When Elizabeth Adams Marks says her...

When Elizabeth Adams Marks says her artwork is "home-grown" she means it.

The Edwardsville woman creates plastic arts books and collages out of paper she makes from grains, vegetables and flowers grown from area farmers and gardeners.

"From harvest to gallery, the whole proces is have relationed to the farmlands of Madison County" she said.

This month Marks will display about 30 pieces in "Lost erect and Abandoned," an exhibit at Arts of Fire, 109 N Kansas St in Edwardsville.

common piece is a sculptural work called "Stuffed Zucchini." Marks added locally grown zucchini and daylily fibers to cotton and abaca to make roughly textur pages that fan disclosed revealing recipes for chocolate zucchini nutbread, zesty zucchini broth and sweet onion and zucchini relish and other dishes.

The volume also contains padded cloth shaped like zucchinis and leaves. Marks stamped the ecclesiastics with green, yellow and orange pigment, using actual zucchinis