I’m a hand papermaker and interdisciplinary artist. My work is built in layers — literally. Photographs printed on silk organza, laid over large handmade pulp painted paper. What you see on the surface is never the whole story, and I’m interested in what happens when you slow down long enough to look.

I make work about the people and places that get looked past. Rural communities, abandoned structures, the beauty inside decay, the memories that are disappearing along with the people who hold them. My lived experience shows up in the work — loss, place, belonging — but the real invitation is just to pay attention. To not look away from what’s complicated or melancholic or imperfect.

I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina, a place I left thirty years ago and never stopped calling home. I raised a family in Raleigh before returning to rural life as an MFA candidate in western North Carolina — a place I didn’t expect to love as much as I do. I’ll carry it with me.

I came to this MFA as a non-traditional student. I brought thirty years of living with me, and it turns out that’s useful. I found my voice here — not for the first time, but more completely than before.