As an artist I work in handmade paper. I use many layers of paper which I press into tin metal ceiling panels that have been torn out of old Brooklyn tenement housing. I then burnish and scrape into the paper exposing underlying layers of muted colors, representing the decay of Williamsburg’s former manufacturing industry. This process gives the paper varying amounts of thickness and different surfaces. The color – and hidden beauty – exposed at different levels has a spiritual quality. Each panel becomes a precious object within itself, and a small record or imprint about Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s history.

Paper which is fragile and time sensitive is relevant to the transformation Brooklyn is experiencing now. While Brooklyn goes through its many stages of construction and redevelopment it’s important that the past is not lost but carefully preserved. Paper, like Brooklyn’s history, exposes how delicate they both are and can be easily lost and disposed of by new buildings and developments.

Because my theme is mostly about the removal of buildings and the building of the new, it occurred to me that the panels could also be used as a kind of building block in and of themselves. Using these building blocks, I am able to free the tiles from their flat, two-dimensional surface, so that they come tumbling off the plane, moving into the viewer’s own personal time and space.

The circle symbols are my most recent works. The work comes off the flat plane expressing a third dimension which I think, further compels the viewer. In these works, the center of the circle is the most important area and in each piece I am trying to lead the viewers eye into the center of the piece, ideally, challenging them to go deeper into themselves as well.