Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 2. You often integrate handwritten text, cryptic scripts, and poetic fragments into your compositions. How do you decide when language should take center stage in a piece versus when it should function as a subtle, almost hidden layer?
ANSWER 2. Ooh, good question. Text is just another element. For example, in anticipation of collage sessions I have baskets of pre-cut items, like a basket of eyes, a basket of mouths, a basket of legs, and a basket of words. Words from that basket may find their way into a piece that "needs something," it may put a different spin on the imagery or make a little joke. Other times I may look through magazines for a caption to make a piece feel complete; the words may resonate with the images or there may be some absurd tension. Still other times I will literally hear the piece say something, in other words, the piece tells me what words it wants, in which case I have to create it, whether by cutting out a phrase letter by letter, like a ransom note, or by hand lettering, or by printing something I type on the computer, or some combination. So my approaches to text are various, but to answer your question, the words are not present at the beginning of the process, they arise later, usually the last step, and as either a problem-solving design device, or via a process I liken to channeling, wherein I communicate with the character on the page.
QUESTION 3. Your materials—fabric, paint, found objects, patterned paper—create a tactile, almost talismanic presence. What role does physical texture play in shaping the emotional tone of your collages?
ANSWER 3. My older bodies of work were painterly and no stranger to texture. I would often mix paint with pumice medium or apply heavily textured paper to my canvas. In recent years I have been working on paper and heavily inspired by the world of junk journaling. After I was laid off from a design studio where I was painting wallpaper by hand, I started teaching art privately to kids, and in looking for ideas for projects, I turned to Youtube. I have a degree in fine art painting and a history of exhibiting in galleries, but the world of "crafting" I discovered on Youtube was full of techniques, tools and aesthetics I had never heard of. Among them was junk journaling, a practice in which surfaces get "chunky" with collage elements and layered with textures. Junk journaling has taught me to look at everything a second time before tossing it out. Is that netting that used to hold the onions really "garbage," or could it become the veil on a collage lady's hat? This way of looking at materials is a lot of fun, and I believe the fun I am having infuses the work with a palpable energy of whimsy and joy.
QUESTION 1. Your collages overflow with whimsical characters—blue-haired figures, anthropomorphic cats, mischievous mushrooms. What draws you to build narrative worlds through these eccentric personalities, and how do they reflect the stories you want to tell?
ANSWER 1. I would say, for the most part, I make the collage characters, I make the backgrounds, often they float around my studio separately for months at a time without resolution, sometimes they even get lost/misplaced and then found later, until one day I am playing and things come together just right. Once in a while I do build a piece all in one shot in a linear fashion from beginning to completion, but even then I am looking to the characters to tell me something. Looking and listening for the story they tell me, rather than the other way around.
Jazz Hands, 2025, mixed media, 9”x12”
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Stylish Giraffes, collage on journal page, 10”x6.5”
Giraffe Bending over, 2025, mixed media, 11”x14”