"In the botanical printmaking art form we use natural dyes, leaves/flowers/seeds/roots and mineral salts to create permanent shapes and colors on natural cloth (cotton, linen, silk, wool). 

 Our tools and materials are simple:  water, alum, iron, heat source, pots/pans, wooden dowels, and natural cloth which can range from old cotton sheets to vintage linens to thrifted wool to fine silks.  

I collect/forage/grow most of the natural material that I use in my pieces:  onion and pomegranate skins, walnut husks, goldenrod, Japanese indigo, marigolds, coreopsis and leftover bouquets.

For me, botanical printmaking honors the micro-environments and communities where I live, work and love:  my backyard in Columbus and the barrio of El Cerillo where I live in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, for starters

Essential to my art practice is sharing with others, showing how we can create meaningful and beautiful cloth with flowers, leaves, hot plates, and second hand stock pots.  Teaching at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center is and has been a joy.  People respond instinctively to this art form.  Students tell me continually that they are beginning to notice and enjoy natural environments with more intention, interest and joy. And this, of course, brings me massive joy.

And finally- but quite importantly- my art and the process of making it is about resistance: resistance to the consumption economy that is pushed at us from all sides all the time, resistance to the culture of "more is more", and resistance to seeing nature as an exploitable resource."

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