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Language—both spoken and written—has, is, and always will be susceptible to spin, manipulation, obfuscation, and misinterpretation. This paper explores how communication's inherent vulnerability has long formed the core of my conceptual inquiry. As a visual artist, I am a tireless experimenter—with both ideas and materials. The foundation of my interdisciplinary practice is my artist's books, which have been referred to as "patchwork quilts of the subconscious." Projects related to my book practice include performance videos along with text-based drawings, paintings, and sculpture that may be characterized as both personal and social critiques. As the inherent nature of humans remains impulsive and fallible, these works may illuminate our unconscious reluctance to convert rational awareness into a more positive and sustainable life practice. My final thesis project will demonstrate emboldened approaches to these facets of my practice. I will present up to thirty new artist's book entries, a dozen new hand-sculpted UNBOUND book prints (up to 7 x 10 feet), five new text-based works on paper and canvas, and one new wall sculpture fabricated in mirrored stainless steel.

This thesis examines personal experiences and questions of loss, memory, and imagination. Through the experimentation with print processes, installation, collage, and poetry I understand how memory is transformed through the labor of making. Using the memory of my mother, Kathy Carlisle, as a point of departure, I seek to reveal the mental and spiritual spaces I inhabit when reflecting on the past. Selecting and collaging her images with my own becomes a collaboration that attempts to make sense of loss, my life's work, and the responsibility I feel I have to contextualize her legacy with my own. These pieces affirm the moments I remember, to make real what time has since made malleable and to take refuge in the space between pining and healing that absence stirs. I honor the rhythm in reviving the past, arguing for the necessity of giving ourselves the time and space to reflect, remember, imagine, and possibly escape from the present.