Objects of My Desire is an artist book about astonishment – what catches and holds my desire for a really intimate look, for amazement, and for my response through art and words that will hold true over time.

I began working on this idea in the spring of 2019 when I came upon this quote from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel:

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement…get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal…. To be spiritual is to be amazed. 

In a time of turmoil – illness, political weariness and fear, my own aging – this, then, was another way to approach the daily work.

Then I went walking.

I collected fascinating things. I researched the objects that astonished me. I started to make prints. I wrote poetry. I read poetry.

Then I went walking again, this time with a notebook and my phone for photos and instant research on the internet.  I collected more things and pulled them apart or cut them open.

I’ve become phenomenal and metaphysical!  In other words, I’ve experienced the nature of things through an intensely close look and found that desire exists within my body and mind.

Now, having accumulated a mass of material, I am taking my journey to Maine Media to print and assemble the book.  With the mentorship of Richard Reitz Smith , and the use of the equipment at the Maine Media Book Arts studio, I will finally have a deep understand of the letterpress process, its possibilities, and many hours of printing time on the press.  The second is the ability to design, print, and produce a limited edition artist book from start to finish!

I am finally at the point of printing the first layers of ink on my book’s pages. I’ll let you know how it’s going … meanwhile, I am taking nothing for granted.