Several years ago I had an obsession with the stains and marks on my studio floor. I have now found myself obsessed with soap.

About 4 years ago, my studiomate was walking by the sink outside our studio and noticed a bar of soap with a hole through the middle of it. I had been washing my brushes with it and the circular motion had created a hole through its center. My studiomate found it visually compelling, took a picture of it and sent it to me. I was immediately struck by the humor of what it was in reality, but also saw the potential in the many ways I could transform it and allow it to exist in a new context.

In 2017, my son took a trip to Peru. Knowing my obsession with the soap, he brought me a bar of Peruvian soap. The obsession has persisted. Once again, the origin is inconsequential - it is the alteration that gives the image its new life.

Laurie Alpert is a Printmaker and Book Artist from Brookline, Massachusetts. She has her BFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her MFA in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Alpert’s professional affiliations include membership at the Bromfield Gallery in Boston’s South End and Full Tilt Print Studio, a professional printmaking cooperative, in Hyde Park. She is also a member of Boston Printmakers, the Monotype Guild of New England and the New York Center for Book Arts.