collage poem

If you didn't know this was about collage, you might be concerned ;-)

VISAGE

Was I supposed to ask?
It would be a lie if I said it
crossed my mind.
You were lying there;
and you looked so beautiful.
I wanted to use you.
I wanted to cut you.
And whom,
and whom was I supposed to ask
anyway?
Another drink and I'll decide.
I'll decide
if you should be part of it.
But "it" is not really "a plan".
It's not a premeditated thing,
for the most part.
Sometimes it "just happens"
y'know.
I'll cut you a bit
and I'll move you around.
The gray color of your skin...
it really is beautiful.

(copyright Steven Specht, 2015)

Student collages

As part of a creativity seminar that I am teaching this semester at Utica College (Utica, NY), I did a collage workshop one evening. Here are some of the collages my students created (the photography was not done under the best lighting conditions; but I think you can appreciate the good work that my students did):

Synchronicity in Pennsylvania

If you happen to be a regular visitor to this blog, you are aware of how much I like synchronicity and serendipity (are they sisters?). My friend and fellow collage artist Anthony Morgan had a very cool synchronous experience recently. Anthony is owner and chef at The Black Gryphon restaurant in Elizabethtown, PA (just south of Hershey!). Anthony is a great friend of the arts (music and visual... and culinary!). He features artwork from a different artist every quarter at the restaurant (and charges NO commission on sales). This quarter he is featuring the awesome collage art of Joe Castro (from Philadelphia, PA). Whilst hanging Joe's work, Toeny noticed that one of the elements in a 2012 piece of Joe's was identical to one of the elements in Toeny's recent collage (2014), which, interestingly, was meant to be inspired by Joe's style of work. Here are the two collages (Joe's on top, Toeny's under it). Can you see the common element? Toeny thinks it might be from an old LIFE magazine, but he is not certain:

Anthony Morgan

Just wanted to give a "shout out" to my friend and fellow collage artist Anthony Morgan (from Ono, PA). He was one of 16 Award-winners at this year's National Collage Society "Wish You Were Here" Postcard Exhibit. You can see more at www.nationalcollage.com. Here's Anthony's winning 4" x 6" collage entitled "Boy Wander". Congrats Toeny!

QR code project update

This has been a tedious (but also an interesting) project. I put it away for a couple weeks because it just didn't seem like I was getting much progress. This past week, I tackled it again. Now I am seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel" and am re-energized to finish it. I would like to have it in the up-coming show in Syracuse (which means it really should be finished this weekend). I will have MUCH more to say about this project when it is complete. I see this work on many different levels (i.e., high tech/low tech; participative/interactive; performance, in a way; self-referential). More soon...

New piece and a sketch

Here's my latest piece entitled "The Professor Explained to the Children, 'This is why you suck'" (8" x 10"; 11" x 14" framed). This piece will be part of the upcoming "Id/Ego/Superego" exhibit at The Tech Garden in Syracuse, NY. Steve Nyland is the Director and curator of this show. A sketch is shown below.

just some sketches

Not much to say this evening (I'm tired). Just thought I'd share some sketches from this evening...