Collaging Large

The woes of making and storing large collage art

Over the weekend i completed an application for an artist residency. the application process can be tedious in some ways and in other ways very affirming. i now understand the basic format. i may not be good at artist residency speak, but i keep applying to residencies. doing so makes me feel brave.

the project that i often submit is known as a the people project. it began in 2018. with a blank 18x24 piece of paper

and a cigar box of chopped off heads

( amber the cat and a pad of 18x24 paper)

this was the collage that prompted the idea for the people project:

in it i saw how crowded my brain can be with ideas, thoughts, chatter, other people, noise, opinions. goodness. bad. I felt this was an idea worth exploring.

7 years and 50 + collages later. the project is far from complete.

the cigar box fills easily with more chopped heads

i moved into my “city studio” mid-december of 2017. the move ended a long search for a place to live that i could afford and feel safe in. happy to say that i will be here 8 years this december. my place is thankfully still affordable and still safe. you have NO idea how valuable my apt is to me.

2018 was a very challenging year emotionally.

I did however invite myself to work large or in 18x24 size once a week.

and i absolutely loved it. I loved it because the work felt expanded, i could work with larger images and they often came together very quickly. it was like they wanted or needed to be made.

Yet, after a while i thought. what on earth will i do with these?

and then, I didn’t like working large as much.

Showing 18x24 art requires a frame. The paper i had selected wasn’t pithy enough to hang on its own. I can’t afford frames. let along store them. I eventually scored a free frame and I did show a few pieces. It wasn’t the best frame. Add that only having one frame was a rather limited way to share my work. working large and framing it was not a very sustainable option

over time, and about 2 years later I perfected a style of collage that replicated crazy quilting but with paper. that process eventually included stitching and binding. binding offered a finished thicker look to those collages and a way to hang work without a frame.

collage without binding

collage with binding

9x12

and 8x8. no binding

i’ve not found a way to apply binding to an 18 x 24 piece.

i bring all of this up because in proposing the people project for a residency

i am reminded about working large. and all of its challenges.

this particular residency would offer me unlimited time and space to just collage.

i work small in today’s day because 275 sq feet is TINY living.

sharing living space with an art studio is limited. if i work large - i can’t leave the piece out to be worked on later and or to view. i would need that space to make dinner or some other domestic task. it just isn’t easy. when i gave up working 18x24 size I shifted to the 9x12 or the 8x8 sizes.

I lost steam in making them. over 50 collages is overwhelming somehow.

i mean really - what do they all mean?

i have not been able to develop an artist statement about all of it

a residency would allow me to lay all of them out. see them and be with them. find a way to write about and or give meaning to them. seek the feedback of others. other artists, educators, community.

This is my thinking about it all anyway. The reality of course remains to be seen.

wish me luck!!

with the rebuilding of my website i lost quite a few portfolio’s of work. i am slowly rebuilding those into blog posts. the people project is on that list.