The Artist

   Lore Spivey is an award-winning American book    

   and paper artist whose sculptural artist books 

   explore the relationships between memory, 

   transformation, and the natural world. Working at 

   the intersection of sculpture, narrative, and paper 

   engineering, she creates immersive book forms 

   that invite viewers to experience reading as a 

   tactile, spatial encounter rather than a linear 

   sequence of pages.

    At the heart of Spivey's practice is an exploration of

    transformation. Delicate paper structures unfold 

   into layered narratives that examine resilience, loss,

   renewal, and the enduring tension between beauty

   and devastation. Rather than illustrating these 

   ideas directly, her books invite discovery through

   movement, revealing new relationships between 

   image, text, light, and form with each opening, 

   rotation, and unfolding.

"I create artist books that transform paper into tactile experiences of memory, movement, and discovery."

   Nature has shaped Spivey's artistic vision from an 

   early age. Childhood hours spent exploring her 

   grandmother's gardens in North Carolina fostered 

   a lifelong fascination with botanical forms, seasonal

    cycles, and the quiet rhythms of the landscape. 

   Years later, living in Japan profoundly expanded 

   that perspective. The striking contrast between the

    serenity of traditional gardens and the realities of 

   urban homelessness revealed the coexistence of 

   beauty and suffering—an experience that continues

    to inform the emotional and philosophical 

   foundation of her work.

   Originally trained in theatre and scenic design, 

   Spivey earned degrees in Theatre Education from 

   the University of North Carolina at Asheville and 

   the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

   Seventeen years teaching theatre in North Carolina

    public schools refined her understanding of spatial

    storytelling, movement, composition, and 

   audience engagement. These principles remain 

   central to the architectural language of her artist 

   books, where viewers become active participants

    rather than passive observers.

   Since founding Art With Pop in 2015 following 

   advanced study in paper engineering with Carol 

   Barton at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Spivey has 

   continually expanded the expressive possibilities 

   of the contemporary artist book. Her artist book 13 

   received Best in Show at the Focus on Book Arts 

   Conference that same year. She has continued her 

   studies with internationally recognized artists, 

   including Julie Chen of Flying Fish Press at Penland

   School of Craft. Her work has appeared in Helen 

   Hiebert's Paper Year calendar and is represented in

    private collections throughout the United States.

   Spivey is particularly recognized for developing 

   original sculptural book structures. Her Spherical 

   Books, distinguished by circular pages radiating 

   from a central stem, reimagine the traditional codex

   as a fully dimensional object experienced from 

   every direction. Building upon this innovation, she 

   developed the Hybrid Book, an original structure 

   that merges the immersive architecture of the 

   carousel book with the sculptural geometry of the 

   spherical book. Together, these evolving forms 

   reflect her ongoing investigation into how structure

    itself can become narrative.

   A family tradition of making continues to shape her

   artistic practice. Raised among quilters, knitters, 

   ceramicists, woodworkers, and basket weavers, 

   Spivey approaches paper as both material and 

   metaphor. Curved forms, layered construction, and

   engineered movement carry the imprint of 

   handmade traditions while expressing ideas of 

   growth, resilience, interconnectedness, and 

   memory.

   Balancing realism with abstraction—and 

   occasionally drawing upon the experimental spirit 

   of Dada and conceptual art—Spivey's work resists 

   passive viewing. Her books are designed not simply

    to be read, but to be explored. Each interaction 

   reveals another perspective, transforming the 

   familiar act of turning a page into an experience of 

   curiosity, contemplation, and discovery.

Today, Lore Spivey continues to develop original sculptural book forms that unite paper engineering, narrative, and sculpture, creating immersive works collected throughout the United States.

Preparing a limited edition of laser-cut, hand assembled artist books in the studio.