Deconstruction is reconstruction. Obsolete books bound for recycling are re-formed to harness the details I deem beautiful—the linear texture of stacked pages, inked vestiges of a previous life (in this case Los Angeles Public Library)…

[just completed]

Book Stack Sculpture A Little Bit of Blue

~books, beeswax, oil pigment, twine, varnish

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Text-tiler, running free.

(photo montage)

I awoke to this

Around 9 pm we headed out east into the desert – which is something I have to think about: the desert has been in the west for the majority of my life. Once passing through the fracas of the fringes of LA the road started to look like the way I had imagined it: a dark rivulet in a sea of sand and scruff. A full moon cinematically lit the path and turned the rocky range into lunar ridges.

And in the morning I awoke to this.

I loved this place immediately. Of course I loved the house, and the pool, and the two and half days stretched out before me like a bathing beauty on the chaise, and the mountains tall as a city that sprung up just over the hedge. But what I loved most was the heat. The heat, harsh as it may be, blunts edges. Heat lessens the transition from day to night so the day feels stronger and unbidden. Heat becomes a thread stitching hours together with its color present in every patch. Heat never stops me. It girds me.

My adoration of books never ends, just begins a new chapter. The camera and the book have met and they are getting along swimmingly, and the portraits have been in motion. Tender edges, pages like skin, titles as names. The books are not inert objects but breathing forms rife with character and history and of course, story. These three images are prints I have now made available.

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Photographs, along with books, have always captivated me not just for their visual appeal but for the layers of unfurled stories that lie within and between. Long sinuous silent stories. This image is the beginning of the new branch of work that has been whispering to me for a long time and I could no longer deny. Photographs of books are woven with family and found photos, telling a tale of memory and metaphor.

A Garden Room in China. Sounds exotic and idyllic. That is where this commissioned piece is headed. Here, book pages have been transformed into two types of relief—page loops and book bursts—and are combined into a single composition, with the addition of some gold leafing, something I haven’t done in years. That’s the kick of a custom piece: you do things you might not normally but all within your idiom. And because it is going in a garden room, I used books on plants. I am finding my work gets to go to more exciting places than me.

This little number, one of my Book Stacks sculptures called Italien from the text it embues, is the poster child for the VIP event for the Los Angeles Art Association’s annual art sale benefit called GEM. Acting as the image on the invitation and included in press, I feel like my kid is on stage. Made from cut books with hand-stitching, twine, beeswax and varnish, it hangs flush on the wall. The big event is this Saturday night and someone might be taking this baby home with them…

I had the pleasure and honor of shooting an author photo for artist, designer, friend, and now author Marisa Cummings for her upcoming book Creative Thursday. These are a few outtakes, side shots or otherwise stolen moments: proof of an entirely lovely afternoon.

Just finished: Set Free  book relief wall sculpture made from cut books, twine, wax and paint

I learned the term reveal as it applies to sculpture while reading a book on Andy Goldsworthy’s work a ways back. It refers to the little ledges and quiet planes that form by default while creating a constructive sculpture. So I have begun addressing these intimate spaces: the reveals on the sides of this piece are toned a red and contain photographic imagery pulled from the pages of the books used in the piece. Acknowledging these parts makes the sculpture a continuous form.