I was delighted to be asked recently to be a part of "Ready, Willing & Able," a benefit exhibit at
Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia which goes on view in July. There was only one catch-work for the show had to be made or presented on a 10" x 10" cradled board. I've tried to display my collages in this manner before, but it hasn't been that successful. I always found myself fumbling over the process, so frustrated that I couldn't slow myself down enough to be more thoughtful about mounting and treating the materials. I can't do something like this, I told myself-
I like making my work my way because there is a sense of immediacy in results!
But I have found that when I stop taking risks and trying new things, my work can become too repetitive. Since I knew exactly what images I wanted to develop in the collages, I was really able to focus my energy on mastering the art of preparing these board presentations. As much as I have always hated creating/building/making things that take "too many steps," (much the way I dislike cooking because of the many steps), this process became almost mediative for me--fixing the paper to board, using a roller to smooth out bubbles, and finally, the biggest step-varnishing!
Once mounted on board, I found my collages taking on a new role in space, and a new presence, and I really liked it. Maybe it's that the collage on board allows the viewer to get closer to the work, where as in a frame there is the barrier of the glass? Or perhaps it's the element of having a work that is more of an "object," having more density?
I'm glad I didn't let my usual fear of messing things up keep me from trying this. And I certainly did mess up on the first few pieces-streaky, clumpy varnish, wrinkled paper, etc. But I didn't wallow in the loss of a few collages to some less-than-stellar varnishing. My freshman year Introduction to Painting teacher's advice was echoing in my head all during this experiment. She said it was never good to get immediately attached to a work-there are always things that can be improved about the piece (but you might not always great it right). That it's better to give it a shot and possibly ruin something, rather than sit there too satisfied with a first attempt. It it gets ruined, it was never really good in the first place. Excellent advice that once again rang true during this project. So I went ahead a ruined a few pieces, and ended up with Flowering Bark (shown above). Infinitely better than the pieces I started with.
