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Scribble Collage

If you think you are “not artistic” or “can’t draw”, try drawing and painting with the intention of tearing up the results for collage! It is definitely in the category of dance-like-nobody-is-watching, and it’s a great way to engage your creative spirit. In this weekend workshop we create our own collage materials by making “paint playgrounds” and scribble drawings using acrylic, watercolor, crayons, pastel, oil pastel, charcoal, and other materials. We experiment with a variety of approaches to collage using these paintings-drawings as our foundation. This is a weekend workshop, but can be modified for a one-day format.

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Unbinding the Visual Journal

Like many creative mixed-media enthusiasts, I LOVE the idea of visual journaling. I look at other artists’ journals and think “oh, I could do that”, or “I wish I had thought of that”. But when it comes to actually using one of my handmade books, or even a store bought art journal, I get The Blank Page syndrome. After years of wrestling with my seeming inability to find a satisfying approach, I came up with a way to make a visual journal that solves the Blank Page Problem. I call it my “unbound collage folios” journal  because you begin by creating random collages on unbound folios, and then assemble them into a book. Each page spread offers something that you can respond to. Collage, write, paint, sew, cut, tear, draw – anything you can think of. There are no mistakes and no blank pages! This workshop takes you through the process of unbinding your visual journaling, resulting in a beautiful handmade collage book. This is a weekend workshop, but can be modified for a one-day format.  

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Collage Layering with Transparencies

Working with transparent materials allows you to build up subtle layers of imagery and color. Tissue paper, vellum, organza, unryu, all have their particular characteristics which you can use to great effect in collage. In this workshop we begin with tissue paper collage – remember kindergarten? – and move on to imagery printed out on various transparent materials. The final project is a collage with a repeated image, combining transparencies with silhouettes and cut-outs, that expresses movement and mystery. This is a weekend workshop, but can be modified for a one-day format.

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Paint Print and Pattern:
Creating Collage Materials from Scratch

Immerse yourself in color as we let loose decorating papers and fabrics with abandon.  Pattern – the repeated motif – is found on artifacts from every culture and every time period from pre-historic cave paintings to contemporary consumer goods. Creating pattern engages us in the primal and universal urge to embellish. We brush, stamp, stencil, sand, spritz, spatter, and sponge our way to a full spectrum of colors, patterns, and textures on paper and cloth. We then use these materials to explore color, composition, and expression in collage.

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Collage Self-Portrait

What better way to explore your own personal creative voice than in a collage self-portrait? This workshop gives you the opportunity to experiment with different expressions of yourself through collage, paint, text, and photographs. We will begin with a few journaling exercises, then proceed to quick self-portrait sketches. In the second half each student will focus on a collage self-portrait based on a theme chosen from the morning exercises. 

This is a one-day workshop, but can be modified for a half-day or a weekend.

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Foam Core Collage

Foam core can convey the visual weight of canvas, giving your collages a more object-like quality than a flat sheet of paper, but it is cheaper, lighter, and can be cut to whatever size and shape you want.  It can also be used as a building material to create three-dimensional collages like shadow boxes.  In this workshop we will first make a series of small foam core collages, using papers, fibers, wire, beads, and other materials.  Then we will create a larger foam core collage with a niche for putting three-dimensional objects. 

This workshop is a full day. It can be modified for a half day, or extended for a weekend. The weekend workshop will include a three-dimensional shadowbox or spirit house assemblage.

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Paper and Mixed Media Dolls                

Making dolls is not only fun, but it is a particularly rich and rewarding way to learn new applications for mixed media techniques. Taking the figure (human or otherwise) as a jumping off point, we will explore the expressive possibilities of simple and not so simple materials such as paper, fabric, sticks, foam core, all kinds of fibers, beads, threads, buttons, and more.  We will learn a few basic construction techniques, and create in an atmosphere of experimentation and play.

This one-day workshop can be modified for a half-day or weekend format.

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Text and Image

Text can be a powerful tool in collage, adding both another layer of meaning, and an evocative visual element.  Words can change the meaning of an image, or inform its interpretation, just as the image quality of the word can give different nuances to its meaning.  Text can be used as purely a visual element, suggesting communication without actually being legible, or it can be the verbal key to understanding the image.   Either way, playing with the various relations between text and image helps you to integrate the visual and expressive  aspects of your work. 

In this workshop we will begin by pairing found text with images, observing how this affects their interpretation, and then create collages based on those associations.  We will also explore text as a purely visual element, text as a conveyor of meaning, and the narrative possibilities of text and image.  

This workshop can be a full day, a weekend, or modified for a half-day session.

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Collage in the Box Format      

The box format gives us an opportunity to consider the question of content in both its physical and aesthetic senses, while at the same time learning some basic techniques of box making. In this workshop we will create a hard-cover hinged box (and/or a two-piece lidded box), and then use the box as a collage support. During the process we will discuss how the box relates to its contents as well as how the collage elements relate to the three-dimensional form.

This workshop is appropriate for collage artists of all levels. The box-making techniques are accessible to students with no previous experience. This is a one-day workshop, but can be modified for a half day. 

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Painting with Paper

Collage is a medium that allows you to explore color and composition in a very direct way, and create beautiful images with luscious textures and surfaces not available to the painter. Painting with papers is an approach to collage in which we focus on color, texture, and form rather than imagery or words. We will begin by working on a series of color studies, and end with a project combining papers with drawing and painting. This is a one-day workshop, but can be extended to a weekend.