Why Collage?

There are many reasons why I am making collage right now. It began long ago really, with my inability to throw something away that might contain 'a possibility'. In printmaking, things can go awry, the corner of the paper can fold over, the ink too heavy, too light, too much color saturation, not enough transparency, and so on. These misprints are not all bad, some have the most interesting passages, and maybe that color does not look right on one thing, does not mean it is without it's usefulness. So, drawers full of prints, trial proofs, color proofs, experiments, ideas, all waiting to have another life.

So delightfully random, these pieces, from many eras, like a quilt made from the children's outgrown clothing, these colorful bits come together in a new and wonderful way.  Watercolor demo pieces, where all went well until the dip-pen dropped a big blot on the bouquet -- a delicate pen and ink drawing, a pear from a reductive print (these prints are a treasure trove of cast-offs), and some hand-painted paper with free-flow writing or rubbings from woodblock prints -- so there is some reference to the woodblocks and textural tone. The sources are many and a challenge to meld them with others.

Economics and the environment. It seems that I could just send the faulty works out to the recycling, but the budget will not allow such a thing. If there is a need for a piece of paper with a particular color or form, I probably already have it, ready made!

Collage has given me the chance to use what is available, not looking elsewhere for answers, and for knowing that a creative solution can come about when you show appreciation for the unique potential of what is right in front of you.



Thank you all for following along.