The pieces in this body of work are collages composed entirely of old comic book imagery, imagery from historical prints, and illustrations from various books about the American West. Most of the books are from my childhood in the 80’s and 90’s and likewise the pieces in this body of work have a definite sense of nostalgia. I am drawn into the youthful optimism the comic book imagery holds. This idea of the future we were promised. A future that never came. I relate the collage pieces to my work as a printmaker in a lot of ways. Through The layering, the texture building and the meticulous cutting and placing, the act of making feels a lot like making a print. In its own way, it is a form of print “making.” I am making a new piece of original work out of an edition, working backwards from what my printmaker self is trained and familiar with. Rather than feeling the need to create entirely new marks and information, I create the work through a lens of visual sustainability, focusing on how we can re-use, adapt, and appropriate the visual information that already exists into a new narrative. An author or poet rarely creates a new word, but can still tell an entirely original story with the words available in their language. I am looking at the collage in a similar way. Use the images that are already at my disposal to tell a new, but familiar story.

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