Here's another small work (3" x 5"; 5" x 7" framed)that came together pretty quickly the other night. It's a minimalist piece with "only" two elements (although, with the uniqueness of the frame, I could argue that the collage might be considered being comprised of 3 elements... or two-and-a-half ;-). In cases of minimalist collages, I think it is absolutely essential that the placement be precise (exquisite). I think I have accomplished that, in this collage.
It's pretty early to "officially announce" this (i.e., maybe something better will emerge), but I believe this will be my entry into this year's NCS small format exhibit. We'll see...
I was on a bit of a roll with posting on this blog during the first half of January. I anticipated a pause as I was preparing my paper for the Southern Humanities Conference in San Antonio. The trip went well and the paper was well-received, I think. I had to get back into the swing of things at school, upon my return. THEN things got really bad at Utica University. The Board of Trustees, and the administration, has announced the elimination (they call it "sunsetting") of numerous programs at the school, including philosophy, geology, sociology, anthropology, chemistry and therapeutic recreation. I feel like I have experienced another death in my life. Higher education has been on a downward spiral for decades, and I have always spent a good deal of time and effort, fighting the degradation of academics at the institutions at which I have been on faculty. But, I finally feel like I have lost the battle. It's really quite sad. BUT, perhaps it's liberating as well, for me. I am privileged to be approaching 64 years of age and approaching retirement (I could retire this week, if I wanted to). But my heart breaks for my younger colleagues and for the entire institution of higher education. It's all about the tuition money-grab and job-training (which I don't consider "higher education". I need to extract myself emotionally now, and do the best job I can do as a university professor in my classroom. I will certainly have much more time to devote to collage soon. In the meantime, I will share these two images, that I found while cleaning and organizing my collage stash last night. I LOVE these weird images! That's why collage is DEFINITELY the medium for me. When I am not creating collage, I thoroughly enjoy looking at all of the interesting images!
Have I mentioned lately that I love collage? ;-)
So... I can't decide if this is a sketch, or a finished piece. I will decide tomorrow (or in days to come). I won't make a "permanent" decision if I have enjoyed some beer. I do love it though.
I submitted this exhibition proposal to one of our excellent local art galleries. If anyone sees this and might be interested, please let me know.
I'm very excited to have completed this piece today! I had posted a "sketch" of the composition in an earlier post. It's nice to have it completed. It's strange that I do not have a title for it, as of yet. Typically, titles emerge for me very freely. I just don't have it for this one yet. The image of this young woman was so compellingly beautiful. When I saw this single page at the auction in Pennsylvania last year, I just HAD to have it. I was worried that I would hang on to it for too long, waiting for a very special moment to use it. But the composition emerged fairly quickly in the studio at the end of 2022. The cactus flower elements are from a calendar that used to belong to my mother-in-law, Peg; who passed away unexpectedly last October. A-HA! As I wrote that, a title just emerged.... "In Memory of Margaret". Yes!
Happy New Year to one and all! I am looking forward to a creative and productive year ahead. And I wish the same for all of you. One of my resolutions for the year is to "get my chops up" with regard to my music-playing (it will take some hard work to get to where I was prior to the pandemic). But I will also continue to create collages throughout the year; and I am looking forward to "stretching" a bit with my collage work. I have TONS of large frames, even though my work tends to be small (usually smaller than 16" x 20"). So I am looking forward to trying some large format pieces. I have also recently been experimenting with abstract works comprised of architectural elements. Here are some initial "sketches"...
