I am an avid reader and am intrigued by the power of books to transport, thrill, enlighten, and move us. Discarded books are both sad and beautiful to me. They beckon me to give them new life as art in another medium, and my work invites the viewer to delve deeper and look closer to discover beauty in new truths. My process is to investigate how the literal deconstruction of a book is a metaphor for discovering my own emotional and psychological path as I tear it apart, remove the binding, cover and fly pages, relishing the tactility of the paper, shaping it, studying it, and striving to shape it into art that restores its power by expressing a bold new message.