never having started a non-profit art organization, uncertain in the amount of interest in book arts in New England, and not expecting a pandemic to shutdown all activities - we began. It's been challenging, but I'm pleased with the results so far. Having time at home gave me the opportunity to completely submerge myself in web design, learning the joys of Zoom, making newsletters in Mailchimp, editing videos and managing a YouTube channel, handling the social media, and developing the members' programs and outreach with the Girl Scouts Book Artist Badges. We learned that an online platform works well for sharing artist's books across New England. In 2024, I stepped down as NEBA president after 5 years. As a volunteer-run group, the constant struggle to motivate volunteers can be difficult. I felt that my time at the controls was starting to overwhelm my art practice. Having more time to devote to bookmaking, to finding the best homes for my artist's books in special collection libraries, and to exploring book arts beyond New England have become my priorities. I will continue to be an active NEBA member, to be a cheerleader for the organization, and to help NEBA fulfill our original mission. How do you manage your many endeavors such as giving workshops, teaching, and making your own artist books? Making a living in the arts is difficult. Beyond being brave, one needs to learn to find multiple revenue streams. I realized early that teaching art would help with all other spokes of this "spider web." Your students can become collectors, as well as promoters. My "day job" as a professional photographer was also benefited. Once you've got a fan, it builds from there. Another learning curve: Art supplies sell more easily than art. Once I mastered that, it became easier to survive as an artist. Over the years, I embraced paper marbling and the historical decorative art of paste paper which has been a large part of my art sales ever since. Beyond using these unique papers in my own artist's books, I can share the joy with other artists and students. It feels like a collaborative project in some ways. For me, every day is a different mix. It works for me. I have managed to balance my art, my art teaching, and everyday life by keeping ahead of the tasks, staying alert and adapting to changes in technology, keeping a schedule, and making room for plenty of spare time for art playdates with other talented artists, exhibition visits, and visual journaling alongside my book projects. Do you have any advice for aspiring book artists? As with all art media, practice is essential. Explore book structures before book content. Then, allow the content to drive your choice of book structure. Make friends with other book artists. Their support, their skills, and their career trajectories will teach you so much. Tell your own stories. Don't worry. The personal can become universal.
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