I make works of collage that explore issues of society, culture, and family life overlaid with themes of hope, courage, and the healing power of memory. My work is multi-layered to reflect contemporary life. I recontextualize remnant imagery from primarily the late 1800s to the 1970s to suggest that today's "provocative" is tied more closely to yesterday's "proverbial" than we might think, and that our lives run on a continuum from generation to generation. A signature of my work is the transparency that can be found in almost every piece, which encourages viewers to look through the piece rather than merely at it and, perhaps, in so doing, more fully understand the context of their own lives.You can read my collages as a progression of layers, with each layer adding deeper meaning to the narrative. Of course there are rewards for close looking--I often embed hidden clues and jokes that are only visible through sustained viewing.Much of the transparency in my work is achieved through the process of décollage, which I also use to add color, depth, texture, and the surprise of discovery to my work. In the décollage process, papers are carefully layered and then selectively abraded by hand. I work so meticulously that I can often coax the ink off old papers onto my new works to achieve painterly effects. But what looks like paint, isn’t. It’s simply residue, like a wisp of a long-ago memory. I call this technique direct-paper-to-paper gel ink transfer, and you'll see a lot of it in my work because it adds integrity and cohesion to the content I attempt to express.
I am a relative newcomer to collage, working in the medium only since Spring of 2009. I am delighted that my work has been so well received, travelling to exhibitions across the United States and abroad, and being used to illustrate various books of literature and poetry. My first solo show occurred in 2010, in the capital of New York State, where 28 of my works were grouped under the title "The Strange, the Surreal, & the Sentimental." Past career iterations include several decades in publishing and, most recently, designing and implementing College-Bound programs for at-risk high-school students in the New York City public schools under the auspices of the City University system. I live and work just outside of New York City.
