May 2009 Archives

Elke's collages seem to have such sparkle, I love the textural look and little ornate accents here and there. She mixes the right amount of collage in her art journaling so that it doesn't look too "scrapbooky," a term I think I just invented. Read on for a tip on how she makes her collages look aged and warm!

Elke Glendenning
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elkemay/
San Francisco Bay Area, California

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Mixed media collage with found and gathered bits.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I collect old books, magazines, tissue paper, sheet music and paper at the recycling center. I like to add color with acrylic paints, gel pens and water soluble oil pastels. I've become a big fan of the old pencil!!  I use stamps and ink.  I like to sew on pieces with my sewing machine.  I love rub on type and old postage stamps. I use my photographs. Just learned about packing tape transfers--super fun! And the final magic--walnut oil to make things look aged and warm!

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I started making collages about a year ago... I was going through a rough time and a good friend introduced me to art journaling--combining the narrative of my life with images and art. I become hooked instantly, and now I can't stop! It is so freeing to work in a journal and not have the pressure of creating a "piece of art" to hang up. It's where the magic happens.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: Ah, I wish! I work as a physical therapist. The art making is just for me.

Belinda mentions that making something from nothing is what got her started in collage, and I think it's really a main theme of her current collage techniques. Her "hole punch" assemblages really are utitlizing that entire concept, they are minimalistic--yet are colourful, creative, and clever art pieces. I love her work, maybe because I never thought of it--I already make "paper confetti" out of my old scraps as well!

Belinda Kemp aka gretchenmist
www.gretchenmist.blogspot.com, www.gretchenmist.etsy.com
Melbourne, Australia

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Considered yet automatic, intuitive, semi-abstract, semi-illustrative, sometimes minimal.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I love to work with print-making paper that I colour with layers of pencil then gouache or watercolour, and magazines--my favourites are interior mags and alternative fashion mags.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I've been making collages for as long as I can remember! I used to cover books and make diaries with my collages. I think the idea of making something out of 'nothing' and making use of my collection of magazines was what made me start--it seemed crazy to have the pages/images that I loved sitting in closed magazines in a pile when they could have a life in the day to day.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I look after our 2 little kids at home as well. I used to work as a graphic designer but I am hoping to be as full-time as I can as an artist when the kids get to school age.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: Nope! I'm self-taught.

Wow, I love the retro feel of Bill's collages. Every part of them really makes them feel this way, the bright snappy colours, the movement, the how-to illustrations, the business-like ephemera, and the wonderful shapes. This work just makes me feel happy, like dancing to some "rock n' roll" music.

Bill Zindel
www.wickedcobra.com, Flickr
El Cerrito, CA

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: 8-track rotisserie fender-bender for the ironic taxidermy set.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: 60s and 70s mags, presstype, papers from old ledgers and notebooks, ticket stubs, printer's marks, old catalogs.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I remember making them when I was pretty young, before high school, getting ideas from art books and 60s album art. (My older sister is an artist and introduced me to a lot of art and music). I started focusing more on collage in recent years because it doesn't take a lot of space or materials and it's not stinky and toxic like painting and printmaking.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I'm a designer at an interactive agency.

Jorge Chamorro / La Cáscara Amarga
www.lacascaraamarga.com
Madrid, Spain

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: To try to be free trying to work for freedom.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: Everything (sorry for not being specific).

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: Not much time, about 4-5 years, but I've always been working in graphic design, with which it often has many things in common.

Pandabold makes drawings with an infusion of collage, something I thought really stood out. I love how his pseudonym really reflects his work, it's solely in black and white and it is very bold! Every piece has a message, but the message I'm getting is that mixing mediums is a wonderful thing.

Pandabold
www.pandabold.com
Nancy, France

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: "Panda" (something about black & white) + "Bold" (something about type)

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I don't like to draw for someone, even if I do it rarely. That's not my job, you know. Anyway, it's impossible for me to draw on demand, because I can have no ideas for several weeks.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: Collage is a recent practice I started two years ago. I've included it in my drawings, because I felt a bit limited in my style. And it allows me to spend less time on an drawing, no more than ten minutes. It's perfect!

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I'm a graphic designer. It's another "creative" profession but not an "artistic" one, for which I try to be as rigorous as possible. I really like the constraints of design, but I need the full spontaneous freedom of drawing too, to find my personal balance.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I have studied in an Art School, from 1995 to 2000. I could explore there the practices of graphic design and drawing. I think I've needed both of them since then.

I've been following Marieke's blog for a while, and I'm happy to share her work with you here! She has a huge body of work and I could look at her blog archives for hours. What's different about Marieke's collages is that you can really see ideas coming together on her pages. Many of us use collage for generating ideas, but then only we understand them. I like that we can all see her brain at work.

Marieke Berghuis
www.traces.nl
Paris, France.
(I come from Amsterdam, Netherlands.)

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Graphic, letters, paper, different techniques.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: Waste paper, such as candy wrappers, fashion magazines such as Vogue Italia, photos I made, photos I found at flea markets. It can be anything really.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I guess since I was very little. I always used to work in my mother's studio. The first work I recall was a set of collage postcards for my high school's final exam in arts with the theme "goodbye".

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I also do graphic design. I used to be an attorney but quit that 2 years ago.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I am currently in the middle of it. I started at the Academy for fine arts in The Hague and study now at Ecole Estienne in Paris.

Sorry for the hiatus, I am glad to be back let me tell you!

Just a side note, I will be updating the version of Movable Type this site runs on, so if Notpaper looks funny in the next few days that's why...

While I've been gone I've been collecting some interviews from amazing artists, so be excited!