The Library sent me a dust jacket with a large hole cut in the front. It sat, untouched on
my drafting table for a full week, while I mulled over the possible reincarnations that it
could take. As I studied the jacket, I learned it was from a lesbian romance novel called
Shy Girl by Elizabeth Stark and that the picture that the vandal cut out was a flower. At
first it seemed that there was hardly anything to work with, but as I dug into it, ideas
started popping in my head. I decided to make a book, because, after all, this is a gift for
the Library. The dust jacket contained a treasure trove of words, why not recycle them?
Ironically, my next step continued the work of the vandal as I cut it up into its elemental
bits and pieces. I created a new book with materials I had on hand (the glass is from my
last show) and I carefully selected the words that I glued on every page. The new text
was not grammatical, nor did it form a cohesive narrative- but it was very evocative. The
little sentence fragments became seeds for the illustrations. I am privileged to be a part
of this work of restoration.
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