"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. " -- Louis Nizer

Artist’s Statement

My art is mixed media combining assemblage, encaustic painting, the use of books as substrates and found objects as interesting embellishments.  I like to generate layers of information in my artwork, but keep it mysterious....almost dreamy. My work themes seem to come from observations, happenings, and the influence of science in my life.

I feel that it is not necessary to have people completely understand my art, merely question what is occurring and be able to grasp a feeling that each piece generates. I believe that the only thing constant is change. This belief is thematic in my art. I am passionate about engaging my visual system, hands, and memory to collaborate in my brain to take the discarded objects found around us everyday and to reinvent them into retrospective, pleasant and functional pieces of art. My art takes many forms, but keeps a theme of changes, of layers, of old, of memories, of looking back and of reutilization;  images range from subtle or mysterious to bold and brash.

Altered Books

An altered book is a form of artwork that changes a book from its original form into something else.  An altered book artist takes a book (old, new, recycled or multiple) and cuts tears, glues, burns, folds, paints, adds to, collages, rebinds, gold-leafs, creates pop-ups, drills, and bolts it.  They add pockets and niches to hold tags, secret drawers and ephemera or other three dimensional objects.  Some change the shape of the book, or use multiple books in the creation of their finished piece of art. The use of books permits the artist to work in a 3-dimensional context that other artists must create in their craft. In addition, working with this medium allows the artist the excitement of discovering interesting oddities of information in the books that he/she is manipulating.

Encaustic painting

Encaustic is from the Greek word enkaustikos meaning ‘to fuse' or 'to burn in’.
It is the oldest painting technique dating from the 4th century B. C.  Greek shipbuilders used this process to waterproof the undersides of their boats.  Pigment was later added to decorate the brightly painted war ships.

Animal or vegetable wax (I use beeswax) is melted with the resin of the Asian fir tree and color pigments added, if desired.  This molten “paint” is then applied with a brush to a wooden panel, book surface or other appropriate substrate. The wax immediately hardens and must be fused with fire, or heat, for its permanency.  Its nature is to preserve and color.