In The Realm of the Unconventional

“Knowledge is ultimately available to everyone. Only true intuition, jumping from knowledge to an idea, is yours and yours alone.” – Bill Bernbach

As artists are we naturally drawn to unconventional conduct? Are we guided by intuition to a life without limits? Are we passionate to share our experiences? Is there something in our makeup that emboldens us to reach further than we thought we ever could?

I started my collage with a photo. I have been looking for a place in my work for the image of the women reading. As a fellow bibliophile I recognise the bliss of total absorption in a book. For a background I flipped through a vintage book in my collection. After tearing out a couple of pages from the index I saw the words “Unconventional conduct”. Could the women be reading a work that would change their destiny? Why not?

My substrate is illustration board. I primed it with a coat of gesso. When dried I attached the book pages using matte medium and added one final coat of tinted Mod Podge. I gave the board twenty-four hours of drying time as the pages were especially thick and absorbent.

After framing the work with Rose Red acrylics, still embracing my messy side, I began the stencilling process with one of my favourites, the Halftone Dots series. The layers quickly built as I added a variety of stencil patterns to the collage finishing with the map of one of the most unconventional cities on the planet, Paris, from Artistcellar’s Old World Maps series. Although the stencil has many fine cut outs representing the meandering streets, clean up was easy with no damage at all, ready for many future projects.

To read, to seek, to know...this is the stuff that drives our creative spirit. And as an artist isn’t our calling to follow our intuition whenever it may lead? The realm of the unconventional is where our souls bloom. How will you release the magic of your imagination?

MATERIALS USED

• ARTISTCELLAR STENCILS: HALFTONE DOTS (Highlight, Midtone, Midtone 2, Shadow), BLOCKS SERIES (Open Work), OLD WORLD MAPS (Paris)
• STENCILGIRL PRODUCTS: Seth Apter Number Drips
• HAND CUT STENCIL: Diamonds
• PUNCHINELLA
• ILLUSTRATION BOARD
• MASKING TAPE
• LIQUITEX GESSO
• LIQUITEX MATTE MEDIUM
• VINTAGE BOOK PAGES AND PHOTO
• REEVES: Rose Red, Bronze
• PLAID ACRYLICS: Blue Sapphire, Pure Orange, Sunflower, Bright Red, Pure Gold
• DECOART: Splendid Gold, Peacock Pearl, Desert Turquoise
• DINA WAKLEY PAINTS: Lime
• DYLUSION SPRAY: Bubble Gum
• MOD PODGE: Sheer Orange

What Are The Best Things In Your Life?

Lovelier than a thousand kisses,

Smoother than muscatel wine.

Coffee, I must have coffee,

And if anyone wants to give me a treat,

Ah! just give me some coffee! 

- The Coffee Cantata by J.S. Bach

  

Coffee. Or as we say where I come from, “cawffee” is more than just a morning ritual. Its intoxicating scent eases you into the start of the day. Rich and bold, it is a relaxing conclusion to the evening. It warms you up on a cold day or cools you down in a variety of disguises from iced to ice cream. It’s an excuse to meet and share time with friends. No matter how or where it is served, I love it! 

Working on my next collage using the wonderful Artistcellar Halftone Dots stencils I moved on to my next new love: Mineral Paper. Sleek and smooth, made from rocks, I couldn’t wait to try it out with a variety of media. It took the acrylic paint I stenciled on like a dream. No buckling or wrinkling. I was left with a wonderfully smooth, flat surface.

But would the mineral paper hold up to something a more liquid? I reached for my ever present cup of coffee. I covered the sheet with a general wash. While drying, I sprinkled on both wet grounds and instant granules. The page performed just as described by the Yasutomo Company. No bending. No warping. Just a flat surface – as pristine as when removed from the pack.

I loved the way the paper responds to wet media, but I wanted to try just one more effect. When dry I spritzed the sheet in several areas with my spray water bottle. The mottled look was just what I was after. Again, when dry the Mineral Paper remained flat, smooth and ready to be scanned.

Of late I’ve been in a ‘50’s kind of mindset. I decided to add the image of the surprised woman. But what could she be thinking? Did she just make a fantastic discovery? Of course! It has to be the best things in life.  And what could be better than a reassuring rotation of Art, Sleep and our Daily Brew? Who wants to join me?

What Do You Censor...Even to Yourself?

WHAT WE CENSOR, WHAT WE DON'T -Conventional Collage

With numerous magazine spread out before me, I searched the pages fruitlessly for the sentiment expressed in the words of Edgar Allan Poe: “There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.”

I have searched through quite a few vintage magazines lately. Seventy-seven years have yellowed the pages, but the ads have a message that today still ring out loud and clear. As women so much of our worth is tied to our appearance. The ads confirm this, marketing one product or another to make us thinner, younger, beautiful, and ultimately happier. And over seven decades, nothing has changed.

While I have no qualms with anyone trying to look their best, where does the obsession for unattainable perfection become just that...an obsession...splitting us into fragments of ourselves.

As artists, we are visual beings. Do you find yourself contemplating the message sent in these types of ads? Do they influence your work, or your life? Is the search for beauty and perfection tempered with self censorship?

The substrate for my collage is a stretched canvas. It is covered in metallic gold acrylic paint. I built the collage from a fashion photo from the 1950's, vintage magazine ads, excerpts from a 1938 diary, and handmade paper.

What do you censor...even to yourself?

What Lurks Between The Covers?

Pulp - Collage

Books. I love them. All of them. From the tiny mini books sold at the registers in stores to the lavish coffee table publications, each have a place in my heart and my life.  The printed word. I can't live without it.

I can chart the years by my books, and I can usually remember where I purchased them and why. I note cities I've visited not only by name but by the bookstores they possess. And Heaven on earth to me is a Public Library.

While trying to reorganise my bookshelves, I came across my small collection of pulp or pocket-book fiction. Although normally associated with the mid twentieth century, Argosy Magazine started the genre in 1896. Portable, accessible, and cheap to produce and purchase, the books were available at bus and train stations, drugstores, and newsstands. Westerns, War, Detective, Science Fiction, Horror, Romance...no topic was taboo. Who could resist titles like I Am A Woman, Murder In Paradise, Nude In Mink, or Halfway To Hell with suggestively illustrated covers guaranteed to bring in sales?

Tereska Torres' Women's Barracks, "the frank autobiography of a French girl soldier", was just what I had in mind for my collage.  The substrate for the collage is illustration board.  I cut the cover into strips and wove it together with art paper, handmade paper, and text from within the book.

Pulp is now part of the National Collage Society's 17th annual Postcard Exhibit, and is one of the award-winning collages. I am delighted...and honoured...to be in such fine company.

For me, pulp fiction will forever conjure romantic images of steamy train stations and glimpses of forbidden lives with each turn of the page.  So, what does lurk between the covers?

At What Price Fashion...

"At What Price Fashion-Triangle Factory Fire"

Saturday, March 25, 1911. 4:40PM. Quitting time for the employees of The Triangle Waist Company. The factory occupied the eight, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building at Greene Street and Washington Place in Manhattan.

Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris employed five hundred workers, mostly Italian and Jewish immigrant women, to produce blouses known as "shirtwaists". The style was "the" fashion statement of the day, popularised by artist Charles Dana Gibson's "Gibson Girl".

The employees worked nine hour shifts on weekdays and seven hours on Saturdays. At the close of business for the week a fire started under a cutting table in a scrap bin on the eight floor from either a match or discarded cigarette.  The fire spread rapidly across the wooden floors. A passerby saw smoking coming from the building and raised a fire alarm.

To prevent theft, the managers had the doors to the stairwells and exits locked. The practice was a common one at the time, but because of this the women could not escape the fire. Many jumped to their death, fell off faulty fire escapes, or died of smoke inhalation.

In total, 146 workers died. It remains as one of the deadliest disasters in New York history. The oldest victim was forty-three, the youngest fourteen. The Triangle Factory Fire prompted further legislation requiring factory safety standards. It also enabled the growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.

I have been interested in the Fire for many years now. I'm not sure why, but I have always had a fascination with the turn of the century Lower East Side history from the time I was a young girl. It always moved me deeply, in a way that I imagine people who believe in reincarnation feel.

I admire the work of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.This is our collective history. We should never forget the victims of such a horrific accident. We should never undervalue women's work.

The collage is a conventional piece. The photo is of the burning Asch building. Surrounding the photo of the women dressed in their "waists" are the names of all 146 workers who perished in the fire. I also added a Catholic and Jewish prayer for the dead.

The substrate is canvas. The papers are handmade, art, and sewing pattern paper. Images are from my collection of vintage photos and news clippings. I also used rubber stamped images, inks and dyes. I wanted to keep the piece monochromatic.

So, at what price fashion? We make the choice every time we shop.

I Was A Love Cult Priestess...

"I Was A Love Cult Priestess" - ATC

Such drama...such intrigue...The Roaring Twenties. It was a time of change from the dramatic acting of the "Silent Movies" to "Talking Pictures"...an innovation that could make or break many a career.

Looking through an old magazine from the 1920's I came across this vintage photo. It was quite daring and I felt she need to be in an equally daring setting. From the various art and handmade papers I had on my work table, thoughts of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle raced through my mind.

That "come-hither" look, the exotic papers, it all directed me to a design of a woman who was "brave, bold, and brilliant".

The Artist Trading Card is on manila stock. I used hand made and art papers, tissue paper, inks, and dyes. The text was cut from various sources.

The Twenties, like today, was a time of innovation and striking change. Thankfully we have the Muse to nudge in the right direction.