I came to book arts as a photographer and writer, using the handmade or digitally printed book form to allow the viewer to hold and examine my photos and text. Books — physical books — have always been an essential part of my life.
In my handmade books, the structure or function of the traditional book serves as inspiration for expressing my ideas. As a writer, I incorporate text. I enjoy choosing materials and the tactile experience of cutting, pasting, and sewing. Some of my books have a traditional format in which a story is told by turning pages. Others are more sculptural, using images, letterpress, handwriting, cutouts, and antique and painted paper.
My books present two ideas for viewers to consider. First, each book is a made object that nods to what a book does: inviting the reader in. The second idea is narrative, sometimes straightforward and sometimes up to the viewer to discern. My books combine structure and narrative to produce a work of art.
Portraits – single-sided accordion book, 7” high x 5” wide x 30” extended, book cloth cover, edition of 2. Juried into the 100 Miles show at Penn Tech College gallery, 2023.
One January day, I found my Holga plastic camera and film on a shelf. I loaded the camera and drove around my home in the Pennsylvania mountains looking for single trees to photograph. I rediscovered the joys of pressing the shutter, not knowing what would show up on the negative, and being back in my darkroom developing film. I had been reading Mary Oliver’s Upstream and included her line “One tree is like another tree, but not too much… more or less like people – general outline, then stunning individual strokes.”
Winter Woodswalk – case bound, 7” high x 5 1/2” wide, 1” deep, book cloth cover, letterpress printed title, 30 pages, black and white photographs, short essay, folded map, accordion book insert of tree portraits, digital printing for photos and text, edition of 2. One copy is in the special collections at Baylor University Library
I continued photographing with the Holga, this time on walks through the woods surrounding my house. I was thinking of my youngest sister, who had died recently, and how much she loved these woods. The woods were dark, but the camera captured the light.
Navy Corners – letterpress text on pillowcases, 11” high x 16” wide, 1.5” deep, quilted sham cover, Japanese stab-bound. Juried into the Ritual Exhibit at 23 Sandy Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2025
I learned to iron on pillowcases. My mother insisted that pillowcases must be ironed to “make the bed look fresh,” as she would say when I complained about the chore. When we visited her as adults, the beds in the guest room always had ironed pillowcases with crisp lines where they had been folded after ironing. I have continued the tradition. Moving the iron back and forth, I think of my husband’s smile when he sees the newly made bed, my family who will sleep on these when they visit, and, of course, my mother, a WWII Navy WAVE, who died seven years ago at age 94. It is an unnecessary chore in the age of permanent press fabric, but it allows my mind to wander while my hands accomplish something. I was about to throw out some old pillowcases, then decided to use them to make a book honoring her ritual. Using phrases from some of my writing about her, I set type and ran the pillowcases through a letterpress.
The Secret Garden – two-sided accordion book, 7.5” high, 5.5” wide, 25” extended, cover has a copy of the original cover image, cyanotype characters on book pages, original illustrations from the book. Exhibited at the Midcoast Maine Book Artists show at the Camden, ME, library, 2025.
The Secret Garden was one of my favorite childhood stories. When I found this 1912 edition in a used bookstore, the yellowing pages and the beautiful illustrations begged to be used in a new book. I made stencils for cyanotype prints of the main characters on the original pages. Those prints were too brittle to use for the book, so I scanned them. The back side contains research about Mary’s journey, the author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and my photographs of flowers. I hope to evoke pleasant memories from all who read this book once upon a time.
My Meadow in August – two-sided accordion book, 7” high x 5.5” wide, 25” extended, cyanotype images on one side, color photos on the other side, book cloth covers. Exhibited at the Midcoast Maine Book Artist’s show, Blue Hill, ME, library, 2025.
The wild meadow in my backyard is a constant surprise from March to November. Inspired by Anna Atkins (1799-1871), who produced the first book of photographs- Photographs of British Algae – Cyanotype Impressions, I photographed what was blooming on an August day, picked the flowers, and made cyanotype prints. The flowers are labeled. The viewer can decide which side is more poetic.
Erratics – double-sided accordion book with two inserts, 6” high x 6” wide, 12” extended, black and white infrared photos of erratic rocks and text, edition of 1. Exhibited in the New England Book Artists Member Show at The Brush Art Gallery, 2026.
While cleaning out a drawer, I found an old Fujifilm camera that had been converted to infrared. I had been reading about the glaciers in Maine and went in search of erratic rocks- those carried by the glaciers and left in unexpected places. Once you start to look for them in coastal Maine, they are everywhere.
Maine Boats – one-sided accordion book, 8” high x 6” wide, 20” extended, drawings on dry point pages, letterpress, book cloth cover, edition of 2. Exhibited at the Midcoast Maine Book Artists show at Blue Hill Library, 2025, and the Camden, Maine library accordion book show, 2026.
This was my first experiment with dry point. I traced photos of my favorite Maine boats and added details of the Rockport Harbor scenery on pieces of acrylic. I then etched the plates, inked them and printed them on a Charles Brand press at the Maine Media Book Arts Studio.
Alphabet Soup – one-sided accordion book, 7” high x 5” wide, 25” extended, letterpress printing on water-based ink color fields, book cloth covers. Juried into the State Museum of Pennsylvania Art of the State exhibit, 2024
This was joyful play with color and the letterpress. Large pieces of type were set, and the paper was run through the press using different colors of ink.
Under the Sea – Lotus Fold, stamping with softcut carved pads, 5” high x 4” wide, 10” fully extended, book cloth cover. Exhibited at the Midcoast Maine Book Artists Exhibition, Jaffrey Civic Center, NH, 2026
This was an exercise in paper folding. When I’m sailing on Penobscot Bay, I often wonder what is under the boat. I am not a deep-sea diver, so I have to imagine fish of all sizes, old pilings and piers, seals, shellfish, and rocks. I can’t photograph them, so I attempted to draw what I might see if I were under the sea.
Checkmate – double-sided accordion book, 5 ¼” high by 5 ¼ wide”, photographs of an outdoor chess set, back side is a mock chess game, bookcloth cover. Edition of 2. Juried into the Wayne Art Gallery, Wayne, PA, Spring Show, 2025.
There is an outdoor chessboard and large playing pieces in a park overlooking the Rockport, Maine, harbor. I photographed it with the Holga over several days, observing how the pieces had been moved by the players. I found a copy of An Invitation to Chess: A Picture Guide to the Royal Game in the library and copied some of the moves in a game for the back side of the book. My grandfather taught me to play chess when I was young, but I did not pursue it. I thought of him while making this book.
Curley Visits Rockport, one-sided accordion book, 5” high, 6” wide, 40” fully extended, black and white pinhole photographs, book cloth covers. Exhibited at the Camden Library Accordion Book show, 2025, and Midcoast Maine Book Artists Exhibition, Jaffrey Civic Center, NH, 2026.
Curley was sitting on a shelf at the Goodwill Store in Rockland, Maine. I was seeking a prop for a photography project. He jumped into my arms and volunteered to sit still for long exposure pinhole photographs as long as I took him to interesting places. So the adventure began in nearby Rockport, where I shared all my favorite places and activities like hiking, biking, boating, swimming, gardening and – best of all – making chocolate chip cookies.
