Collage
Two
Materials have a feel or an emotion
tied to them.
what does this say to
you?
There is
more going on
than just the placement
of oil paint, the inside of a
potato chip bag, a tattered glove,
red felt, squashed pop cans, and acrylic
paint on this 11" x 17" panel.
Fifth graders at the Root Middle School
told me
this piece
reminded them of
death pollution
the end of the world
war
The shiny inside of a
potato chip bag
made many students
feel
happy glad
hopeful
joyful
Materials cut out to resemble a
figure
make this easier to
interpret. In this piece
glitter has a transendency about it. The reflective
quality of the wrapper catches the light and led
one fourth
grader to
say it looked
like an angel.
The body position of the figure
below
is one of worship or giving up control to another.
Both figures say something. They are related.
Spots
of red on the hands and feet spoke to one girl.
She blurted out, "That's Jesus."
One lady noticed there was no face on the glitter figure.
What you feel when you look at a piece is part of what
you take with you.
One art student saw a monster
when I held this upside down.
It is made of pendant strips, glitter, acrylic paint
and
plastic from a red drinking cup.
Danielle from The Phat Phish said of the glitter,
"That's us. We're in the wounds of jesus. That
is where he heals us."
Abstract collages take an open mind
and some speculation.
Many times I find new meanings in my work from
viewers I
have not talked with before. It's amazing.
It's
satisfying. Hunches and guesses are worth sharing.
There is
room for interpretation here.
One farm wife from the Francis Sams
group
was reminded of going through tough times.
She saw struggle and pain. A business man
from Men's group
saw a sun in a bright sky that reminded him of heaven
and God. The glove was reaching out for God.
He saw a quest, a search.
A boy raised his hand and said the orange spot
was a ball and the hand was going to catch it.