Jessalyn's work is whimsical, colourful, magical, rainbow fun. Those are literally the words that have just come into my head. Her work is so playful, she seems like such a colourful person as well. What makes all of this work great is that she uses a lot of white negative space in her collages, so the whimsy stands out while not being too crazy.
Jessalyn Aaland
aalandisland.com
Oakland, CA
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Communities of folks enjoying life. Old books + stickers = fun.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I am a really huge fan of saturated color, so I love National Geographic up until the 1970's, but also in general I use other magazines and books from the same era (especially travel, craft/art, and nature books), old children's books (I really love the illustrations in books by Golden Press, like Golden Nature guides or their children's encyclopedia set. Patterns are also very important to my work, so I use a global palette ranging from the Euro-American quilting tradition, African art, Islamic mosaics, Native American motifs, and abstract geometric shapes. I also find these images sometimes in vintage wrapping paper, but not as much lately - recently I've been trying to pull them out of other things. The last key ingredient to this mashup is stickers, which I've loved since I was a kid (my mom is a big craft nut) and are key to the textures I like to create, where there is a bit of shiny here and there.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: Since I was pretty young. I always identified as a writer when I was a child and so my work has always been very narrative. When I was hanging out doing general kid stuff a lot of times I would cut up my parents' JC Penney and Sears catalogues to create my "dream homes." I did this a lot as a child (in addition to reading) so I never understood how anyone could be bored ever.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I am an artist, writer, and musician but "professionally" I am a public school teacher (right now, high school English).
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I remember taking art classes when I was young, like ceramics, and in high school, but I never really learned proper drawing and painting. I think I took up collage because it's the way that has always made the most sense to
me, and I think I have stronger skills in composition than say, freehand drawing. I did take a couple of studio art classes in undergrad but my school's art department was more conceptual and not really focused on practical skills
training.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: My process involves going through piles of books, or stuff I have already cut up until I find the feeling I am looking for, like colors, themes, etc. As far as technique then I just bust out the xacto knife and mat and go to town until I begin mentally cutting out every image I see for the rest of the day, like pictures on my bathroom wall. I think at this point I've got this technique down enough so that I could give any Japanese schoolgirl a serious run for her money.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: Of mine? I'm not sure but there is one piece I have a special place in my heart for and am reluctant to part with. It's a collaboration my friend Matt started for a musical project we were doing called "Treasure Nest." I think it's important to me because I had a hard time visualizing where to build upon what he started. In the end, though, I really love how it looks and I think it's so special because it taught me some things as far as collaborating, a skill Matt also helped me develop in playing music together.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: I think as far as those whose work resembles mine, easily I'd say Joseph Cornell and Henry Darger. Surrealism influenced me a lot when I was younger and I've always been drawn to "outsider" art because of what I guess you could
call simplicity? I'm not sure if that's the right word, maybe more so a lack of pretense, honesty, earnestness--love for craft? Also for a while I've been into
contemporary artists like Chris Johanson and Jockum Nordstrum who do these really flat paintings. Johanson's work is very colorful and tends toward the theme of communities and relationships between people, which is also
a trait of Nordstrum's work. His stuff is less colorful, but sometimes also incorporates collage and has a lot of do with music and human interactions. I would like to reference more people that aren't just white dudes but those are just the names off the top of my head. Also since I am a writer too
I would add that Trinie Dalton's writing is totally like reading sometime I wrote myself. She is also a musician and artist and has been a teacher so it is nice to see someone else working along interdisciplinary lines in a parallel
community.
Thanks Jessalyn!
![](http://www.notpaper.net/images/masters1.JPG")
yay!