Yupo, rag, watercolor, acrylic, color pencil, gold leaf and taffeta
Artist Statement
Microcosm is a sculptural book formed in the shape of the earth, turning on an axis as the viewer moves through it. To flip its pages is to travel: across landscapes, through atmosphere, into the quiet interior of things. Each spread is built from layered washes of watercolor and ink that coalesce into recognizable organic landmasses, roots, and flora. Color bleeds freely across pages separated by gold leaf, that thin membrane between worlds hinting at illuminated manuscripts and the preciousness of what we inherit. The book is made from yupo and rag paper, watercolor and ink, colored pencil, gold leaf, and ending with a dyed taffeta cloud that moves through its materials chosen for their own resistance to translucency.
Microcosm asks for closeness. Its beauty lives in the small and precious. There is something in the act of holding a planet and being large enough to cradle a world and small enough to lose yourself inside a single page. The work invites the viewer to slow down and move through scale, find images in layered color while alluding that that the earth itself like a book is endlessly complex. This is a piece about attention, and about the quiet wonder of turning pages toward beauty.