People are often curious about how I construct my collages, so I thought I’d share a few photos of the materials I use. Several of these pictures were included in my PowerPoint for the “Stories in Paper” artist talk.
For all my “work in progress” I use scissors, magazine pages, and Elmer’s acid-free glue sticks. Some people ask if I ever use X-Acto knives and I don’t – I’ve found that good old scissors work fine for me. I think X-Acto knives would be something I’d use if I wanted to be very precise with the shapes I cut out. Since my goal is to make each collage reminiscent of a painting, there isn’t a need to be so precise with the shapes of my magazine cut-outs. It works better if my shapes are eye-balled and looser.
I use acid-free glue sticks as I work because of how flexible they are. The glue isn’t permanent, thus I can easily lift up collage pieces and move them around. I can peel back magazine strips in certain areas to let previous layers shine through. Once I’m finished with a piece, I go back in and varnish the entire work to seal it all together and to help protect the paper.
Usually I’ll work with a couple piles of magazines surrounding me. That way my materials are at my fingertips – I can easily grab a magazine and start paging through it if I’m searching for a specific color or have an idea of a texture I’d like.
Sometimes I’ll tear out magazine pages based on their color and texture and file them away in folders. That way, if I’m working on a collage and I’m in need of a specific color, I don’t have to hunt around for long – I can simply pull out the folder filled with magazine pages of that color.
Here’s a picture of me working with a glue stick and scissors as I cut out magazine strips for a landscape piece. This picture was taken by a writer from the Gazette Packet who wrote an article about the visiting artist program that I’ve been a part of.
And here’s an older picture of myself sitting on the floor working away on a collage I completed in 2008. Sometimes the floor is just the best workspace – you can really spread out with all your piles of paper.
So that’s everything for now. I’ll revisit my process another time to focus on another aspect of it.
