Pages and Books > Nature and Gardens

In 2002, I moved to an area with a strong agricultural history and spent the first two years deeply involved in historical research and house/barn renovation. Previously living in NYC had brought new thoughts about energy patterns. In 2004, I began creating gardens, which led to making limited edition artist's books as a way to document my projects and observations about time, change, and transformation. My work changed from meditative stitching, to physical action and more external narrative.

In 2008, I spent a week at Zen Mountain Monastery (Mount Tremper, NY) in the photography workshop of John Daido Loori, professional photographer, founder and abbot of the monastery. It was to be his last workshop, as he died in 2009, leaving a most wonderful book, The Zen of Creativity. It became apparent that the digital camera was the tool I needed to use for capturing moments of time. He nurtured my desire for quiet sitting, meditating and observing, but with a camera I could be outside more easily recording the patterns of nature and absorbing her energy.

More recently my work combines:
sitting/ moving
outside/inside
constructing/deconstructing
photography/stitching
and narrative with more symbolic meaning.
Mostly it comes from hours spent observing gardens, a microcosm of order, chaos, and the life and death of plants.

Z is for Zinnia
Photograph
2020
The Ripple of Disappearance
Books For The Practice of Mindfulness–Photography
8.5 x 11 inches
2020
The Ripple of Disappearance
Books For The Practice of Mindfulness–Various Sizes Photography
8.5 x 11 inches
2020
The Ripple of Disappearance
Photography
8.5 x 11 inches
2020
The Ripple of Disappearance
Photography
8.5 x 11 inches
2020
Z is for Zinnia
Gouache and Pencil on Paper
2020
Z is for Zinnia
Book of Drawings–Gouache and Pencil on Paper
4.5 x 12.3 inches
2020
Zinnias
Gouache, Pencil on Paper
2021
Ribbons of Pattern: The Land (Overview)
Digital Color Photographs Printed On Pineapple Fiber Paper Handmade In The Philippines (Asa Press), Card Stock
Each book: 3.25"W x 2.5"H (closed), 2.5"H x 94"L (open)
2008
Ribbons of Pattern: The Land (Summer Tomatoes)
Digital Color Photographs Printed On Pineapple Fiber Paper Handmade In The Philippines (Asa Press)
2.5"H x 94"W
2008
Leave - Taking
Book With Japanese Binding, Digital Photography, Handmade Paper, Writing
5 3/8" H x 9 3/4" W
2010
Leave - Taking (View 2)
Book With Japanese Binding, Digital Photography, Handmade Paper, Writing
5 3/8" H x 9 3/4" W
2010
Leave Space (Book2)
Pamphlet Book, Photography, Essay, Handmade Pineapple Fiber Paper (Asa Press, PI), Samples of Stitched Cloth, Handmade Straw Paper By The Artist, 10 pages
6"W x 8"H
2010
Leave Space (View 2)
Pamphlet Book, Photography, Essay, Handmade Pineapple Fiber Paper (Asa Press, PI), Samples of Stitched Cloth, Handmade Straw Paper By The Artist, 10 pages
6"W x 8"H
2010
Leave Space (View 3)
Pamphlet Book, Photography, Essay, Handmade Pineapple Fiber Paper (Asa Press, PI), Samples of Stitched Cloth, Silk Thread, Handmade Straw Paper By The Artist, 10 pages
6"W x 8"H
2010
Leave of Absence (Book 3), Overall
Unbound Photographic Journal, Digital Photography
8" x 11" (each page), Overall 12'
2011
Leave of Absence, Detail
Unbound Photographic Journal, Digital Photography
8" x 11" (each page), Overall 12'
2011
Loose Leaf Notebook (1 of 10)
Black Cotton Cloth, Cotton Organdy, Photography, Silk Thread, Stitchery
Each 10.5"W x 14"H
2012
Lacy Leaves Series: 
Loose Leaf Notebook (Book 4)
Unbound Cloth Book
(2 of 10 Pages)
Black Cotton Cloth, Cotton Organdy, Photography, Silk Thread, Stitchery
Each 10.5"W x 14"H
2012
Loose Leaf Notebook (2 Detail)
Black Cotton Cloth, Cotton Organdy, Photography, Silk Thread, Stitchery
Each 10.5"W x 14"H
2012
Loose Leaf Notebook (4 of 10)
Black Cotton Cloth, Cotton Organdy, Photography, Silk Thread, Stitchery
Each 10.5"W x 14"H
2012
Loose Leaf Notebook (3 of 10)
Black Cotton Cloth, Cotton Organdy, Photography, Silk Thread, Stitchery
Each 10.5"W x 14"H
2012