After working as an illustrator and science writer for many years, a long-time interest in hand papermaking processes led me to complete an MFA in Book Arts and Paper at the University of Iowa, studying with renown paper specialist Timothy Barrett. My focus was on pulp painting processes and sculpture using traditional Asian-style papermaking techniques.

My artwork is grounded in a fascination with the energy exhibited in nature: The drawings, pulp paintings and sculptures I produce are animated by the belief that nature is telling us something with its own expressive vocabulary of lines, shapes, textures and colors. Most recently, I’ve been working on a series of paintings that are a celebration of the exquisite forms left by various marine organisms from Florida’s coastal environments (working title: Shell Culture).

Using a painting medium that I make myself (i.e., with pigmented finely ground paper pulp) my imagery is brushed or sprayed onto handmade paper just after the sheet has been formed — while it is still wet. This process allows the painting to become part of the paper itself. Like the relics I collect and study, my artworks are physical artifacts of an ongoing collaboration with nature.

My work can be found in numerous private and public collections including the Smithsonian Art and Portrait Gallery, Newberry Library in Chicago, University of Iowa and University of Florida Special Collections, among others.