I love that finding an amazing piece of ephemera from the past and imagining how someone could consider it garbage is how many of us start, or at least start to be inspired again. I know a lot of my collage series start with that one great find, and it seems that Kirsten's discovery of a pictorial encyclopedia was significant in making her start cutting and pasting. While I enjoy her collages with black and white illustrations, I find her work with magazine collages refreshing (so I've selected a few of each to share).

Kirsten Nørgaard
(stensamler, means stone collector)
flickr
Danish living in Italy

Describe your work in 10 words or less.

Creating collage is a bit like writing poetry.

What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!

Magazines, old envelopes and stamps, an old childrens' encyclopedia from the 50's.

How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?

I've always liked creating collages but it's only within the past year that I've been doing it more frequently. My husband's childrens' encyclopedia was about to be thrown out, but then I saw the images, and something clicked.

Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?

I'm a poet and translator of technical texts.

Do you have any formal art training?

Only very little during the university years.

Explain your favourite techniques.

Just scissors and a glue stick. And then I discovered the packaging tape technique as well.

Describe your favourite piece ever created.

I like the one with a little girl who is about to drop some plates. I like the movement in the lines over the stamp and the 'P' - as in poetry.

What other artists do you admire?

If you mean collage artists, I like Daniele Villa and the people on the Scrapiteria blog.

Thanks Kirsten!