OM.2012.300 - Lottie Anderson - USA

OM.2012.300 - Lottie Anderson - USA

OM.2012.269 - Cecil Touchon - USA

OM.2012.269 - Cecil Touchon - USA - collage on museum board - 7X5 inches

OM.2012.268 - David Burton-Richardson - UK

OM.2012.268 - David Burton-Richardson - UK - Landscape - collage acrylic, polyester, foil, canvas, mounted on canvas

OM.2012.168-169 - Paulo Barros - Portugal

 OM.2012.168 - Paulo Barros - Portugal - 3-D paper construction - 6.5 x 6.5 inches

 OM.2012.168 - Paulo Barros - Portugal - 3-D paper construction  - 6.5 x 6.5 inches

OM.2012.138-139 - Donna Merry - USA

  OM.2012.138 - Donna Merry - USA - collage - 8x10 inches - 2012

 OM.2012.139 - Donna Merry - USA - collage - 8x10 inches - 2012

I am an artist that has recently discovered the art medium of collage.  A pad of various colored papers spoke the word ‘create’.  So I sat down, selected papers and began to compose a landscape, because that is what the colors before me suggested.  As I tore and moved strips of paper around, the vistas of the American Southwest appeared, and I was pleased.  Many vacations, as a child, were spent in and around the desert regions and it was a delightful experience to remember the moonrise above the low mountains in Arizona and the sunrise above the Colorado River.  I will do more collage, as it is a calming respite from an otherwise hectic day and I will be looking at every piece of paper that enters my house in an entirely new way!   It is a new way to recall dreams, daydream, make sense (or nonsense) of the present and future. 

            Collage and assemblage have previously been terms that describe what other artists do with scraps and leftover bits.  Now, having completed a few collage pieces, I truly appreciate the construction process and the thought behind it.   And it is so nice to be able to edit and rearrange the piece as it evolves instead of trying to cope with and adjust the more rigid mediums I have worked with in the past.