artsy forager

Category: Collage

  • Fashion Victims: Jonni Cheatwood

    Fashion Victims: Jonni Cheatwood

    OK, I admit it.  I like fashion and all its trappings as much as the next girl. But there is something that doing this traveling thing is teaching me– how to not just live with less, but to desire less.  I found these collages by Jonni Cheatwood, acrylic and mixed media applied to the pages of a Neiman Marcus catalog to call attention to our need to chase the latest trend.

    Jonni Cheatwood Jonni Cheatwood Jonni Cheatwood Jonni Cheatwood Jonni Cheatwood

    As a single girl, I was definitely a bit of a fashionista.  Always a bargain shopper, I didn’t spend massive amounts of money, but being single, I had a lot of time to spend hunting down just the right pair of boots or the latest jacket cut.  But when we prepared to embark across the country and begin traveling, I had to pare down like crazy and then before we left Seattle, I had to purge even more ( everything we live with right now fits in the back of our car ) and it was painful.  Clothes had been such a crutch for me– you see, when I was young, I knew what it felt like to be the girl in class in the hand-me-down clothes, the girl who only got one new outfit for the first day of school, not an entirely new, on-trend wardrobe.  So when I was an adult and earning my own way, fashion wasn’t just an indulgence for me, it was a way to get past the feeling of being the girl with the holes in her shoes.

    We still find we need to pare down just a touch more, so more purging is occurring.  What I’m learning through this process is that there are certain items of clothing I own that I love, not because they are in keeping with the latest trends, but because I love the way they fit, the way the clothes look on me and, most importantly, how I feel in them.  Paring down to just what I love is a perfect way to ensure that every piece of clothing is worn and that I feel beautiful and special in everything in my closet.  Shopping is hard to resist still, but when I do indulge, it is for something that I know I’ll love and feel good in for years to come.  And with the paring down, it has to replace at least one ( preferably two! ) things already in my closet.  Not as much thought goes into choosing an outfit for the day, freeing my mind to concentrate on other things and cultivate new, more important ideas.  When you chase trends, fashion changes so much, you’re constantly feeding the need for the latest thing.  I’d rather fill my life with things that aren’t so easily replaceable.

    How about you, Artsies?  Are any of you recovering fashion-addicts?  How did you overcome?

    To see more of Jonni Cheatwood‘s work, please visit his website.

    All image via the artist’s website.

  • February Featured Artist: Jenny Brown

    February Featured Artist: Jenny Brown

    It’s happened again.  We’ve turned over the calendar page to a new month.  February is such a short & sweet month, isn’t it?  It’s here and then over before we know it, but while it remains, it’s filled with Valentines and chocolates, hugs and kisses and cuddles.  The work of this month’s Featured Artist Jenny Brown with her use of antique papers and ephemera seemed the perfect way to put just a little more love into the next 28 days!

    Flowering Jelly #5 by Jenny Brown | artsy forager #art #collage #flowers Flowering Jelly #6 by Jenny Brown Flowering Egg by Jenny Brown | artsy forager #art #collage #flowers #egg Flowering Cephalopod by Jenny Brown Flowering Seed #8 by Jenny Brown

    Jenny collects antique papiers and books, which she methodically and meticulously weaves together to create these magical organisms that seem to float in the ether.  Each small element is put into place just so, resulting in a delightfully real fictitious character on the page, like little Victorian nymphs.

    To see more of Jenny Brown’s work, make sure you head over to her website.  Jenny is opening two shows this month–  she’ll be in the Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta in Portsmouth, NH and over here in the Northwest at Ghost Gallery in Seattle.  If you’re in either area, please check out her work in person!  You can also follow Jenny on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ( her feed is so fun! ), and Pinterest.  Four of Jenny’s pieces are gracing the Artsy Forager Facebook cover for the month AND I’ve compiled an album over there of the Jenny Brown’s I love the most.

    All images are via the artist.

  • This American Life: Matthew Conradt

    This American Life: Matthew Conradt

    In one way or another, we all buy into the idea of “the American Dream“, we strive for success and prosperity.  And if we haven’t achieved it, we’ll fake it ’till we make it.  Or we’ll just fake it.  In his mixed media work, Brooklyn artist Matthew Conradt looks at the contradictions we’ve built in our pursuit of the prosperous dream.

    The Woodgrain is Not Made of Wood by Matthew Conradt Imaginary Friends by Matthew Conradt It's Nice to Want Things by Matthew Conradt Housing by Matthew Conradt Poor Babies by Matthew Conradt

    We buy McMansions with more space than we’ll ever need, filling them huge flat screens and designer knock-offs.  We stand in line to upgrade to the latest phone, we trade in perfectly running cars for new.  We’ll present ourselves as successful and prosperous, even if we are drowning in debt in our pursuit of a facade.

    Conradt’s work begins with the collection of found imagery symbolic of American Life.  The images are then reconstructed and transferred onto mylar in large scale form, reinforcing the “bigness” of American culture.  The resulting images focus on the contradictions we find in our culture and how they creep into our subconscious.

    To see more of Matthew Conradt‘s work, please visit his website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.  Artist found via Little Paper Planes.

  • Paper, Scissors, Color: Courtney Price

    Paper, Scissors, Color: Courtney Price

    There is a school of thought that in order for something to be good, it has to be complicated.  A special meal must mean slaving for hours in the kitchen, the latest tech gadget must be filled with buttons and apps of every variety.  But there is also beauty and tranquility to be found in the paring down.  Portland artist Courtney Price distills her paper collages into the most elementary of forms, yet the results are filled with dimension and sophistication.

    Courtney Price Courtney Price Courtney Price Courtney Price Courtney Price

    Overlapping paper shapes one on top of the other just so, Price is mixing color with light and shadow, creating varying shades just as she might with paint.  The forms advance and recede according to their hues and how our eyes perceive their shapes.  And oh, those palettes!  Each piece seems to be a study in color relations.

    To see more of Courtney Price‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • Longing for Eden: Lauren Matsumoto

    Longing for Eden: Lauren Matsumoto

    Being nature loving outdoorsy types, Mr. Forager and I sometimes discuss what it would have been like for Adam & Eve– to dwell peacefully with wild animals.  Mr. F hopes that being able to interact safely with wild creatures will be one of the perks of heaven.  He really really wants to hug a grizzly bear.  In her mixed media work, New York based artist Lauren Matsumoto uses unexpected elements to focus on nature and how we relate to it.

    Matsumoto_Oracle Observatory Matsumoto_mushroom patch Matsumoto_winter bloom Matsumoto_Pet Matsumoto_Flowerburst

     

    The artist uses female figures from vintage erotica among playful and whimsical flora.  But  there is an element of the looming industrial age, as planes, satellites, and automobiles threaten to intrude and destroy our love affair with nature.  How often do we completely unplug?  No wifi, no cell phones, no cable t.v.  It’s definitely easier said than done, but maybe if we try it, we can recapture some of that peaceable kingdom that once was.

    Please visit Lauren Matsumoto‘s website to see more of her work.

    All images are via the artist’s website and Facebook page.  Artist found via Uprise Art.

  • Woodland Treasures: Marilla Palmer

    Woodland Treasures: Marilla Palmer

    When we go out hiking, Mr. Forager is, with the exception of gorging on huckleberries and the like, strictly a leave-it-as-you-found-it hiker.  I am too, for the most part, although I sometimes find myself so very tempted by that perfectly shaped leaf or beautiful wildflower. A stone does occasionally find its way into my pocket, but with our traveling, my hoarding of rocks is limited.  Last week, I came across the work of Marilla Palmer, whose delicate constructions examine the intricacies of the forest and man’s hand upon it.

    Stella Maris Driftwood 2 by Marilla Palmer Sitting Birch by Marilla Palmer Collage With Stitching by Marilla Palmer Queen Anne's Lace by Marilla Palmer Stella Maris Driftwood 1 by Marilla Palmer

    The artist tenderly renders wispy branches, then adds in embroidery, sequins, glitter, and such.  The resulting compositions have the feeling of modern botanical renderings, a celebration ( or perhaps condemnation? ) of the coming together of man and nature.

    If you’d like to see more of Marilla Palmer‘s work ( be sure to check out some of her sculptural pieces! ), please visit her website.

    Artist found via Kathryn Markel Fine Arts.  Images via the artist’s website & Kathryn Markel website.

  • Finding Home: Amy Wilson Flaville

    Finding Home: Amy Wilson Flaville

    I feel like I’ve been writing a lot this week about our traveling lifestyle.  Maybe it’s been on my subconscious lately.  We’ve been talking about our future home a lot recently, what that might look like, where it might be.  These collages by San Francisco artist Amy Wilson Flaville    reminded me that none of us are guaranteed a dry and comfy bed each night.

    Fixie by Amy Wilson Flaville

    Upon first glance, I fell for Flaville’s use of color and pattern in these shopping cart collages.  As I looked a little more at her work this morning, I saw more.  I saw those colorful patterns as happy memories, the kind we store up in our hearts and carry with us everywhere we go.

    Wagon Train by Amy Wilson Flaville

    We carry our homes within us, which enables us to fly. — John Cage

    Cabana by Amy Wilson Flaville Pasture by Amy Wilson Flaville

    Whatever our situation, whether we find ourselves living in the lap of luxury or pushing all our earthly belongings in a shopping cart, it is what is inside that sustains us.  The people who love us, who we have loved, we carry that with us and no four walls can contain it.

    Caravan by Amy Wilson Flaville

    If you’d like to see more of Amy Wilson Flaville‘s work, please visit her website.

    All images via the artist’s website.  Artist found via The Jealous Curator for Emily Henderson.

  • Delicate Immersion: Elise Wehle

    Delicate Immersion: Elise Wehle

    I find it very refreshing to come across an artist for whom the most important part of her creative process in the process itself. For Utah artist Elise Wehle, the delicately intense, repetitive handwork in her cut paper collages provide an escape into her world of process.
    Elise Wehle Elise Wehle It seems we can all suffer from tech and connection overload these days. Moments when we are completely disconnected and far away from a glowing screen of some sort have become fewer and farther between. These pieces in which artist Elise Wehle immerses herself with their deliberately tattered textures, precise cuts, and vintage feel are the perfect antidote to a world obsessed with tiny screens.
    Elise Wehle It’s almost as it we’re glimpsing peek of an Instagram feed deteriorated. The photographic cropping of the images recall those ubiquitous scenes in our social media each day. But they have aged, maybe giving us a reminder that those moments are fleeting– perhaps too fleeting to be constantly clicking and updating.
    Elise Wehle Elise Wehle

     

    If you’d like to see more of Elise Wehle‘s work, please visit her website.  I’m thinking of starting a little daily painting study to help me unplug & disconnect each day.  What’s your method of getting away from technology?

    All images are via the artist’s website.

  • The Freshmaker: Heather Landis

    The Freshmaker: Heather Landis

    In some ways, it seems like collage work is on the downside turn of its recent resurgence.  There is so much of it out there, it can be a challenge to find work that feels fresh and original.  Los Angeles artist Heather Landis uses a tight palette of color, cheeky use of typography and just the right mix of vintage and modern in her collages.

    Heather Landis Landis5

    Her palettes are filled with those decidedly vintage-feeling hues of peaches and pinks, accentuated by the steely greys that were so indicative of the atomic age.  Much of her work seems to deal with the coming loss of “innocence” brought on by turbulence of the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and well, just the end of what many perceive as the The Golden Age of pop culture.

    Landis3 Landis6 Landis2

    The women in Landis’ collages seem to be blissfully unaware of what is soon to come.  Beatific domesticity will give way to struggling to push through the glass ceiling and climbing the corporate ladder.

    Landis1

    But Landis isn’t hitting us over the head with messages.  Just subtly drawing us in to her happy-go-lucky world, then subversively reminding us that what used to be wasn’t always better.

    Want to see more of Heather Landis‘ work?  Go on over to her website and her Society6 shop.

    All images are via the artist’s website and shop.

  • Well Placed Pop: Guy Catling

    Well Placed Pop: Guy Catling

    Sometimes, all it takes is just a little somethin’ somethin’ to take an ordinary image and transform it into something unexpected.  UK artist Guy Catling has found that adding some well placed color and pattern can lead to some pretty spectacular imagery.

    Catling1 Catling4

    Black and white vintage photographs are beautiful, but add in brightly colored faces and floral patterned mountains and they take on a whole new modern life.  Bright shots of geometric shapes in these scenic photos mimic the lines of the photographs simply yet beautifully.

    Catling3 Catling2

    The patterns added to this trio of well dressed men adds not only a bit of pizazz, but with the Victorian-floral and Native American inspired patterns these guys are sporting, the story behind the image has possibly changed.  Ah the power of color and pattern!

    Catling_Coats

     

    Want to see more work by this talented artist?  Check out Guy Catling‘s website here.

    All images via the artist’s Tumblr.