Can it be both Egotistical and Altruistic?

This is a simple concept because simple concepts are what I'm capable of. To make things is good. To spend a life making is a good use of time. To make thing with other people is a fine way to build understanding and community. To make things for people to hold and feel is a way to reach out and make connections. To have something to say and attempt to say it in a way that grabs and has the potential to causes people to shift thier perspective is a magic trick. 

I moved and it has me unsettled. I watch the news and it has me unsettled. Caring and worry are so entwined it can be difficult to function. So I tried a simple thing: share what I've made. It's about all I'm good at. I started with a series of posts on social media. What you find below is a sample of items posted elsewhere. I hope you like them. 

Hand-sewn blank book. Flat back with a folder that tucks around the spine to hold the cover sheets in place. This structure walks a line between traditional craft binding and playful meta-structural constructions that allude to expressive potential.

Spread of a photographic artist's book. Images, text, and design are mine. In this book I focused on the ways the spread images brake over the gutter, the figures crammed and askew and uncomfortable in a way that relates to the emotional tone of the text.

Democratic Multiple is a term applied to inexpensive artists' books printed in an open edition and distributed to readers in non-gallery settings (like workplace or home). Or something like that. The idea is they are portable art for the masses. It's a strata of the AB field that makes the most sense to me.

A more recent collaboration with book/collage artist Mike Koppa. Each book is about the size of a stack of postcards, for reasons related to content and source images. 

I spent a long while working in ceramics. This Raku platter is twenty-one inches across and made for wall display. The joy of these pieces is playing with the concave curve of the platter and figure placement as it relates to runny, hot glaze and figure abstraction for creative purposes. 

Jeffrey Johnson of RedHerring Jeff is a great illustrator and asked me to participate in a children's book project he orchestrated. I produced a post modern take on the Brave Little Tailor. 

Tear Here is an artists' book with loads of hand craft. It uses images of torn and sewn military uniforms, statistics, perforated pages, book structure, and original narrative to look at the high rate of amputations in the Gulf War. 

My first novel. Published by Simon and Schuster in the US in early 2017. Cover image by Joseph Lappie. Typography by MaryNeal Meador.

A throwback zine project. I typed the content on an old electric typewriter.  Photocopied to increase or decrease font size. Pasted up the layout (including faux paper clip). Scanned and laser printed the finial version on cheap copy paper with a half pamphlet stitch.