Found & Bound: Papermaking, Bookbinding, and Art Journaling (Fall 2025)

It is my belief that we are all born creatives in some capacity. Many of us lose our way on that journey, myself included. Through my experiences I have come to conclude that to truly enjoy an enriched life we must search for the ways that creativity will play out in our lives.

​My relationship with art has been ever evolving beginning early in life. I had been serious about my art education since childhood and went on to indulge in everything art-related through grade school. Later I was admitted to Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids, MI where I studied Art History with a studio emphasis and a minor in Sculpture. I also earned an Art Education teaching certificate from College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. 

​Although both experiences were very impactful I also remember a lot of frustration with the traditional methods of art education. When it came to finding myself in the art world I often felt in the dark. It wasn't until rather recently that I began to let go of the "rules" and immerse myself into my own practice.

​In my current body of mixed media collage paintings you will find tactile representations of the many layers I find within myself and others. My process is additive and reductive; I use numerous layers of paint, collage paper, and a variety of drawing tools to create a surface history. From there I extract certain areas by scraping or wiping away part of the layers I have created while leaving others until the piece reveals what it is supposed to be. I can't seem to wrap my head around a painting having a straightforward beginning, middle, and end so I connect to this non-linear way of working. 

I am drawn to artwork that offers the viewer a passage to a place of contemplation that cannot be expressed in words. My work attempts to do the same as I am always seeking an other-worldliness that ironically can be found in the depths of our beings.