Hope Kroll’s current body of work can best be described as cut paper collage.

As an avid bibliophile, Hope has largely used as her source material second-hand hardcover books ranging mostly from the early 1900’s through the 1950’s.

What she looks for in these books are both the blank pages, which are often used as her canvases as well as the images contained therein. The subjects and themes of these images vary widely from antiquated scientific instruments and obsolete machinery to physical deformities and outdated medical and surgical procedures.

Entomological and botanical imagery also plays an important role as do birds, which as a re-occurring theme in her work, play the part of spiritual messengers.




These found images are then dissected from the pages with an almost surgical precision using cuticle scissors and X-acto knives.

This early stage of her work is simply devoted to gleaning images from books, cutting them out and organizing them for later retrieval.

These images then become the lexicon from which she begins to create her collages.

Because the three-dimensional quality of this work can easily be overlooked when viewing her work face-on, many of these images also include additional angled shots.

These works are all quite small and intimate, rarely measuring larger than 8” x 10”.




As there are often numerous minute details hidden within these pieces, many of the additional views also offer extreme close up shots.  Occasionally, some small amount of drawing or lettering may also be included as well as the occasional book cover and even old photographs.



All Rights Reserved © 2006. Hope Kroll.