Kim Maher earned an MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she studied letterpress printing, papermaking, and bookbinding. Prior to attending Iowa, she received a BA in Book Arts from St. Ambrose University. She is a book artist, designer, and educator with a particular fondness for pop-up and movable book structures. Her work has been exhibited and collected throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Defense mechanisms-notions of escape, breaking free from restraints-are underlying themes addressed in her work. The artist book format communicates effectively by building a narrative and adding complex layers of meaning dispersed over multiple pages. The subject matter may be heavy, but by incorporating elements associated with childhood-pop-up books and fanciful illustrations, she intends to provide a level of comfort and familiarity. To enhance the interaction and manipulation, she selectively incorporates movable mechanisms to capitalize on the wonderment one first experiences with these structures. The goal is to invite an initial inquiry utilizing the whimsical playfulness of the structure and then entice the viewer into a false sense of pacification, only to reveal what may be a much darker truth. The viewer is encouraged to actively participate in the reading by pulling and pushing tabs, lifting flaps, and physically manipulating characters. The moving parts, the shadow play, and the shape shifting serve as a visual metaphor for human social interactions.