I use my handmade paper as a starting point, combining it with materials that connect me to the more traditional ways that women of past generations have expressed their creativity and individuality. My most vivid memories of childhood are of wrapping myself in the brightly colored “crazy quilts” of used fabric scraps that my grandmother made for the family.
The details that I incorporate into my work give me the time to pursue the essence of the piece—the emotion, thought or experience that precipitates the process. The slowness allows me to have a conversation, posing a question or remark and waiting for a response. I am after the unconscious parts of self that need to be brought to light—to be uncovered and understood. I make the unconscious parts real.