Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Why Collage?

And by that, I mean, why do art/design teachers make us do collages? I've continued to work on them Monday and Tuesday. They take a while to cut, (I've gone through 11 box cutter tips in the last three days,) but I started to put some meaning into some of them; that's the start of "conceptual", yes?

The color and B/W version of the same, less abstract, photo. I finally got this out of my system, and I'm glad, but this is boring compared to abstract photos or even other things like...

Faces! Great exercises, Clare. These were interesting, though I think I had the wrong kind of magazines as I didn't find very many full-page portraits.

I wove only part of one picture. Kiwis might recognize Linda Topp in her caravan, with Jules inserted above.

Actress and Earth Woman

Enjoying colors and shapes...

While cutting up magazines, I found this advert for magazine subscriptions and wanted to keep it in tact.

I've done 12 of the 16 exercises; I'd like to get the other four done this week, if possible. Also, I started something else Clare spoke about. Once when she was in a design (??) workshop in the US, each student was given a large piece of paper. Every day, for the duration of the workshop, they had to do something on/to that sheet. I got started on my large sheet of paper, but I don't know how long I will keep going. It looks very sparse now. I'll take a photo every day and show them to you later.

7 comments:

  1. Remind me of Hockney's Polaroid collages. There's hope for you yet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love his pool polaroids. I lived with a girl that loved Hockney for about six months.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm really enjoying these collage exercises of yours! Thank you for sharing them (I love the faces!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. The faces are terribly interesting, aren't they? I must go find magazines with more faces to try them, Doni.

    ReplyDelete
  5. They're just wonderful, Meg. Perhaps you've found a new genre!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I certainly enjoy these more - now I don't think about why I'm doing these, or how these are going to improve my weaving. But I think my brain is ticking away even when I'm not aware of it; I seem to prefer mindless TV in the evenings now, and I'm not really watching them, but I keep looking at, glancing at, searching through, and thinking about the pieces I worked on. I hope this means progress.

    ReplyDelete
  7. To the question, "Why collage?", Clare wrote:

    "On your blog you ask the rhetorical? question='why do collage'? This was what I have on the top of the info sheet about the class, I think it sums it up:

    "A structured series of simple exercises using scissors, paper and glue. The results can be considered as developing your own “eye” for design and composition, or as developmental studies for future works. Or just plain fun!

    “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once (s)he grows up”. Pablo Picasso.

    "I don't think there needs to be a real reason for doing this, they are just 'design exercises' to practice with! To help build confidence in you own skills!"

    Some of the examples and her own work Clare showed us demonstrated that among other things paper and glue is quicker to work with than fabric. She even had a big (but not quite life-size from memory) "thinking out loud" piece for her quilt done in paper first.

    I totally agree and by seeing her actual work and play with paper, I appreciate the ease paper and glue offer.

    I guess all I need now is the experience of something done in collage eventually giving me hints or inspirations and/or popping up in one of my textiles.

    Until then, it's all play, and nothing wrong with that.

    ReplyDelete

I love comments. Thank you for taking the time to leave one. But do be sure to leave your real or blog name.