Libby Saylor
Bio: I have been making art since I was very young and used art-making as a way to manage my anxiety as a little girl. Around age five, I used to doodle on white mailing envelopes and coffee filters using bright Magic Markers. And I would take chubby wax Crayons, peel the paper off, and scrape the sides of them on the lip of a jar. Watching the colorful shavings drop into the jar, I would create a work of art with the layers of colors. I didn't realize it at the time, and just thought it was something fun and beautiful to do. But this was the beginning of my obsession with color and beauty.
I went to art college in Philadelphia and studied painting, drawing, and photography. I fell in love with all of these mediums, but ultimately chose photography as my path of study. However, I was never satisfied with just a photograph, and always wanted to incorporate my love of paint and mark- making into my photographic work.
I created my first collage series in college as a way to manage and process the heavy emotions surrounding my relationship with my mother. To this day, that body of work is my most cherished. And this is how my love of collage began.
Currently, I am an artist, living and creating in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I construct small and delicate collages on paper using my own photography (usually color Xeroxes of my images, but sometimes original photographs), as well as old family photographs, acrylic, and graphite.
I received my BFA in Photography from the University of the Arts in 2002 and have been exhibiting my work in shows, competitions, and publications for over two decades.
Artist Statement: I am inspired by the diminutive, the precious, the miniature, and by working small, my delicate collages on paper invite intimacy and closeness. I also like to play with themes of secrecy and mystery, and I keep certain details hidden in my collages, choosing to reveal only slivers of recognizable objects. The rest I want to leave up to interpretation.
I often format my paper constructions in vertical rectangles, leaving substantial white space around the edges of each collage. This creates a keyhole-like entryway into a quiet world of visual pleasure. As I create, I focus on the edges of images, observe colors and patterns, and search for a mate for each edge. I typically utilize Xerox copies of my own original photographic work, as well as old family photographs, and I work exclusively on paper surfaces.
The meaning in my work derives not from the subject matter of the photograph—which to me, is quite irrelevant—but from the perfection of discovering how two or three seemingly disparate pictures can somehow line up perfectly to create a new visual experience once paired.
