I am interested in participating and contributing to a vital contemporary conversation about form, physicality, and multi-media works of art. Artist books have a longstanding tradition in the visual and literary art world. My charge was to make poems and prints that complement each other and function together to express my vision of beauty. My challenge in this endeavor was how to merge two artistic realms– poetry and printmaking– and produce a third aesthetic experience that is greater than the sum of its parts.

The overarching theme in this series of prints and poems is that of afterimage, or image burn, a concept which plays out in numerous ways in my work. The first meaning is the effect of an image that remains in one’s vision after looking at a bright light, the sun, or a vivid color. This reflected image is usually distorted, faded, and the opposite color of the original object or light source. I think of my prints and poems as reflections of each other. The second meaning of afterimage in my work is the distortion of a memory, such as the psychological impression of a loved one’s face or gesture, and how that image fades and changes over time. The third meaning is the way that objects and figures change when depicted in dreams. One of my poems, “Disappearing Objects,” deals with all three interpretations of afterimage: an attempted lucid dream, the loss of the memory of a lover’s face and movement, and the glowing image of light that remains when I close my eyes.