Q: Where or how did book arts become part of your art practice?

I went to Whitman and had an amazing professor, Keiko Hara. Their book arts program was just getting started. I had always loved art and writing. And here was this medium that combined the two, where the concept or the idea was the driver. My visual practice involves other things, but it’s book arts that I see as the foundation for everything else.

Keiko was a mentor and a role model. She is the one who opened the world of book arts for me. In my junior year, I was one of three students who spent the summer with her in her home studio working on a print-making project on shoji screens. It was that immersion, living with that kind of discipline that became the foundation of how I wanted to work.

Q:  Do you remember your first book?

I do. My third-grade teacher had us write poems and illustrate them. She assembled them into books using a Japanese stab binding.  

But, my first book in college was a piece that involved writing, layered colors and wax drippings. In binding it, I stitched it shut so the personal stayed private. I think I still have it. I love this about book arts, where the viewer can either work to find the full story or can view the book just as an art object. 

Q: How did you develop as an artist? And how do you work now?

After college, I fell into a job at an architectural firm, which was great in terms of understanding three-dimensional space and color scheme work. I also learned a little bit about succeeding as a small business (applied this to survival as a working artist). I did that for about five years and realized I couldn’t maintain an art practice and a full-time job. The job gave me the skills where I could put together gigs to help pay the bills and still have the large blocks of time dedicated to my art practice.  

Now I have more time and my studio. It’s an attic space with skylights, but it’s tiny, so I always spill out to the rest of the house. At the beginning of a project, there’s usually the deep dive, but after that, I can work on components.

Q: I’m so impressed with your permanent installation, “Vital Flow” at Grays Harbor College. How did something like that come about?

I’ve had solo exhibitions and have submitted work for juried exhibitions, so I’ve become familiar with the application processes. In this case, there was a call for a piece that would speak to the identity of Grays Harbor and Pacific County. I did a lot of research, both historical and geological. “Vital Flow” feels like a culmination of things that I’ve learned or felt, or experienced. It felt like I’m bringing everything of myself, of what I’ve learned over the years, to this. It also left me feeling a little adrift afterwards, kind of okay, now what?