Artist Statement



If you are lucky, sometime in a long life as an artist/maker you will fall in love with some idea, technique, narrative, color palette, sculptural form or other aspect of art at least once. For me, the most recent ‘falling’ happened with felted paper (aka joomchi) about six years ago. I was drawn instantly to this technique of fusing long fiber paper (usually Korean or Japanese) without glue. Given an earlier deep exposure to Japanese culture it was natural that I would dive headlong into this world of exquisitely textured paper since it provides daily opportunities to enjoy the brilliant colors, patterns, and surfaces.


Thematically, I’ve been working with the idea of loss for some years. I’ve made work that notes the increasing homogeneity of culture worldwide including the disappearance of both written and spoken languages and their alphabets/texts. I’ve also exhibited work with environmental loss-of-species themes. For most of this work I use handmade and specialty fiber paper usually kozo/hanji made from the mulberry shrub broussonetia papyrifera. The centuries-old tradition of making papers from mulberry and other special plant fibers is also being lost and so to use it is to share its ephemeral beauty while it lasts.


Since Covid-19 my art has tended to be drawn, printed or painted. There is something comforting about using my hands to create a small colorful world right in front of me. Im working with the letter X a lot as a design motif. The X stands for all of those whose voices are going unheard, whose contributions and talents and cultures have gone unappreciated. I mourn the silenced voices in print, in film, in art, in all walks of life.