One Year in Japan: Old Family Photos with Notes from the Early 1900’s

In 2009 I took a 2001calendar that I had bought and had been saving. It was printed in Italy on linen paper. The full color illustrations were of Japanese woodcuts created in the 1800’s. I also had coffee table books I had been collecting that were full of old black and white photographs from the early 1900’s. I searched through the books of photographs cutting out selected photographs and pasted them into the woodcut illustrations. I found images of buildings to include in each.In the end I saw them as snapshots people took as souvenirs, or memoirs, of their adventures. I titled each to covey this notion.Then I created a story to go with each image. I started with January, and the story grew one month at a time. I hope you enjoy my little fantasy that I have constructed with paper, paste, scissors and words.

I started writing poetry when I was thirteen years old. To practice I would type whatever came to mind, which turned out to be adolescent rhyme. Throughout high school I enjoyed writing poems, having some published in the school literary magazine. At the University of Buffalo I continued writing and took classes in poetry. I would often frequent coffee houses reading my verse during those college years. After graduating I moved to Florida. Though I worked various jobs to pay the rent I never gave up writing poetry. In 1986 I joined the Poets of the Palm Beaches. In 1989 I became President of The Poets and held that position for seventeen years. To this day I still serve on their Board of Directors. Over the past fifteen years I have organized and conducted poetry readings, workshops and classes. I have, at times, won various prizes in poetry contests. I am also a member of Artists of Palm Beach County. For the past 20 years I have been working with photography, collage and digital imaging. Many of my works have been exhibited in various public places and galleries in Palm Beach County, Florida; such as the Palm Beach International Airport, the Boynton Beach City Library, and the Armory Arts Center.