stimuli
SNAP Gallery
Edmonton, Alberta
January 2005

dandelion green tea jasmine muskeg dandelion heads crabgrass wheatgrass mink iris leaf seaweed garlic carrot twig cucumber skin celery crimson grapes lilac leaf hops purple flowers peanut shells alfalfa sprouts kiwi skin parsley lilac

One Mouthful

I hold a lot of tension in my jaw. I grind my teeth in my sleep. Thinking and chewing, for me, are closely related activities. The condition of my jaw often resembles my emotional state.

Over the past four years, I have been chewing on a lot of things. Making concrete my daily musings, my ruminations, to-and-froms. As I work, think, walk, drive, I chew on whatever I happen to pick up; mostly organic, often undigestible. Then I spit it out and make it into paper.

What can I fit in my mouth? You might be surprised at how little paper you can make out of as much organic material as you can fit in your mouth at one time. Not enough to record, in words, the day’s activities.

What will I put in my mouth? You might be surprised to find out what doesn’t kill you; or make you sick. Maybe it really does make you stronger.

Displayed on individual shelves, each mouthprint is a chronicle of a thought; a fantasy, a worry, a calculation. As a whole, the exhibit will quietly unravel a story of the inner workings of the artist’s mind; or, at least, her mouth.

I became interested in papermaking while attending the University of Alberta’s Fine Art program in printmaking. Since that time, I have been interested in challenging the notion of the medium of printmaking in all its varieties, as well as experimenting with printmaking’s relative forms such as papermaking.