Another collage of trees with several of the Wings of Desire chrysallis sculptures attached to them. My professor hated the idea so I never made them, but he loved this collage. Available in the gift shop here.
Category Archives: Collage
1999 Sketchbook
During my year as artist in residence in Scotland, I was talked into applying for graduate school at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. Because of the timing of my stay in Scotland, I would have to wait another year back in the states before applying to schools, and I wasn’t sure what I would do for that year.
To make a long story short, I was accepted into the MFA program in glass at Tyler, but that meant I had to leave Scotland a month early so I could go home, pack and move to Philadelphia, a city I’d never been to before.
To say my first few months back were a bit of culture shock for me is an understatement. I was reeling. I didn’t know what I wanted to make art about, and I was still trying to get grounded in a routine at my new school. The work load was horrific (15 credits a semester, plus studio work–my glassblowing time slot was 2am – 4am–as well as student teaching/work study). I barely had time to think. And because working in glass is so time consuming, there was hardly time to finish any work for critiques.
It was obvious I was floundering, and one of my professors insisted that I keep a sketchbook, even though I’d stopped doing that years earlier, and didn’t really have time to do it anyway. These are the covers of the sketchbook, and the next few posts will have some drawings from it.
When a Child is Not a Child (1998)
Here is a collage/poem piece I made in January of 1998. The pod-like structures attached to the trees relate to a mixed-media sculpture I made in 1997 out of cast glass, seed pods and other elements. It was inspired by the film Wings of Desire (1987, directed by Wim Wenders), and was meant to evoke a strange chrysallis, from which a winged spirit will emerge. Although I have no photographs, I still have this sculpture and will try to get it photographed someday.
I have often said that everyone should write poetry, but few people should read it. However, since the poem is part of this collage, here is a transcription of the poem I wrote for this piece:
When A Child Is Not A Child
Sloughing around inside this loose skin
I press my face close to the mask
Rough edges rub my eyes and
scratch my ‘lashes until they are raw.
“M’upher lipf’s salfy wid sweat.”
Dry leaves crunch underfoot—
I stumble and skin my left kneww
Sounds echo inside my over-big head
I feel alone— the other voices seem far away
But teh adult inside
the mask— Not yet
ready to emerge—
comforts me:
“There will be time
for worry later…”
This is Halloween
and my bag is full…
—14 January 1998
Passionfruit collage (1997)
Here’s a fun little collage I did on a piece of luan plywood for Valentine’s Day. After I made the original collage, I had color photocopies of it made, which I then individualized further with rubber stamps and other additions. Each one is unique in a subtle way, as etchings are. Available in the giftshop here.
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Act Well Your Part… collage mural (1996)
Jul 14
This gallery contains 15 photos.
In 1996 I was invited to enter a competition run by the Honors Department at SIUC, where I was a senior, to construct a mural at least 8′ square on the theme of “honor”. I submitted a 12″ square collage maquette along with my proposal (the first photo in the slideshow below), and was selected [...]
Gay Dancing collage (1993)
1992/93 was the beginning of my activism for gay rights. While at college, I worked the subject matter into every assignment I could, including this collage for an early 2D class. Available in the giftshop here.
Frog collage (circa 1993)
Here’s one of the last collages I made just for fun, circa 1993. And what could be more fun than a fancy fish and a frog frolicking under the watchful eyes of a KitKat clock? Available in the giftshop here.
Elsinore collage (circa 1993)
When I went to college in 1992, I virtually stopped making collage altogether, unless it was related to an assignment. I made this collage for a 2D class, but I don’t remember the assignment. It depicts a water dream I had that seems to be influenced by Hamlet (I played Horatio in my last production in Dallas before leaving for college, in 1992). So I titled it Elsinore. Available in the giftshop here.
Mecca Lecca Hi Mecca Hiney Ho (1991)
My holiday collage of 1991/92 featured the usual cast of surreal actors, props and settings. Borrowing my favorite phrase from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse (Jambi the Genie’s “Mecca Lecca Hi…”) and also making a visual reference/pun on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Shakespeare himself appears to be daydreaming a star inhabited by chameleons wearing santa hats, which has perplexed a group of Indian women (who are accompanied by a tin man wishing he had more heart).
On the reverse side was another collage, Frog Piano. Both are available in the giftshop.
Frog Piano collage (1991)
A woman wears a fish hat, a grandfather clock earring, a brain brooch, and an earthworm necklace, while dreaming of a frog playing the piano. Meanwhile, a man and his pet alligator look on while a spider drops in on her. This was the reverse side of my holiday collage in December, 1991.
Available in the giftshop here.
