I was born in Denver, Colorado in the USA in 1957 to artist parents. By the time I was 4 years old our family lived in the US, Norway and Mexico. My younger sister and I were then raised mainly in California, seeing the 60's and 70's there before I emigrated to London in 1981.
I was influenced by my father, an abstract expressionistic painter, and the applied arts and crafts approach of my mother. I have multifarious interests and passions from philosophy and science, to Barbies and Pop Art. I have created art since I was a child, but my adult professional life saw me take to the trade of a specialist seamstress for fashion designers inc: English Eccentrics, Ben de Lisi, Hussein Chalayan and final year students. My own further education includes an AA Degree in Fine Art and a BA Degree in Interior Design/Architecture. I have two children aged 24 and 6, and am now making artist books and bookworks.
I am a compulsive collector of ephemera, liturature, textiles, found objects and all artists’ and crafts’ materials and mediums. I like the constructive and tactile: the 3-D experience of making and viewing artists’ bookworks. I enjoy transforming unwanted, or secondhand books into a new experience. I have begun experimenting with bookbinding, and intend to further my printing repertroire...
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My first response is to the visual and collage is the format I am most drawn towards. Photography has always been a hobby, and more recently have been using my own images for my artists bookworks (instead of pilfering them from magazines or the web!) I also like to play with words and text: present new or unusual placements or settings for them; exploring the potential for alternative or deeper understanding of language that we take for granted. Text adds a cerebral dimension to the visual art experience. My work assembles bits of our collective history with the events, thoughts and emotions in my life now. I am relatively new to this genre, and am still experimenting!List of Projects, Fairs & Exhibitions to date and future:Bookmarks 1V, University of West England, Bristol, May 06
Exhibition review for UWE Artists Book Newsletter, Sept 06
London Artist Book Fair (LAB), ICA , Nov 06
Bookmarked, Crockatt & Powell Bookshop, Nov 06
Regenerator: Altered book exhibition and swap, UWE, Bristol, April 07
ABC: altered book exhibition, Northampton University, May 07
Bristol Artist Book Event (BABE), Arnolfini, Bristol, April 07
Rich and Strange: Altered Book exhibition & lending library, Newport School of Art, University of Wales, Aug 07
‘In the Bedroom’,: Group exhibition, Ladyfest Bristol, Aug-Sept 07
London Artist Book Fair (LAB), ICA, Nov 07
Reading Around, UWE project, April 08
RE: An exhibition of experimental books, Northampton University, May 08
Bookmarks V1, University of West England, Bristol, Aug 08.The SLIDE SHOW BELOW is of an altered book I made for the REGENERATOR project at UWE, Bristol. It's called THE FOUNDATIONS OF AESTHETICS LOST, and was swapped with another artist's work.
