Family stories or things that are going on in my life. For example, when I was a little girl, my father told me that eating tomatoes would make me “big, strong and hairy chested.”  Therefore, much of my work has tomatoes and hair in it.

I once worked as a farmhand in Greece. My specialty was killing chickens.

I can’t decide on one thing. Winning the MN Book Artist Award? Artist residencies in Austria and Italy? Books purchased by Havard University, the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art and the National Museum of Women in the Arts?

Through graduate school, I became frustrated working two-dimensionally. So, I shifted to working sculpturally in handmade paper. This eventually brought me to bookmaking. Now I combine three-dimensionality with the book arts to make sculptural books.When I studied art, both of my degrees focused on drawing and painting. But halfway

I love working in handmade paper because it’s so malleable and ecologically sound. One can personalize the page by controlling the contents (anything that can be pressed flat!), the color and the shape. For example, I’ve been known to create books about loved-ones who recently passed. I’ve incorporated their clothing, oncology reports and ashes to pay them tribute. I believe that such conscious decisions to make unique paper stock brings an ephemeral power to the page.

Paying the bills without a day-job.

My favorite book was A Blessing and a Curse: The History of Menses. It’s a tiny, red book that unfolds like a blooming flower. Upon closer inspection, one will find that the pages are shaped like mini-pads. The content of the book addresses the fascinating history of menstruation across time and across the globe. For me, it epitomizes the goal of artists’ books, which is a perfect marriage between form and content. Also, the book was so popular, that the limited edition of 20 sold out.

I was born in Iowa City and I grew up in south Minneapolis.

My mother (Nancy Stevens MacKenzie), who was a fiber artist and my professor (Diane Katsiaficas), a sculptor. Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe also hold a special place in my heart.

You’re going to have to work to pay the bills, so study something that will allow you to become a professional. There are several jobs in arts-related fields, like becoming an arts educator, an art therapist, or a curator. That way you can support your art while finding beauty and inspiration in your day-to-day routine.