24" × 36" (61cm × 91cm), collage and texture medium on canvas
WHEN I FIRST STARTED DABBLING in mixed-media art, collage was one of my favorite genres to create in. Something about getting lost in a pile of papers I collected or created during a printing session just did it for me. As I leafed through sheet after sheet and remnant after remnant, I found it easy to get swept up in the moment and forget any troubling thought. I was searching for the right way to say what was on my mind but didn’t quite know how to express myself, and collage showed me the way. My first few art pieces were admittedly disjointed and not great compositions. Nevertheless, I took great joy in pasting paper after paper together and later peeling the layer of glue from my fingers. That sense of satisfaction is perhaps even more elevated as we flash forward a few years later because I no longer rely solely on papers that other people have made or cut-outs I’ve saved from magazines. Most of the papers I use in my collage nowadays are from deliriously fun printing and painting sessions or from collections I’ve more judiciously selected based on texture or patterns I’m drawn to in that moment. Let’s take a moment to explore a few ways to incorporate collage elements in your work.
“I shall become a master in this art only after a great deal of practice.”
— ERICH FROMM