Collage

I love collage because it’s easy to do and always a surprise. I never know what I’m going to make until I start. All it takes is whatever paper is lying around, a pair of scissors, and a glue stick. You really can’t go wrong.

Last night, while the Eagles were being ravaged by the Cowboys on TV, I cut out letters for a holiday card with the fancy paper I keep in a folio. The surprise aspect of collage comes when I’ve cut something out, glued it down, then cut another something, and then another something, when all the sudden a new something has emerged that makes me want to finish. Along the way, every choice I make is based on a mysterious instinct that’s mine and no one else’s. That’s the beauty of creating things: you find out what’s yours. What things mean to you. With collage, I don’t get caught up with whether it’s good or not. I just do it, knowing another layer of paper and glue will save me if I need saving.

Sometimes, the subject is more serious like these two that were made from my ticket to The Whitney Plantation in Edgard, Louisiana. Henry Reed, the young man in this collage, was born a slave on a Cotton plantation in St Landry Parish. I cut Henry’s picture out then glued him to a piece of a poster I’d picked up of Van Gogh’s Café Terrace at Night. Henry next to Van Gogh’s textured blue made me think he was standing by a river, which made me wonder if he would have jumped or just dreamed of jumping had he had the chance. Henry’s cut-out silhouette felt important to me too. After I made these, I learned that Henry and Van Gogh were both born in 1853.

Imagine that.

Who would have guessed they’d come together in my studio 175 years later.

Then there’s this one, made from a card my friend Ann gave me before she died. The bird was painted by another friend whose name I never knew.

The bike in this one came from a 3-D card Brent’s sister gave us. It reminds me to rest, something I’m not so good at. My favorite part is the headlight.

And this one my friend Nicole told me made a perfect Christmas card. She saw three wise men, the moon, and a child, while I saw three cranes, the moon, and a flower.