Saki - Collage Queendom
Artist Saki of Collage Queendom
Bio: I am currently based in Spain. I was born and raised in Argentina where I explored and studied art history, photography and filmmaking. I majored in art curatorship and management which led me to curate art exhibitions, produce and film art documentaries and exhibit my artworks across Latin America and the United States. This diverse background in the arts has allowed me to develop a unique visual language that intertwines classical and contemporary influences. Discovering collage was a pivotal shift in my creative expression. This medium has allowed me to embrace a more intuitive process of artmaking, exploring the spontaneous and transformative potential of combining disparate elements to create my own paper world. Through this blend of creation and curation, I continue to explore and expand the boundaries of visual storytelling.
Artist Statement: My art is influenced by a blend of surrealism, classical art history, and photography. I'm particularly drawn to female surrealists like Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Grete Stern. While their influence might not always be visually apparent, it profoundly shapes my approach to art. My process embraces the unexpected, allowing each piece to evolve naturally from subconscious cues that emerge during their creation. As a photographer, I admire the ability to tell a story in a single shot and am mystified by how much weight a single image can hold. In addition, studying art history awakened my fascination for the Old Masters. Seeing their work in museums worldwide had a significant impact on my sense of visual harmony and it has led me to explore different techniques and media.
Some of the topics my work reflects on are the exploration of identity in adulthood, the re-significance of personal memory, the feelings of nostalgia and being estranged as a migrant, the rediscovering the wholesome things in life.
Ginger Sisco Cook
Artist Ginger Sisco Cook
Bio: Ginger Sisco Cook began working in analog collage when COVID hit Texas. She uses vintage images coupled with contemporary media to provide nostalgic commentary on contemporary issues.
Artist Statement: I am an analog collagist who juxtaposes vintage and present-day images to visually comment on life in the 21st Century. Current events and prevailing attitudes amuse and motivate me to create collage as a response to the absurdities of life.
Jill McDougall
Artist Jill McDougall
Bio: Jill McDougall is an artist and designer in Anacortes, Washington. Jill’s unconventional art interprets everyday surroundings in a dreamlike way. Her mixed media pieces capture moods and moments; vintage papers and prints of found objects add a sense of impermanence and serve as a reflection of constant change and transition.
Artist Statement: “I aim to convey a sense of place through a combination of color, images, and texture. Mixed media layers allow me to explore endless creative possibilities, My inspiration comes from being outdoors, either observing natural surroundings or details of architecture. I take daily walks in the forest, in town, or along the coast to observe the interplay of light, color, shadows and shapes.”
Rebecca Howdeshell
Artist Rebecca Howdeshell
Bio: Growing up in Texas with a strong influential family background in the arts, Rebecca studied art in college earning an MFA in Studio Art at the University of North Texas. Her artworks are influenced by her environment and memory. Through sketchbook and small studies, Rebecca uses social media to interact with other artists and receive exhibition opportunities. Rebecca has exhibited in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Artist Statement: A constant focus in my work for over twenty years is the relationship between our urban and natural worlds. The relationship can be contentious of course, and colored by memory, both real and imagined. Using abstract forms, photographs, drawings, and writing, the subject is a never ending source of inspiration.
Dunia Barrera
Artist Dunia Barrera
Bio: Dunia Barrera- (b. Madrid, 1979) is a collage artist currently living and working in Munich, Germany. Barrera comes from a photography background, with her work having been exhibited in a solo exhibition at Photo España in 2002.
Now focused on the medium of collage, her work has been exhibited at the Carriage Barn Arts Center, at Silvermine Galleries both in New Canaan, CT, in the United States and at the Industrie Museum in Gent, Belgium, among others. She has been featured by Contemporary Collage Magazine and in the publications of Fragmented Collective and Kolaj Magazine Artist´s Tradings Cards.
Her work is in the collections of the Anthropology Museum of Madrid, the Subway System of Madrid and the Museum Cristobal Gabarron in Valladolid.
Artist Statement: From a young age, women are often conditioned to perceive themselves from the perspective of the male figure. Paintings, ads, magazines present us with women as icons to follow and at the service of the entertainment industry. We are taught to speak “man” learning their language.
So, what does it mean to look upon one? Working with men subjects from a place of admiration, I decontextualize them from their original environment and meaning to create a new message. In this approach I take the leadership role, often reserved to men, and decide where goes where and what it has to say.
Coming from the photography medium, where I worked in a five-year project on fashion identity, I came to realize that I admire men's style in the fifties and sixties. For me, this exudes power, seriousness as opposed to women images as pretty things. As a woman myself, executing as the leader in my work, by focusing on male subjects, counterparts my present, often playing a traditional role, liberating and empowering me.
Jenny Lloyd
Artist Jenny Lloyd
Bio: I'm an artist and designer from the UK, now based in beautiful Amsterdam, where I make handcrafted and digital collage illustrations for magazines, album art, book covers, zines, and other custom pieces and commissions. I love to combine vintage and modern ephemera to create colourful, maximalist, escapist worlds, where new stories and fresh feelings emerge to be explored, and each piece has a spirit of its own.
Artist Statement: My love for collage comes from many things. Firstly, an attraction to curation: the process of bringing together disparate elements to make a coherent whole... like a visual remix that pays homage to the source material, but also obscures its original context. It gives me great joy to gather together fragments from daily life, combine them with long-forgotten art books and other treasured supplies, and breathe new life into pieces with materials often otherwise discarded. I'm captivated by the human need for connection to nature and our environment, and I strive to make work which expresses that fascination. I am often reminded of the ephemeral nature of existence, and for me, my ongoing practice serves to awaken memories, moments lost in time; bringing together images from the past to help look towards the future. Most of all, I aspire to bring playfulness and magic into my art – a sense of comfort and wonder.
jennylloyd.pictures | instagram.com/jennyariane
instagram.com/collagecvlt | patreon.com/collagecvlt | collagecvlt.co
Jane Palmer
Artist Jane Palmer
Jane Palmer is an analog collage artist whose work explores solitude and belonging, scarcity and abundance, absurdity, serenity, power and joy. She intuitively pairs hand-cut images of human activity with those of the natural and built environment to create elegant, emotionally charged collages. Her practice is meditative and a quiet antidote to the stresses of late-stage capitalism. Her collage book, Making Peace in Wartime, is included in the Kanyer Art Collection; other works have been featured in Wilder Roam and Contemporary Collage Magazine. Jane lives in Reading, Pennsylvania, with her husband and two dogs.
Amelia Verlin
Artist Amelia Verlin
Bio: I grew up in New York and spent many (school) days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I learned about paper and collage early from a couple of artists who took me under their wing but didn't take it up seriously then. I've always felt a need to be creative and was always up to something. The fascination paper - Japanese, Italian, Brazilian, French marbles, Thai, Indian - never left me and, as time allowed, rekindled my interest in working in collage. And then discovering the effects of gold leaf and translucent Japanese sanwa paper and unlimited glazes took it all a step further. My work has been part of group shows at the Cornell Museum in Delray Beach, FL as well as the Five Deuces Galleria in St. Petersburg. I have also taught art to senior citizens and children in Palm Beach County Florida.
Artist Statement: Working on the collages brings me a satisfaction that nothing else does. I always have works in progress and am always aware of the materials I have in stock, often times for years, for when the next inspiration strikes, that unique match of subject and material. Art books inspire me, the masters, old and new. "Coffee table" books are often to be found in my lap. And old Audubon books from which I can cut an illustration or lift a gel are in my house too. Inspiration can come from anywhere, anything that might catch my eye. Some of my works are full but not congested. The closer you look the more you see. Others might be constructed of only several pieces, but they can convey a feeling.
Libby Saylor
Artist Libby Saylor
Bio: I received my BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in
2002. I live and create in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Artist Statement: My work acts as a vehicle for transformation and transmutation of darkness into light, and aims to take any of my stuck, uncomfortable, anxious, and painful emotions, and alchemize them into something more beautiful, hopeful, and pure. My creative work has always been a powerful tool for personal healing.
Currently, I assemble small and delicate mixed media works on paper exploring themes of connection and longing, safety and security, and memories and nostalgia, using my own, original, analog photography.
Johanna Norry
Artist Johanna Norry
Bio: Johanna Norry (she/her/hers) is a fiber artist and teaches weaving, textiles, 2D Design and Color Theory at the University of North Georgia. In 2018, she received an MFA in Fabric Design from the Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, a BFA in Textiles from Georgia State University in 2015, and a BA in Anthropology at Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has been featured in Photo Trouvée Magazine, juried exhibitions and group shows in New York City, New Jersey, New Mexico, Kentucky, Texas, Victoria, BC., and in Georgia at the The Georgia Museum of Art, The Lyndon House, Marcia Wood Gallery, The Bakery, and MINT. In August and September2023, her new woven collage work will be featured in a duo show, Common Threads, with fellow textile artist, Amanda Britton, in the Moon Gallery at Berry College.
Artist Statement: My work employs traditional techniques of weaving, hand knitting, coiling, embroidery and stitching to create work that often combines comforting materials with discomforting or unexpected forms. I take a similar approach when I am collaging and working with family and found photos—mining memories, real and metaphorical archives. My artistic process is to respond, materially, to my research and culminates with art and installations that are themselves a sort of documentation, an accumulation/ manipulation of evidence—incomplete, distorted, a fraction of the truth that remains and is revealed by my material interpretations.
Tre Marsala
Artist Tre Marsala
Bio: My name is Theresa Marsala and I’m a mixed media artist who specializes in vintage modern analog collage. I’m also an “ephemera concierge” that sources materials for artists & collectors from all over the world.
I'm happy to have been a child in the 80's growing up in Brooklyn, NY which molds every piece of art I create. Music, movies, cartoons, comics, books & video games have always kept my mind thinking of ways to create exciting images.
I moved to Jackson, NJ in the early 90’s where I met my best friend & now husband who introduced me to antique/thrift shops and that’s when I started collecting vintage paper goods.
In my late 20’s I was a PA to an art instructor/comic book illustrator with whom I studied drawing & illustration, watercolor & acrylic painting, comic book & classic art technique, as well as abstract art history.
During the Covid shutdown I started selling books & magazines from my huge collection to help artists get the materials they needed at reasonable prices on Instagram. I also created the hashtag #vintagemagmondays to bring the vintage & collage communities together while experimenting with collage techniques myself.
I currently live in Lancaster, PA and spend most weekends digging through antique shops and thrift stores looking for hidden gems.
I was a contributing member of The Sketchbook Project since 2010 and participated in many projects for The Brooklyn Art Library. I’m currently donating mini collage art to multiple Free Little Art Galleries across the country. I’m also a member of Wilder Collage which is a supportive community of collage artists with monthly workshops and open call opportunities.
You can follow me on Instagram @vintrevintage where I can curate your vintage ephemera order, as well as share my collages and antique store finds.
Amanda Petrozzini
Artist Amanda Petrozzini
Bio: Amanda Petrozzini is a self-taught artist who creates mixed media hand-cut collages and photographs. Her art is inspired by nature and textiles. She currently lives in Portland, Maine. Using art as a creative tool for healing and resilience is the primary focus of her work. She mostly works intuitively without much planning ahead and rarely knows what the final result of her artwork will be until it is complete.
Statement: I view art making as an essential tool for well-being. After years of working in the arts and taking care of my two kids, I began making mixed media collages in 2020 as a way to stay grounded. It has opened so many doors for me, and it is my goal to help others feel inspired to make art without judgment and to embrace the flow of creativity.
I have always been drawn to collage due to its accessibility and ability to help me reset and work through ideas, I love the quiet that surrounds me when I am cutting, arranging, and playing with various colors and paper textures.
I also view recycling objects as an important goal of making art in a world that discards so much. Collage allows for the creative reuse of objects. Searching for materials in thrift stores, antique shops, or just around my home has added an extra layer of challenge and fun to making art. A receipt, old ticket stub, or pages from books that have been collecting dust all become materials for my collages. It’s a way of looking at all things as creative objects, and it encourages me to be resourceful.
Other Places to Find Amanda:
"I have worked in the arts in various capacities for several years. I recently helped launch the Double House Arts Collective - a studio arts program for artists with and without disabilities to build community and inclusive creative opportunities. You can also find me here: at owlcatcollage on Instagram and at theuncommoncanvas on Instagram - where I share the work of underrepresented artists and non-mainstream art history."
Art Collaborations:
"I love collaborations, sending artist trading cards, and paper/mail art swaps! Collage provides so many opportunities to connect with other artists and share resources! Email me if interested in collaborating. Here are a couple of recent things I have participated in:
- Round Table Postal Collage Exhibition through Berkeley Commonplace, 2023
- Collage Lab Round Robin, 2022
- Studio iHanna DIY Postcard Swap"
Certifications, Classes & Continuing Education:
-Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, Level 1 & 2 through Trauma-Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute with Cathy Malchioldi
-Expressive Arts Therapy, EMDR, and Sensory Integration: Resourcing, Orienting, and Grounding
- First Aid Arts training in progress
- Releasing Stress & Trauma Through Listening to Your Body (6 week course through HLN)
- Collage for Self Discovery through Shelly Klammer
Publications:
Think Global, Glue Local
Elzbieta Zdunek
Artist Elzbieta Zdunek
Bio: Elzbieta Zdunek is a surrealist collage artist, specializing in digital, predominantly grayscale compositions which closely emanate the textures and visual techniques used in the traditional, analog collage practice.
Exploring themes such as fate and the inevitability of repeating history, loss and loneliness, and curiosity and confusion about one’s own identity, her work derives heavy inspiration from 1920’s silent films and historical theatre. This inspiration is evident in the muted color palette, pseudo-framing technique used to border each piece, and predominant imagery of masks and mannequins. Elzbieta Zdunek began her artistic career as a photographer but began exploring collage-making during the pandemic of 2020.
A self-taught artist, Zdunek’s background of leaving her birthplace, Poland, and emigrating between countries inform her work, and she is currently based in Berlin, Germany. Elzbieta Zdunek seeks to indicate one essential, overarching lesson to viewers of her work: That there is no such thing as objective perspective, and this multi-dimensionality of events is created by the various differing natures of our relationships in regard to those events.
She has exhibited locally in Berlin, as well as in in New York, London and California; her works have also been published in several art magazines, including, Heckmag, Artist Talk, or The Huts. She is also a popular cover art author on the Berlin music scene.
Artist Statement: The quote by the Roman philosopher Phaedrus hasn’t lost its validity since the first century CE: “Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many”. Creating digital compositions in which all of the parts blend seamlessly together, while emanating the textures of ripped paper and ink marks commonly found in analog collage, is my primary goal throughout the artistic process. I want to make the viewer question what medium they are really looking at: digital collage, analog collage, or even photography? By intentionally obscuring the process behind my work, I seek to challenge the common opinion of what is considered ‘art’, and more specifically, what is considered ‘collage’. This sense of confusion surrounding my process also intentionally mirrors the feelings of confusion which I frequently address in the subject matter.
Common motifs in my work include the heads and bodies of mannequins, separated from each other, long stretching hallways with obscured events occurring at the end, stray puzzle pieces, and the eclipse. By placing the parts of each of these systems in contention with one another, I aspire to create a confusing reality which is adjacent to our own. This adjacent reality becomes the stage on which I explore two primary feelings: isolation and lack of agency; the former indicated by figures repeatedly clutching onto something, or in the presence of a multitude of figures yet each one is facing away from the viewer; the latter, by emanating scenes on a stage, using imagery of theater materials, and bordering the pieces with a frame-like outline reminiscent of the framing of silent movies. This lack of agency applies to the viewer too, who becomes almost a voyeur and an unwilling participant.
The homage and reference to the silent films draw upon our collective state 100 years ago, and compare this era to our own, which is shockingly similar. Especially in the wake of the 2020 global pandemic and the 2022 war, although we have made 100 years of technological advancements, it seems that we are still just as lonely, and just as in-adeptly navigating the world around us.
ia Llamozas
Artist ia Llamozas
Bio: María Sylvia Llamozas A.K.A ia Llamozas, was born in 1983 and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. Having grown up in a tropical country, very near to the ocean and surrounded by exuberant vegetation and fauna, she fell in love with nature. Throughout her life, she has also been fascinated by art and storytelling, which drove her to study Journalism.
Once graduated, she moved to Barcelona, Spain, she delved into the practice of collage art. What she cherishes the most from this medium is the ability to tell stories through the images that she collects and puts together with artistic joy.
In 2020, ia started to teach online courses on how to create collage and everything about this wonderful medium. With more than 350 students worldwide, what she loves the most is helping others to express themselves and find joy and calm through the act of creating. She primarily works with corporate teams and has been lucky to host experiences for companies such as Apple, Intel, Yelp, Etsy, and Target among others. Her work has been exhibited in several cities in Spain including Madrid, where her work was selected by “La Colect” for its collective exhibition of emerging artists in Madrid (2015), and Barcelona, where she won 1st place in a collective exhibition of Ibero-American artists (June 2018). She has also created content for brands like Airbnb and Neubau Eyewear, as well as created editorial illustrations for magazines such as Vogue Spain. Selected press features include interviews with The Art Gorgeous and The Jealous Curator.
She currently lives in Tenerife on the Canary Islands with her husband and French bulldog Lola, where she creates from her home studio.
Artist Statement: I like to tell stories with my artwork. Whether it is breaking an image to combine it with something new or playing with cutouts or cyanotypes, paper as a medium allows me to create and treasure the ordinary. For me, my artworks are all about joy. By mixing many colors and creating compositions from unexpected common objects, I aim to create an atmosphere that is inspiring and that connects people to the essence of joy. A page in a magazine, a leaf on the floor, or an object from the past. My art seeks to exalt these little, common things by encouraging people to see them differently and making us appreciate something that could otherwise be easily overlooked. They serve as a gentle reminder to live and enjoy the present moment.
Searching for materials is a big part of my creative process. Whether it's making my own paper, or being in nature, I love to search for leaves, flowers, and branches that are incredibly beautiful but are about to wither. I like to preserve them so I can include them in my work. I also use images from magazines which is another quest I love to dive into. Flea markets, kiosks, and specialized stores, the selection process is very intuitive. I let myself go. It's almost a visceral instinct that makes me connect with an image, something that inspires me and that I follow blindly. As for mindset, I focus on being present and mindful of what I am creating, as well as the feelings of joy and positivity that I aim for my art to inspire.
Jennifer Gatz
Artist Jennifer Gatz
Bio: Jennifer Gatz is an analog collage artist, creative problem solver and collector of interesting papers in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She holds a BS degree in Art and Interior Design from Valparaiso University, with continued studies at Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and Kalamazoo Book Arts Center. Her work has been published in Cut Me Up magazine and exhibited in Michigan at Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Box Factory for the Arts and Gallery Uptown; Vayo Collage Gallery in Rochester, New York; and Lost and Found Gallery in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Artist Statement: I enjoy arranging things. Always have. Furniture in a dollhouse, junk in a drawer, words on a page. Surprisingly, my approach to collage is not organized or predictable. Starting with a word or image for inspiration, I rely on intuition as I select, cut, arrange, and paste found materials to create something new. Order from chaos. Working without a plan pushes me beyond my comfort zone. Collage gives me the courage to embrace spontaneity. My work is about composition, color and the relationship of images that come together to offer a story or capture a mood. The title of the piece is also part of the narrative. Creating art is a gift that allows me to communicate across language barriers and engage in a visual conversation that builds relationships. My intention is to create a moment so viewers can enter another world to smile, connect and wonder.
@jengatz | www.jennifergatz.com
Fine Art America shop: https://fineartamerica.com/art/jennifer+gatz
Selena Dixon
Artist Selena Dixon
Bio: Selena Dixon was born in upstate New York in 1953. After graduating from Stony Brook University, she moved to Texas in 1975 to attend the University of Texas at Dallas for a graduate education in Geosciences. She has worked as a geologist until her retirement in 2013. Selena made quilts most of her life, learning and developing a love of color.
A collage class introduced her to the artistic process in 2010. College art classes, artist workshops and creative exchange with local artists’ aid in her continued artistic development. Selena Dixon currently lives in Dallas, TX.
Selena’s collage and acrylic work has been recently included in several local group shows and was selected for the 2018, 2020 and 2021 National Collage Society Juried Exhibit. Her collage won 3rd place at The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art BIENNIAL 2015 show: ORIGINS IN GEOMETRY. “Romance Mandala”, a collage, was accepted and shown at Craighead Green Gallery New Texas Talent show in 2016. Her work was also featured in Dallas Art 214 Exhibit in two locations in May 2019.
Artist Statement: Vintage, modern and hand-painted papers serve as the medium of choice and collage as the process. Patterned or printed papers taken out of original context compel the viewer to engage and develop a narrative full of questions and possibilities. A form often develops as color and shape is added and layered to build visual complexity.
Seemingly random juxtapositions of elements come together to create a new image and new meaning. For me, a successful work is one where you wish to linger.
Find more about Selena on instagram and Flickr:
instagram.com/selenaart123
flickr.com/photos/selenadixon_art
MJ Connors Davison
Artist MJ Connors Davison
Bio: MJ Connors Davison, Versatile, mixed media artist, has a bold aesthetic inspired by the natural world and other-worldly realms. Her primary medium is collage which she applies to personal bodies of work, collaborative projects, and integrative guidance supporting psychedelic journeys. For all creative endeavors, topics are methodically and intuitively approached so that divine proportion is balanced with the subconscious mind's expression. MJ has lived and worked on the East and West coasts and she’s established herself in the PNW as a mixed media artist specializing in collage. Working freelance, she exhibits and teaches this powerful medium of expression.
Artist Statement: I play with identity and space, creating collages as portraits and environments. Each is a portal for interacting with the subconscious mind. Imagery that evokes the archetypal, ancestral, and natural worlds inspire me the most. Timeless cultural references are juxtaposed with those of the contemporary and popular. Oftentimes, elements of architecture give frameworks to realms that exist simultaneously indoors and out. My family of origin and identity as a woman within American culture are frequent, veiled subjects. Typically, my work begins with one point of focus from which a surrounding world is built in layers upon golden ratio frameworks. Then, my process continues with torn edges and those precisely cut, sometimes using paint to delineate areas of movement. Text, if any, is minimal, used as form, or as suggestive clues. My goal as an artist is to invite each viewer into the role of co-creator, in order to experience new stories, viewpoints, and insights as they are transported into alternate realities.
Keddy Ann Outlaw
Artist Keddy Ann Outlaw
Bio: Keddy Ann Outlaw is a Signature Member of the National Collage Society. After indulging herself in a Bachelor’s degree in Art at SUNY Plattsburgh, she got practical and completed a Master’s degree in Library Science at SUNY Albany.
She managed a public library in Houston for the duration of her career. During that time, she had poems, short stories and book reviews published in local and national magazines.
Keddy started making collages in high school. Later, she studied collage and printmaking at the both the Houston Art League and the Glassell School of Art (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). Her mixed media art includes monoprinted, silk screened and relief-printed papers.
Keddy enjoys entering juried shows and is a member of the Visual Arts Alliance Exhibitions committee in Houston, TX. She has won cash awards from the National Collage Society. Her work has been in shows at the Houston Jung Center, the Houston Art League, the Art Car Museum (Houston), Archway Gallery (Houston), arthouse (Austin, TX) and the Riverside Arts Center, Ypsilanti, MI. Her solo show of collages appeared on the Caladan Gallery site in 2011. Her art has been published in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and UU World, as well as on the cover of the Houston Jung Center catalog.
Artist Statement: Why collage? I could say that like most collage artists, I like repurposing found imagery and making something new. Most of all, I find great freedom in collage. I find complexity, connection and contradiction.
Most of my collages strive for harmony. I enjoy the journey from the chaos of a tabletop covered in scraps of paper towards a balanced composition. For me, collage exists as a mysterious land beneath our ordinary lives. It is an “otherworld” where anything can happen. I sometimes think of my collages as picture poems.
Creativity is not always logical and calls up my powers of intuition and playfulness. Perhaps I just enjoy rearranging the contents of the entire world! Especially in my black and white collages, I am pleased when the collages have some sense of being eternal. I don’t want to live in a world where everything can be explained.
I have studied printmaking and have found that adding printed papers brings in a dash of the artist’s hand.
My collage art is influenced by magical realism, Jungian psychology, American history, feminism and a lifelong love of symbols.
Find Keddy on instagram: @collagista_outlaw
Martha Garland
About Martha: Martha Garland, was born in Ottawa, Canada and is currently based in Baltimore, US. Martha is a late-in-life, mostly self-taught artist who works in mixed-media and encaustic. Her work can be described as surreal, whimsical and maybe a little mysterious.
For more information about Martha's art, visit Instagram: @waxpaperscissorsmg
Kathy Cornwell
Artist Kathy Cornwell
Artist Statement: I create abstract mixed media collages with striking graphic impact by employing layers of organic shapes and mark making. By creating my own collage papers and elements, I imbue them with my voice and personal meaning. I further my control of the imagery and symbolism by creating my own stencils and masks and using them to infuse my inner world into the layers of my prints.
I collect inspiration—whether it be a shadow, a doodle, or a plant that I discover on a hike—and use it in a monoprint printmaking process, either directly (in the case of plants) or by creating a mask based on the inspiration. The resulting artwork does not look like this piece of inspiration, but rather has that inspirational element as part of its layers. For example, I may see a shadow, take a photo of it, and cut a mask with that shape to use in printmaking. As those prints become more layered and are added to a collage, the shadow retreats into the layers and becomes part of a bigger story.
My collages are bold and colorful, striking the viewer from across the room while enticing them to come look closely at the details within the layers. Negative space plays a vital role in my collages, taking the viewer’s eye on a delightful journey throughout the piece.
My work urges the viewer (and me) to appreciate and accept ourselves just as we are today, to see ourselves in our beautiful totality, and to love ourselves unconditionally and unapologetically. A key element of my process involves studying—and celebrating—the transformative effect of cutting or ripping a paper into a shape. This inquiry into shape reflects my search for acceptance regarding the changes in my body as I experience menopause and the effects of breast cancer treatment. My imperfect and aging body is my home for this lifetime, and it is a miraculous and lovable thing in spite of (or perhaps because of) my curved spine, lumpy and nippleless post-mastectomy breasts, bulging leg veins, thinning and graying hair, wrinkled skin, and drooping jowls. There are many elements in my art that look like odd creatures. By presenting the viewer with these shapes that are imperfectly perfect, I’m declaring that all shapes (of paper and of people) are beautiful and valuable.
Biography: Kathy Cornwell spent years working as an assistant to glassblowers and as a writer for visual artists. This felt like being a wallflower stationed at the punch bowl at a dance, dutifully doling out cups of punch to grateful dancers but missing out on the reason she came. Finally—in her 50s—Kathy abandoned the punch bowl and joined in the dance. Her exuberant and bold mixed media collages have been in numerous group exhibitions in the United States and shortlisted for the 2022 Contemporary Collage Magazine Awards. She lives in Virginia with her husband and their rescue dog.
