About the Artist

Anna Kleven

I use an exacto knife to carve up black paper. I work impulsively, embracing and incorporating mistakes. I love the messy momentum of the process and the lacy intricacy of the final product. I have a tiny vacuum that I use to clean up scraps, but they still get everywhere. When I paper cut I train my attention on the places and activities that make me feel connected and alive, many of them outdoors, and am reminded of what’s important to me. Following a Covid infection in 2022 I developed Functional Neurological Disorder, involving seizure-like dissociative episodes and involuntary movements. Since then, paper cutting has been one of the best ways I have to prevent and cut short my episodes, because it absorbs my attention so completely and returns me to the present. Outside of paper cutting, I am a massage therapist and I run an adaptive beekeeping program at a day program for adults with disabilities.