The Venus of Hohle Fels and the cave paintings at Chauvet, both dating from about 30,000 BCE, tell us that the impulse to make art predates agriculture, the root of the impulse to make money, by thousands of years.
Art before cash is not an American idea. People who dance, make music, tell stories or create powerful objects face a culture where a few of them can live by their labors and the rest have day jobs. Commercialism triumphs. "If you have a dollar, paste it on your body." (Luiseño artist Wa Wa Calachaw)
But art came first. To hold it in this primary position through our lives and work is a revolutionary act. It connects us to our deepest humanity, each other, and the ancestors in ways that transcend common reality.
The aesthetic gives us something to talk about and the product is something to sell. Useful enough in this world, but the value of art is in the living experience of making it. "Art brings life to life." (John Sloan, American painter)
2015: Man, Monsters & Machines, The Art Center, Ramona CA
xxxxxxOpen Studios Tour, Ramona CA
xxxxxxCodex Book Fair with San Diego Book Arts, Richmond CA
2014: The Gift and the Box it Came In, The Art Center, Ramona CA
xxxxxxIn and Out of Sculptural Books, The Ink Shop, Ithaca NY
xxxxxxChance, Helen Wilson Studio, Ramona CA
xxxxxxBook Power Redux, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland OR
xxxxxx Book Power Redux University of Puget Sound, Tacoma WA
2013: San Diego Book Arts: Metamorphosis, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad CA
xxxxxxEcoEditions, 23 Sandy Gallery, Portland OR
xxxxxx500 Handmade Books, Vol. 2, Lark Books publication
xxxxxxRespond, Helen Wilson Studio, Ramona CA
xxxxxxSan Diego Book Arts Members' Exhibition, Cerritos Library, Cerritos CA
2012: Juried Biennial, Cannon Gallery, Carlsbad CA
xxxxxx1000 Artists' Books, Quarry Books publication
xxxxxxTrash, Ramona Town Hall, Ramona CA
xxxxxxExquisite Corpse 4, Ramona Town Hall, Ramona CA
2011: The Art of the Book, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad CA
xxxxxx Exquisite Corpse 3, Ramona Town Hall, Ramona CA
xxxxxx Ramona Art Guild Juried Show, Poway Performing Arts Center, Poway CA
2010: Bay Area Book Artists, Olive Hyde Gallery, Hayward CA
2010: San Diego Book Arts Third National Juried Show, UCSD Geisel Library, San Diego CA
2009: Books as Art as Community, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto CA
xxxxx Polyglot: Expressive Media in Book Arts, Gualala Art Center, Gualala CA
xxxxx Bibliophoria, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol CA
xxxxx Out of a Box, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol CA
2008: Pacific States Biennial National Exhibition, University of Hawaii, Hilo HI
xxxxx Works re: group, Works/San Jose, San Jose CA
xxxxx San Diego Book Arts Second National Juried Show, UCSD Geisel Library, San Diego CA
xxxxx Sewn Pages − Woven Thoughts, Commuknity, San Jose CA
xxxxx Book Works 2008, San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco CA
xxxxx 40th Annual Textile Exhibit, Olive Hyde Gallery, Hayward CA
2007: Conceptually Bound 3, Community School of Music and Art, Mountain View CA
xxxxx Conceptually Bound 3x California State University, Chico CA
xxxxx Cutting Edge Books, CSU East Bay, Hayward CA
2006: The Art of Book Arts, 1212 Gallery, Burlingame CA
xxx:xx Bound to Inspire, Olive Hyde Gallery, Hayward CA
2005: Stories, Stars & Structures, Foothill College, Los Altos Hills CA
Member:
xxx San Diego Book Arts
xxx Bay Area Book Artists
xxx Ramona Art Guild
Studied at:
xxx Studio in the Sky, Taos NM
xxx Idyllwild Summer Arts, Idyllwild CA
xxx Focus on Book Arts, Pacific Grove OR
xxx The Athenaeum, La Jolla CA
xxx San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA
xxx Foothill College, Los Altos Hills CA
xxx Palomar College, San Marcos CA
