Stick ‘em up! (with glue)

The art of collage making has a long history. As an art form it became popular in the 20^th century. The term collage was coined by cubist artists Braque and Picasso, and comes from the French word coller, or “to glue.” The movement itself emerged under this pair of artists, who began working with various mediums to create avant-garde assemblages around 1910. (If you want to read all about the history and the artists click on this link to go to the Wikipedia page.)
When I was a child we didn’t have computers or Photoshop. I learned about the art of collage making, when on rainy days, mom would give me some old magazines, a scissor, and a small bottle of Elmer’s glue and tell me to create a story. It also became my favorite art to make in school, well there really wasn’t much else to do during art time since the school had a limited budget for supplies and paper and glue were cheap.
As an adult artist I was drawn to other forms of art and ceased creating collages. When I got Photoshop on my computer I was thrilled with how I could easily “cut and paste” things together and spent over 10 years creating digital collages. That was my specialty. Then one year I took a collage workshop using the old-fashioned non-computer method and found it loads of fun to get my hands “dirty”.  But I didn’t really start creating non-digital collages until my color printer died and I needed some entries for an exhibit.
Over the last 4 years I have created over 45 of these small works. Most are 8 ½” x 11” and 2 dimensional. Some do have 3d elements, and some have text handwritten on them. Each month I create a specific one as part of a calendar, themed to some aspect of the month or season.
They are my little “stories”. I have a large folder of images torn from magazines, flyers, and books along with colored paper, and wrapping paper, and greeting cards. Each collage starts out with a central “character” around which I place images that tell its story. I usually have enough materials to lay out for 3 variations, placing the pieces on the floor in my living room so I can walk by it every day and rearrange the items until I have a satisfactory composition.
Will I ever give up doing Photoshop collages? No! However, during this pandemic where I spend hours in front of my computer because that’s the only way I can work or connect with people, I really love to take a break and work on something “real”, something I can touch. It’s been a form of therapy for me and I hope that a time will come when I can exhibit the physical collages instead of the, ironically, digital reproductions of them!