Quiet Intention

Every once in a while, a material finds you before you know what to do with it.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled into a small handmade paper shop in Amalfi, Italy, and knew immediately I had to bring some home with me. I didn't have a plan for it yet. I just knew the texture was too beautiful to leave behind.

That paper sat with me for a while before it told me what it wanted to be. When I finally sat down to work with it, color felt unnecessary, almost like it would get in the way. So for the first time, I let go of my usual palette entirely and worked in a single, quiet tone: white on white.

The result is a small series of three pieces, each one built from that same Amalfi paper, layered and torn to create texture and depth without a single drop of color to lean on. I left the threads unsecured along the edges of each piece, on purpose, so you can really see the nuance: every layer, every fray, every small imperfection that color usually smooths over.

It's the most restrained I've ever let myself be with a body of work, and also, somehow, the most textural. Each piece is mounted and framed in a clean white shadow box, letting the paper itself be the entire story.

Still Becoming, Left Open, and Held Lightly are each 6x6, framed to 9x9 total.

This one felt like a departure, but it's also taught me something I'll carry into future work: sometimes the most interesting thing you can do is take something away.

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