Story Telling through Collage

I had a fabulous day last Sunday.  I was invited to run a collage workshop at the Write Around the Murray Festival.   At the end of the day, I posted of FaceBook:

A fabulous day. A fabulous workshop. Fabulous people. Says it all.     Had a ball faciltating a collage workshop as part of the Write Around  the Murray festival.       

My fabulous workshop participants made it work. I thank them all for their enthusiasm, laughter and sharing with me and fellow participants.                                                                                                                                                                                                   I have been given permission to share their work and here are a couple of photos.  Every one was so engaged to the last minute I forgot to get a group shot and photos of all the works made.   (Please seek permission before resharing these images).

 

Here is what we had up on the white board - a tad neater and clearer than it was on the day

STORY TELLING WITH CREATIVE COLLAGE

Collage – torn and or/ cut paper and glue                         Paper – heavy enough to hold collage

Photo montage – magazine images& photos                    Cardboard                                           

Assemblage – above/orand found objects                         Timber                                                

Mixed media collage –  “the kitchen sink”                        What else ?  Natural substrates         

Booklets, postcards, concertina, scroll, min, maxi            Archival – acid fee                            

                                                                                            Found papers not archival               

 

How will you tell your story:                                             GLUES:                                              

-          Realist                                                          -  Glue Stick                                      

-          Surreal                                                          -  PVA (White Glue)                         

-          Cubist                                                           -  Aleene’s Tacky Glue (if heavy)    

-          Abstract                                                         -  Paper Cement - bookmakers glue

-          Fantasy                                                           -  Gel medium - glue and glaze     

-          Geometric                                                                                                             

-          What other style or format can you think of ?                                                      

What is your story?                 How do you want to tell it?             Be inspired by the image

TRUST THE PROCESS

Much metta  

Donna

Reasons to write and draw in a journal

I write just about every morning and record my thoughts.  It’s a habit I kept after reading and completing the exercises contained in The Artists Way by Julia Cameron.   I haven't quite got this discipline with the blog and when life is full, as it has been the last few months, the blog loses out ☹.

Sometimes my pages are meaningless… verbal blah about family, garden and domestic chores.   But I keep writing.  There have been occasions I write about the fact that I don’t know what to write about for 2 pages.   But by keeping writing the subconscious bubbles and ideas rise to the surface.

A very recent example  of this relates to a discussion with a Garden and Cafe venue I have been having about mounting an outdoor show .

The garden is are broken up into subcontinental regions such as Africa, the Americas etc and I had got caught up in trying to do something which would reflect the whole of the gardens.  My ideas were becoming too broad and my research for inspiration too far reaching!   The solution came out of the blue when writing one morning.  So obvious – stick to one region!   I had got so caught up with the idea of capturing the whole the gardens I couldn't get past that point.

I have an interest in pre-Columbian history so the Americas became the obvious choice.   Since then I have narrowed the theme down to Mesoamerica: early settlement in the Mexican basin and south to the areas which encapsulate Columbia and Peru.

Ceramic figure of seated woman (AD50- 200) – trace of red pigment 

Serendipity also played a part in this choice.   I am an op shopper and if given the chance will not pass up the opportunity to visit and op shop.  Very recently I came across (and away) with a publication called El Dorado Columbian Gold.  This book accompanied an exhibition of a selection of ancient gold objects from the Museo Del Oro, Bogota, Colombia in the major galleries in each of the States of Australia in 1978.    It is full of amazing photos and very good text.    This complements  other books in my library which focus on textiles, architecture and sculpture in the region. 

An anthropomorphic Tairona bat pectoral (AD900-1600) . Photograph: Museo del Oro, Colombia

Now I am chock full of ideas that can be interpreted in both assemblage, contemporary clays and metal work embroidery.  Bliss.

Next step is to go one further with recording and start getting ideas from a text format to sketches.   The hardest part for me.   This is, I think, because I have been mulling ideas over in my head for quite a while and just want to get on with it and get my hands dirty or stab some cloth.   But I have learnt that my design and execution is almost always better when I do this step.

I'll keep you posted.

Books for Christmas

The family was kind to me this Christmas and gave me a few craft related books.  The photo is from a Batik Design Book given to me by my son – it came with a CD of printable images.

I also received two books on doll making – one was crochet dolls and the other more a contemporary mixed media number.  Having poured over the book I have made one crochet doll so far.   My daughter gave me a heap of buttons which I have played with but reached no decision about which ones to sew on : I think I need to make more little dolls J. They will make great broaches. 

just finished reading

Picturesque Pursuits by Carolone Jordon.

A very enjoyable and erudite study of colonial women artists from the time of colonisation of Australia by the British to the late 1800's.