S: I look at your collage and wonder which came first, the idea of the chicken or the picture of the chicken? How do these pieces happen?

L: Sometimes I'll see an image and I'll see what can happen with it. Most of the time I scan the images at my disposal and pick something that strikes me. Then I'll add to it, and I'll have a stack of things that I think might work. And then, I just get to work on it. Something usually arises out of that work that I haven't planned. I bring things together from different contexts until an image emerges that, in reality, couldn't be. I can't think of a time when I haven't been surprised at what happens, at the layered images that unfold. It feels as though it's not really coming from me, but coming through me.

S: Your work has, I hate to say it but, well, a religious overtone. Sometimes subtle, sometimes overt, sometimes earthy Native American, sometimes Judeo-Christian.

L: I've noticed that (laughs).

S: It's not cultivated?

L: I don't do it consciously. My awareness is naturally drawn to archetypal images. I think my unconscious is compelled to portray these images and let them play in these unusual visual contexts.

S: Another interesting thing is the media you work on. The work is more than the image, it's also the environment. How did that evolve?

L: I was working on general metalsmithing techniques and, kind of coincidentally, I received a newsletter from the people who make the transfer material I have used to put these images on fabric. They were talking about using it with metal, so I just incorporated what I was doing in metalsmithing and made wall hangings -- collage on aluminum framed by copper. Whatever medium I choose, I keep coming back to collage. Collage on metal, on fabric, glass, mirror.

S: What about digital collage?

L: The tactile aspect of the work is really important to me. Somehow, cutting up these little things and putting them together is far different than sitting in front of a screen. Digital is fascinating to me, but given the choice...

S: Wait 'til everyone has a data glove and 3-D art program, when the digital environment is as real as grabbing, cutting and pasting, but also expands beyond what's physically possible.

L: (orgasmically) Yeah!

S: Cross your fingers that the technology evolves... and that Bill Gates has nothing to do with it.

L: I have faith it will happen. When I wanted to put my work on fabric I didn't know how and the technology didn't exist. And then a way to do it fell in my lap. A similar thing happened with metal. So I have faith in the digital world.

S: Given that exposure on the Net can make your virtual doorbell ring a thousand times an hour, what would you like?

L: I would like that momentum to feed me, to nourish me, to stimulate more creativity but also to open up new doors so that I can do more work.

S: So this isn't about selling out of your current inventory.

L: Not at all. I'd like people to say, "Oh, wouldn't it be neat if I had that work for something else. Like a commissioned piece for a book cover or CD cover or a large portrait." I just want a stimulus to do more.