On a recent trip to Amsterdam earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting the fabulous paper store, Vlieger Papier. I browsed the shop for close to an hour before coming away with a (regrettably) small selection of patterned paper. These gorgeous materials have made their way into a new series of collage, inspired by quilts and quilt-making. 

I’ve been thinking about this idea for a long time, and have previously explored quilts as paper-cut pieces. With this one I was thinking about American “Crazy” Quilts, which are formed from very irregular scraps of fabrics, rather than following a specific pattern. I went with chunky, roughly geometric shapes for my composition, and then made the selection of pattern papers as I went along.

I love the process of creating these, because I construct, deconstruct, and then reconstruct. I construct the composition as a drawing, then deconstruct it by cutting the sections into individual pieces, then I select and glue patterned paper to each, before reconstructing all of the pieces back together again. It’s like making a puzzle.

The finished work is attached to spacers I make by hand from paper, and then float mounted it onto a 11 x 14 inch heavy archival paper as a background. I think these work best as a floating collage.