October 2009 Archives

This work by Ulrike Meutzner is quite cool, she is a graphic designer living in Australia with some very inspired collage illustrations done in her sketchbooks and for magazines.

I love how collage can mean different things to different people! In the case of Sarah, collages are a stable, organized approach (instead of a commonly haphazard free-for-all). She's a bit of a perfectionist—you can probably tell just by looking at her collages—and her they help her to relax and collect her thoughts. Everyone has a unique reason to collage, and it's always a great one! I wish Sarah the best of luck in finding her place as an artist.

Name (Real or Screename): Sarah Abbott, aka watersounds
URL (Blog, Website): www.flickr.com/watersounds, sarah-abbott.blogspot.com
Location (Where are you from?): South Yorkshire, England

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: A neat, ordered and less complicated version of the world.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: mostly I use things just lying around. I like to collect a whole stack of things for future use till I find a place for them. At the moment I have a big crush on a certain type of blue that I like to pretend is 'my blue', and I always love the beiges and browns of old paper. I use a lot of envelopes and maps, tape, things I find in the street. other than my paper stash, I sometimes add in typewritten text or some found photographs, or some of my own. I like searching around ebay for things, especially for old postcards of mountains/hills/lakes. I can't bring myself to use them for work just yet.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: The first 'real' collage I remember making was when I was studying for my A levels. I remember sticking the neck and head of a giraffe onto a woman's body, I think she was stood on a giant cake - and I remember being like 'hey, are we allowed to do this?' It kind of went on from there, and I never asked permission again.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I recently graduated and I've moved back home right now. I'm not having much luck in the job department so far. At the moment I'm keeping busy volunteering at a museum in the conservation department, where I get to see a lot of 'old stuff' behind the scenes. I'm also making badges and doing bits of drawing for myself, for friends, or whoever else comes along. I'm still coming to terms with calling myself an artist, when do you become one?

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I do. I graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University this year with a degree in fine art. I specialised in printmaking but I found it pretty hard to get the results I wanted. I don't think I'm so good with experimenting, and if things don't look how I want them to look, I'm not very forgiving. A lot of pages have been ripped out of sketchbooks this way. It's probably a lot better to work with mistakes but I just see them as that and get rid of them, or they drive me a little bit insane. I think that's why I like collage, you can move things around and stick things over the top and be a little bit more relaxed about it.

I love these unconventional haunted house drawings on vintage book covers, by Shannon Freshwater, found on Flickr.

Visit her:
website, blog

I don't usually post about my own work on Notpaper, but I don't think there is any harm in doing so to promote my first solo exhibit! If anyone is in Toronto this Friday, please stop by to meet me and to see my work in person (or come and check it out until November 12th. Read on for more information.

Entitled “The Royal Family”, this mixed media collage series was inspired by a pair of scrapbooks found at the St. Lawrence antique market filled with newspaper clippings of Queen Elizabeth and her family during the 1950's and 60's. Aprile's collages recreate the scrapbooks, changing the composition and adding materials to give each page a deeper meaning. All of these pieces are created on the actual scrapbook pages themselves, resulting in brittle and delicate collages which further the character and feelings of nostalgia in each piece.

Aprile had tried many different artistic mediums but her restlessness always led to back to collage work where she feels most comfortable. She loves assembling, disassembling, and rearranging the compositions as well as creating contradictions and versatile interpretations for viewers.

Shelby started her collages in a unique way, to illustrate her blog posts and to liven things up a bit. I absolutely love her aesthetic, and it could be because I love Urban Outfitters—where she is currently working. It seems like a perfect match to me! She has updated her blog since I put together this post, so take a look at the new collages!

Name (Real or Screename): Shelby DiMarco
URL (Blog, Website): www.fleurlux.blogspot.com
Location (Where are you from?): Los Angeles

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Old tenant building with peeling wallpaper, old anatomy, rocks & minerals.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I like to work with old books, old letters, lots of magazines, appealing images of old anatomy, old science, textures of water stained bricks, fashion images from random blogs, rocks & minerals, peeling wallpaper & maps.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I've been making collages for about a year or so. What made me start was my wanting to vivify my blog, everything just went from there…

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: All my work is solo. But soon I start work with the Urban Outfitters creative team.

Ola's tiny little abstract collages are unique and I am definitely intrigued by them. I find it difficult to work small—I know that ATCs are popular with collage—and I admire his patience and attention to detail. He mentions his work looking a bit like gems and minerals, which is close to my heart (I used to collect them as a kid!)

Name (Real or Screename): Ola Wikström
URL (Blog, Website): http://www.intressant.nu/portfolio (my portfolio), http://jagvilltillaruba.blogspot.com (blog, in swedish)
Location (Where are you from?): Stenhamra, Sweden

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Using old magazines cut up in 1x1cm pieces, I create.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I prefer magazines, but have lately started looking at books with large photos, due to the better quality in paper and print. Basically, anything that is glossy paper, thin and with a lovely texture, pattern or colour.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I have been doing collages for as long as I can remember but I've been using this technique since 2002. Looking back on what made me start doing these I think it came gradually, my collages, like my photography, kept getting more and more abstract, and finally I got the idea of only using 1x1cm squares, and haven't turned back since.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: For now, I work in another profession, as an executive producer at a digital interactive/motion design/production company. But the aim is to be able to live off what I'm creating. But that has to take whatever time it needs, I don't want to rush things by making art that for the purpose of rushing things, it's more important for me to create than to sell and live off it.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I've studied and worked as a photographer. I have a love/hate relationship with photography, but when it comes to my collages it's all love.