Recycling Art Experiments into Collage

February 22, 2011

If you’re an artist like me who loves to experiment with different ideas and processes, you may have a whole bunch of unsuccessful pieces of not-so-great art taking up space in your studio. Last week I pulled out three of these, all on wooden cradle frames I wanted to reuse. Two of the pieces had heat transfer images printed on the surface, and one was a collage I never felt was “quite right”.

This one is my favorite of the three because I was able to retain some of the previous work with simple additions of Japanese paper and leaves. The face is a statue I photographed in the Egyptian museum in Berlin combined with a photo of lily pads. It’s a style of digital collage I haven’t done in ages (and no longer like).

With this second collage I decided to give it a simple tweak by adding clouds made from book pages and security envelopes. I’ve always like some part of this collage but felt it was more of an experiment than something representative of my “style”. Now I like it much better.

It also ties in nicely with the larger collage I made a few weeks ago with airships (which is sold now, by the way).

The collages are made on wooden cradle frames ready to hang, and are both available for sale through Etsy (and in person).

Beautiful Work From My First Altered Book Workshop

February 21, 20115 Comments

I was ridiculously nervous and anxious in the week leading up to teaching my first altered book workshop, but things could not have gone better with the class. There were six people in attendance, which was the perfect amount to allow everyone to spread out in the space.

I started the class with a quick slide show of my altered books and also introduced spectacular work by other artists, like Brian Dettmer and Su Blackwell for inspiration. Because the workshop was only three and a half hours long I chose to focus on folded page techniques because there are many different ways people could take things, and it doesn’t involve waiting for glue to dry.

Everyone got right down to business after my demo and I wandered around the room answering questions and giving guidance as needed. I loved seeing all the different books people brought to work with and the ideas they came up with to experiment. I ended up also showing people how to make the paper flowers I used in my Container Art installation and these were incorporated into some of the book projects.

By the end of class everyone had at least one completed book they could take home and work on further, some of which are pictured below.

Altered books are something I am very excited about and it felt easy to share that passion with other people and make the work accessible. I did some learning of my own in the class, which is what I was hoping for. Some lessons I can apply to my own artwork and others will go towards tweaking how I teach the class. Overall it was an enjoyable experience stepping into the role of teacher and for the next workshop I will be less nervous about the whole thing.

Selling Work Through Bird on a Wire Creations

February 18, 2011

My exciting news this week is that some of my altered books are now available for purchase through Bird on a Wire Creations. At last I have someone else taking care of the marketing and selling of my work.

Bird on a Wire is a relatively new retail store located on Main Street near Broadway, and it carries nothing but beautiful handmade items by local artists and crafts people. If you haven’t been to the store, it’s a warm welcoming space run by Karen Unger-Strickland. She’s very interested in supporting local artists in what they do, as well as building community around her space. I felt it was a good fit for my work, and I’m confident I’ve put the altered books in good hands.

Bird on a Wire Creations
2535 Main Street
Vancouver, BC – V5T 3E5

Fall store hours:
Monday to Friday 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Sunday Closed (for now)
Stat Holidays 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Red

February 14, 20111 Comment

It’s my favorite colour, so of course I’m convinced there can never be too much red.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Collage: The Butterfly Chase

February 11, 2011

I really wish I had more than just two of these circle cut pieces of wood because they were terrific to work with and now I’ve used both. The first collage featured airships and this one has butterflies. It’s a theme of flying things.

I continued using the same materials in this one because I’ve been enjoying figuring out different ways to mix the book page scraps and security envelopes. This time I cut the paper into leaf shapes and placed them around part of the circle in a messy swirl as if they’re blowing in the wind.

I found this particular type of thread difficult to glue down because it kept sticking to the brush of gel medium instead of the paper. I decided to use it in the composition as a flight path for the butterflies to follow.

Materials used: wood, sewing pattern paper, acetate butterflies, cotton thread, book page scraps, security envelopes, and gel medium.

As always this collage is listed for sale in both my Etsy and Cargoh shops.

Upcoming Altered Book Workshop

February 4, 20111 Comment

I haven’t yet announced this on my blog as I have elsewhere, but in two weeks I’ll be teaching a workshop at ChalkXChange about making altered books. This is only a three and half hour workshop, and it’s on a weekend too. I’ll be sharing some of the techniques I use to create my book work, and hopefully send everyone off with a finished piece by the end of the session.

If you’re interested in taking the class registration is available online through Eventbrite. There’s a more detailed description on the sign up page and also in the workshop section of my web site.

Altered Book Workshop at Chalk Xchange
Saturday, February 19th, 2011
1pm to 4:30pm
593 East Georgia Street (at Princess Street)
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z8

The Return of the Airships

February 3, 20111 Comment

I picked up two beautiful pieces of round wood from a recent artist networking event and had been itching to use them for new collage work. I’ve never made something round but it seemed like a fun shape to work with. I also haven’t ever made a collage so large.

I decided to reinterpret an old collage from my sketchbook with this piece. I still had the same airships and colourful pixelated paper but incorporated new bits of whimsy. I took inspiration from the layers of book page scraps and security envelopes I used in last week’s mixed media collage to create clouds and suggest a sky for the airships.

Sewing pattern paper with simple lines is the first layer of this piece and it allows some of the wood grain to show through. The last item I added was the tangle of threads swirling their way through the composition from top to bottom. Everything I used in this, except the three airships, are recycled materials.

Materials used: wood, sewing pattern paper, magazine ad, silk thread, book page scraps, security envelopes, and gel medium.

This collage is listed for sale in both my Etsy and Cargoh shops.

AMP Studio Sale, Featuring Valerie Arntzen

February 3, 2011

AMP Studio, featuring Valerie Arntzen, is having a sale of assemblage work and photography. She’ll be selling older work at very reasonable prices, so drop by this Saturday Feb 5, between noon to 5pm, and you may get yourself a deal on artwork.

AMP Studio
800 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC
604-817-9130 for more info

Val will be hosting this as an ongoing event on the first Saturday of the month, from February until June. So if you can’t make it this weekend, there are more opportunities coming up.

Karen’s Room at the Waldorf Hotel

January 30, 2011

Paul Wong has put together a site-specific installation/performance work in room 103 of the Waldorf Hotel. The room is covered floor to ceiling, windows, furniture, bathroom and all, in bedsheets collected for charities by an activist named Karen.

Karen is back at The Hotel from her most-recent goodwill missions around the globe. Karen will be back at it collecting and recycling the hotel sheets and linens and repurposing them for worthy causes. A well-meaning activist, Karen has contributed our used bedding to numerous charities in Vancouver and around the world, including the homeless, the destitute in the Downtown Eastside and Surrey, and to victims of natural disasters in Haiti and Pakistan.

Boris and I visited the site on Friday before (delicious) dinner downstairs at Nuba. I’d been curious to see this installation but after seeing it in person I’m not really sure how I feel about it.

I liked the aesthetics of the installation, with every surface of the room taken over by the sheets it became this wonderful cocooned space away from the noise of the rest of the hotel. The part I didn’t like was the video projection on the back wall showing the character of Karen going about her work and talking with visitors from what I guess was a previous performance. I felt it took away from the experience to watch her secondhand instead of interacting with Karen in person. But I guess it’s not possible for her to be on site all the time.

Go see it for yourself if you get the chance. Karen’s Room is open 5 to 9 pm, seven days a week, and will be on site at the Waldorf Hotel until Feb. 11, 2011.

Collage: Birds and threads

January 26, 2011

There are a few things I’m trying to do at the moment in terms of new work:
1. Make time for experimentation with new ideas and materials
2. Create lower priced inventory
3. Repurpose leftover materials or objects from other projects.

These three goals came together with the collage I finished yesterday.

I started out wanting to make a collage using scraps of pages leftover from completed altered books and it evolved into a lovely finished piece with 3D objects, repurposed security envelopes, and part of a book cover cut from this altered book. I used the inside of a shallow wooden box as both canvas and frame.

Quite a few of these materials were items given to me by friends who no longer had a use for them. I’m really glad I could repurpose them into art.

Materials used: wooden box, partial book cover, scraps of book pages, security envelopes, wooden bobbins, silk thread, two paper birds, gesso, glue, and gel medium.

If you’re interested in this piece I’ve already listed it for sale in my Etsy shop. I’ve priced it in a slightly different way than the altered books because I view this as an experiment and want to keep this in an affordable price range.

Canvas to the Imagination

Rachael Ashe – Art | Craft | Life