I make books as works of art or Book as Art. I build books from the spine up and whether the pages are empty, waiting for content, or filled with collections of items, they are ready for interaction and activation of the reader’s imagination. My books are hungry for give-and-take, to share stories, to inspire, and entertain, in a very personal and tangible way.
 

It begins with paper; handmade, textural, colorful, heavy, lightweight, hand printed, beautiful paper. Then I decide the book’s form. You might wonder why not book form and then paper. Paper inspires me. If I didn’t love paper so much, I don’t know that I would have chosen the book form as my medium. My desire to turn beautiful paper into meaningful objects is how my creative process begins.
 

Paper in hand, I consider the book form by asking, do I want an empty journal that inspires reflection or collection of things to fill it. Do I have photographs, postcards, maps, or a story I want to be embraced by the book? With paper and book structure in mind, if it’s a complex structure that I have not previously made, I sketch out my concept and start to build a prototype.
 

The design phase is another reason why book as art speaks to me. For most of my career, my day job has been focused on technology; building websites, managing CRMs, turning logical code into well designed, attractive containers that communicate with people. Building a website or database is a logical, structured process but the result is a thing of beauty, a work of art, if you will. The book is similar. It is a structure and its parts have be constructed with though and skill so they work together seamlessly to become a book that can be opened, interacted with, and held together over time as it is examined and loved. Bookmaking, like my professional career, marries two equally dominant sides of my temperament, the logical, technical, and structured, with the free spirited, tactile, creative, and visual side.
 

Upon its completion, the book form is my artistic medium of choice because it’s an object that requires interaction. A book must be held, cuddled, and caressed as you turn pages and open envelopes or enclosures within the book to examine inner hidden contents. It’s a conversation unfolding, a dance, a happening between the reader of the book and the art form itself. No other medium engages with me as deeply as a handmade book. The dialogue excites me. I can shape my story into a book and give it to someone to experience me through that dialogue. I can make a journal that contains its own collection of empty pages of carefully selected and unique papers, sewn in envelopes and hidden pockets; surprise pages of maps, music notes or bold colors that stimulate their new owner to tuck their deepest thoughts, careful sketches, or treasured found objects into the care and keep of its pages.
 

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