Collage  

(the cut and paste kind)

Collage is like our written language in that many different elements or thoughts are put together in an understandable order.  It might be said, “Collage is like music in that the various sounds and vibrations that a composer hears are gathered together and given a form that we can perceive”.  Collage is a gathering process.  In my work it is glued together to make a new whole.  I collect brochures, post cards when traveling, magazines, old photographs in my studio, and tons of slides and photographs.  There are always piles around.  Even when I use my photos I sometimes need a neutral background or apiece of sky.  The imagery is sometimes rather surrealistic in treatment.  But they are so carefully crafted that you can’t see all of the sections.  They are smooth and flat.  The blending is closer to painting.  I have often called them paper paintings.

Gluing gets to be a drag. I do it beautifully just like a book binder, after years of gluing my collages together I am happy to do some on the computer.  I don’t just copy the method I use for cut and paste collages.  My computer collages are composed of layers of soft colors and images.  Building up an image just like building up an image in a painting, with transparent glazes and layers, or with a mono print.

The sizes of the collages are all less than 15 inches except for the series called Healing Hands which are less than 3 inches.   I combine my photographs with paper and sometimes paint.