Project Time

I have been scarce during the past week. Here's why:

Yes, I mistreat my yoga mat by employing it as a knee and bum pad when I'm working on art projects. I like to spread out on the floor when I'm working, and hardwood ain't comfy. And those "scraps" on the mat are actually individual blades of grass.

 

I've yet to add the subject to this background. The image is glossy due to the combination of magazine paper and Mod Podge.

I have been working on my latest cut-paper collage. These pieces are incredibly time-consuming, and they keep both my brain and my hands active, leaving little time for some of my other favorite creative outlets - meaning blogging.

Anyone seeing this piece who is mostly familiar with the work I did in undergrad or grad school might be surprised. My undergraduate work was process-oriented, primarily monochromatic and lacked narrative - aside from its conceptual back story. I "discovered" narrative during grad school, but the majority of my thesis work was digital, dark in subject matter, and the narratives were applied with a light hand. Its making was still very much inspired by process, specifically the processes of repetition and tool use (meaning anything from a pencil to cyborg-like additions).

I get real pleasure from making up colorful scenes like the one above.  I am definitely inspired by a folk art aesthetic, children's art and quilting. This work is still very much tied into labor-intensive processes - from finding the perfect colored paper in magazines to cutting the right shapes  (usually many of them!) from the paper. If I could do these collages easily or quickly, they just wouldn't be as satisfying. Figuring out how to express the idea of an object existing in the real world through cut paper is a challenge I enjoy. Creating "grass," for instance, is a good example of what I mean. In this piece, I am using long individual blades in the piece above, while in other pieces I have created grass quite differently - sometimes it needs to be short or choppy or windblown or ragged or... you get the idea. 

I get to tell stories through cut paper, while also exploring texture, color and shape. These pieces are so fun to make, and I could see myself expanding this way of working in several different directions.

Thanks for taking a look! Come back for updates - I will definitely share the finished piece. What are you working on these days? I would love to see...

Cheers,

Alison :)