Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Bookcase Collages

Mixed media on board, collage of painted paper cut and reassembled to resemble a bookcase, 16”x16”

My bookcase collages are going to get bigger and bigger — the latest one is 16”x16”. Hours were spent painting paper, cutting paper and finally assembling the “bookcase.”

As I was gluing, I kept thinking about how my entire life has always had walls of books in the background. When I was 5 years old, we moved into a Victorian house with a large living room with built-in bookcases. They were 16 feet wide and all the way to the top of the 10-foot ceilings. At that point my parents did not own that many books, yet. My father even bought “filler” books like old encyclopedias at the Goodwill.  When we moved to a New England house with less space and lower ceilings, the filler books got left behind, but the TV room still had a full wall of books. My San Francisco apartment is filled with more than 1,000 books. I even worked in an office for many years where every time I looked up from my desk there was a wall of books.


I imagine looking at all these books for all these years might be part of the reason for my latest art obsession.  

I am not done yet…




Friday, February 21, 2025

New Art about Books

8”x8” mixed media collage of painted paper to resemble a bookcase.

8”x8” mixed media collage of painted paper to resemble a bookcase.

8”x8” mixed media collage of painted paper to resemble a bookcase.

I have been exploring variations of book-themed art for many years, including my own Chaekgeori series.  My newest mixed media series is bookcase collages. I am mostly making my own collage material that begins with painting paper. I then mix in a bit of other paper sources before cutting it all up to resemble the spines of books.  Many different colors and sizes.  One by one they are added to the “shelves.” I started out with small work and now have finished a set of three that are 8”x8” each. I am planning on bigger pieces but with the same size books — I am open to commissions if you are interested in having your own bookcase collage.

Work in Progress on an 8”x8” mixed media collage of painted paper to resemble a bookcase.


Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Year of the Snake 🐍

 
To celebrate the Year of the Snake my latest series of mail art used hand-carved, rubber stamps.  Of course, it’s the endangered and beautiful San Francisco Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia).  Let’s hope the snake can bring us peace and harmony and rid us of all those unwanted pests. Happy New Year!  


Saturday, January 4, 2025

Caffeinated Mail Art

 

Can you make art without coffee?   I did not want to take any chances so my first set of mail art for 2025 is Caffeinated Mail Art!