- What is your artistic background?
Encouraged by my mother, I’ve been interested in art my entire life and earned a BFA and MFA in studio art. Over the past two decades or so I’ve been learning watercolor painting. I’m also using acrylic paints.
- Are you active in other formal or informal Austin arts organizations?
I am a member of The Waterloo Watercolor Group, The Hive at The Galleria, and a neighborhood art group in addition to ABAC.
- What do you enjoy about the book arts?
Again, my mother loved books, children’s illustrations, and reading. She took my siblings and me to the library often, and I still remember the curious library smells, tall shelves filled with far more books than anyone could ever read, and lovely library garden in Palo Alto, CA where I grew up. My mother also wrote a few children’s stories that were published in the Jack and Jill Magazine when I was a child. Eventually she returned to school and became a children’s librarian. These experiences and memories eventually led to my interest in making books, and I began teaching myself. As an art teacher I also had my students make books. I joined the Austin Book Workers after moving here in 2003 and began to explore ideas and techniques for artist’s books and unusual bindings.
- Why do you volunteer at ABAC?
I want to learn more about book making, and I just like to hang out with the many talented book artists that come to ABAC. Little by little I’m learning techniques and interesting book-facts. The more I learn, the more I grow increasingly in awe of the people I meet at ABAC who are filled with knowledge that they willingly and patiently share.
