ART

Carved cardboard is my media of choice, with an Xacto blade I remove 

layers from cardboard to reveal the textures beneath.  All cardboard is 

different and especially since it’s recycled, it had a previous life and it 

shows.  (However, since I get this question all the time: conservators tell 

me the longevity is not a problem, it will last at least as long as 

photographs.) I like it as a metaphor for people and their problems, which 

also have histories.  These histories impact the final outcome for positive or 

negative.   Visually, the marks on the cardboard make it more exciting and 

adds to the challenge of making my vision work with that particular piece of 

cardboard.  All of which keeps me actively engaged with the work and 

searching for ways to make a more powerful statement.  Even though this 

method can be frustrating and tedious, the precise, nitpicky nature causes 

me to think more deeply, creatively and further into the edge that the 

artwork represents for me.  At times, the accumulation of all these details 

produces an exhilaration of creation and insight.  For the viewer, the 

busyness and detail does the same: drawing them more into the work as 

well as whatever dilemma the work represents for them.