Creating when the going gets tough

Plus updates from my collage studio.

Sep 10, 2024

School’s back in session, and although it’s not yet technically fall, it feels like a turning of the season. A time for adaptation, or even transformation.

I took a bit of a hiatus this summer, turning my attention to matters more pressing than paper and paste: health, family, the hard stuff of real life. And now that I’ve caught my breath a bit, I’m looking to the coming months—and the potential they hold—with anticipation.

I currently have work in “the experience of being,” a group show at Portland’s Soliloquy Fine Arts, juried by Ruth Meijer and Liz Borowski. It runs through October 4, and I’d be delighted to see you at the closing reception that night from 6 to 8 p.m. The show is a diverse exploration of the many ways we show up in the world, and the gallery itself is a bright, lovely space. Check it out if you’re in the Pacific Northwest!

“not your plaything,” 2024, part of Soliloquy Fine Arts’ fall show “the experience of being”

When I’ve gotten in the studio, I’ve mostly been creating works that respond to contemporary US speech suppression and book bans. With a variety of related issues on the ballot come election time, you could say I’m a bit preoccupied with this thread of work. Read books, banned or not, and vote like your life depends on it!

Later in the fall, I’ll be heading to Virginia for a residency at VCCA’s Mt. St. Angelo campus. I’ll be working on an artist book-like project, making mixed-media collage art on and in vintage envelopes, using family photos from California from the late 1800s to the late 1900s to interrogate issues of identity, memory, and legacy.

And then, once I’m back on the West Coast, I’ll kick into high gear on Let ‘Er Rip, an exhibition that’ll go up in Portland in January 2025. I collaborate with another disabled artist whose specialty is ripping up paper and books, and for this special exhibition, I’ve shared those scraps with regional collage artists. Folks used this fodder to work in their own styles, and we’ll be showcasing the diversity of outcomes alongside photographs that document the ripping process. Disability aesthetics meets mixed-media experimentation, all in the name of social connection, community, belonging, and radical joy—expect to hear a lot more about this in coming months!

In truth, this year has been much harder than I’d like it to be. But that’s not something I can necessarily control. Having things to look forward to (shows, a residency) helps; so does giving myself grace to move more slowly, at a more sustainable pace. Perhaps most powerful, though? Support from friends and community—we’re all in this together, and I’m genuinely grateful for those who’ve been helping me weather some gnarly storms.

Surprise Studio Sale!

If you’ve made it this far, you deserve a treat. This sale’s for newsletter subscribers—and here’s how it works.

Each piece below is original, one-of-a-kind analog collage that will go for a cool $49 (pay via PayPal or Venmo). The work is unframed, and I’ve listed dimensions in inches alongside the title. Free shipping in the United States. First come, first serve: reply to this newsletter and let me know which piece you’d like, and I’ll follow up to work out shipping and payment details.

(1) “needs adjusting,” 6x6 inches, $49

analog collage with images of vintage ephemera that extend to the edges. At top left, womens fingers with red nails pour a can of peaches into bowls; there is an image of an open refrigerator and some textural components in neutral tones. At bottom right is a large scrap of blue paper featuring the words "adjusted" and "adjustments" in bold type, along with a scrap of ripped red paper

(2) “and still after all these years,” 5x7 inches, $49

analog collage that is landscape oriented and composed primarily of ripped paper in greens and aqua colors. At bottom right there is a scrap with a boy's nose and lips showing; around him are scraps that obscure the rest of his body and illuminate the context of green papers with pops of mustard yellow, rusty red, and a light pink

(3) “out of step,” 6x7 inches, $49

analog collage in vertical format. It is mostly composed of scraps of vintage ephemera from magazines and a clothing catalog. There are some illustrations of a midcentury mother feeding her young boy, in overalls; another scrap focuses on the legs of a mannequin from the 1940s, legs in blue slacks.

(4) SOLD — “hand made|handmaid,” 7x7 inches, $49

analog collage with scraps of light blue and aqua paper that extend fully to the edge of the paper. The composition is mostly abstract, but you can see the illustration of a hand hanging onto a ledge at center, near a photograph of a bride and a young boy; at upper left, an illustration of an angel pointing down to earth can be seen

(5) “imperfect (love me, love my flaws),” 5.5x5.5 inches, $49

analog collage with scraps of paper and ephemera that cover the entire substrate. the central image is a black and white photo of a man kissing a woman's forehead; her face is partially obscured with tissue, gauze, and a blue circle. Scraps around the edges of the photo feature raw ripped edges, and the composition is largely in moody deep blues and greens. The only legible scrap of text is on the right border and reads "choice is"

Let’s see how this experiment goes. Get some original collage and support my residency/ongoing practice at the same time? Neat!

More cool collage

The paper people are legion, and they’re doing cool stuff. Here are a few collage classes or shows to check out, whether you’re here in the Pacific Northwest or live farther afield.

Hope Amico’s going to debut new work at the Portland Zine Symposium, coming up Saturday, September 21. I love their writing and devoured their last zine, “The Boring Guide to Staying Inspired”—you can check out an expanded excerpt here.
Print your own collage fodder? Yes please—layers, textures, and letterpress, oh my! Hope is also a teaching artist, and this upcoming 2-day class at Community Print Olympia looks fantastic.
If you’re within spitting distance of Philly, hit up the Paper Trails collage extravaganza put on by Collage Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Atheneum. It’s on through October 26, and is a great opportunity to see cutting-edge work from 60+ artists! PNW Collage Collective cofounder Kellette Elliott has work in it, and she’ll also be there in October speaking on a panel about collage and community. Kudos to everyone involved!
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