In Johanna Drucker's The Century of Artists' Books, there is a discussion of diaristic and personal works of artists who use the book as a register for various aspects of their lives: their dreams, their belongings, their travels, the large events. Their intent is not sentimental, nor does it serve a novelistic function of providing perspective. The artistic formats they develop immerse them deeply in their material. Referencing their own experiences, they achieve validity. By defining a life, they are drawn to its core. This is the endeavor with which I identify. Since 1982, I have kept visual dream diaries and other dreamworks that explore individual dreams. Another series has emerged in response to the deaths of people close to me; it often includes found objects. I also work with meditative structures, sometimes without text, that invoke the metaphoric or symbolic qualities of traditional book forms.

Genie Shenk has taught book arts for the past fifteen years at San Diego Mesa College and the Athenaeum in La Jolla. She is a founding member of San Diego Book Arts. A long time California resident, her interests in paper, collage, and text coalesced into a focus on book structure after she received an MFA from UCLA in 1990. Her work has been publicized frequently and shown widely in the United States and beyond. Her books are included in numerous collections, including those of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Athenaeum, Getty Research Center, the University of Washington, Tate Gallery, and special collections at UCSD.