Penumbra: collage shadowplay

I’m very pleased that my collage, “Penumbra,” was selected for Cut Me Up magazine, Issue 13: Nearby, Between. Each issue of the magazine features a curatorial call for the next issue by a guest curator, asking artists to consider specific concepts and approaches to collage.

“Penumbra,” collage on watercolor paper (including elements from Cut Me Up, Issue 12), photographed to include cast shadow of spring branches, 10.25 x 8.25,” ©2024, Janice McDonald.

For issue 13, curator Katie Blake (@whatapageturner) asked artists to explore the Japanese concept of Ma 間, described as a “pause in time, an interval or emptiness in space. The idea of Ma is to make emptiness into a substance itself.” Artists had to incorporate elements from the previous issue of Cut Me Up and were encouraged to explore the intentional use of space by employing new collage techniques.

When I read the criteria, the idea of Ma resonated with me as I remembered the way my uncle helped teach me to draw as a child — by studying and capturing the spaces between things, and then drawing those shapes. That way of thinking has been foundational to my collage practice as I almost always collect elements from the background of an image, rather than working with the subject itself.

Examples of the kinds of photos that I’ve been taking, both in- and outside, that inspired my approach to completing this collage.

Ever since the advent of the iPhone, when I no longer had to worry about film and processing costs, I’ve taken lots of photos of patterns and textures. I often pause to admire the way light and shadow animate objects. I’ve thought about ways to incorporate the images into future collages but hadn’t taken the leap to work with them.

While working on this collage, leaving white space for it to “breathe,” and trying to decide where to take the composition next, I took a break and found myself studying a shadow on the wall in the hallway just outside my studio. As I made my way back to my desk, it suddenly occurred to me that I could purposefully cast a shadow onto my collage as an additional, and ephemeral, element: a real “aha” moment.

I tried working with interior shadows but couldn’t find anything quite natural enough for my sensibilities.

One of many interior experiments with shadow-casting onto my collage in progress. Not what I was looking for!

So eventually I took the partially-finished collage outside and positioned it below foliage. I searched for shadows/shapes that related to, and enhanced, my composition. Many photos later, I discovered the one that resonated most: Ma 間

So, yes, this collage in its final form exists only as a digital photographic image. That fact doesn’t make it any less of a collage, it just adds another layer, and plays with the dimension of time.

I was honored to speak about this work at KolajFest 2024 with Andrea Burgay, the creator and publisher of Cut Me Up magazine and Katie Blake, the curator (not pictured).

Pro tip… Check out Katie Blake’s "What Kind of Collage Is That?,” to explore the many varied ways to consider and categorize collage works. It is a compendium of methodologies and I’m happy to have it as a new resource. Katie describes the book well, here, in an interview with The Weird Show.

The elegant simplicity of a "cola" pen

On one of the last days of the Gesture and Flow exhibition, artist Carol Ann Waugh stopped in to see the show and handed me an envelope. Inside was a “cola” pen that she’d made. It was so playful looking that I had trouble believing that it would actually function well. But after experimenting with it, I’m totally enchanted by its simplicity and line quality!

Handmade cola pen experiments.

Apparently lots of calligraphers work with these — a quick online search reveals that there are all kinds of video tutorials about how to make them from aluminum can material. People are using everything from coffee stirrers to bamboo to old paintbrushes as handles.

I was especially intrigued by @tinlunstudio’s video that modifies the original design to allow for “aggressive” linework with more splatter. My interest in mark-making continues so that nib variation is next on my list to make.

Here are some of my first experimental cola pen squiggles using Noodler’s Ink Eternal Polar Blue color on watercolor paper.

KolajFest Recap... contemporary collage symposium

My presentation / workshop: “Ripping it up”

So glad I made the decision to attend the first-ever KolajFest, a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, held July 12-15, 2018 in New Orleans.It was an honor to deliver the first presentation in the Collage-Making Space, “Ripping It Up,” followed by a demo of my wet-working technique and time for those attending to give it a try. I challenged everyone to try ripping their papers... there were a lot of meticulous paper-cutters in the room so it was fun to see people experimenting and working outside their comfort zone. It was great to connect with people in a truly hands-on way right at the outset of the conference. I so appreciate all of you who were able to be there and participate with such enthusiasm. Thanks to Ric Kasini Kadour and Chris Byrne for their support in prepping for my talk and to Kevin Sampsell and Jay Berrones who set up and managed the collage-making area. I was glad to be the “guinea pig” in that space -- and get my session out of the way!There were lots of choices of where to be and what to focus on at any given moment -- so it was sometimes very hard to decide which session to attend. Beyond the planned sessions, I loved connecting with other collage-makers in the moments in-between and during the walks between venues. Meeting and spending time with people whose work I’d long admired online was really wonderful.Some of my personal highlights included:• Spending time with like-minded, paper-loving collagists with such diverse practices, visions, and approaches -- who embrace this medium with near-fervent enthusiasm.• Getting re-acquainted with Jill Stoll, an extraordinary collage-maker whose new series “Women Standing Alone” was represented with two works in the exhibition “Revolutionary Paths: Critical Isssues in Collage” at Antenna Gallery.• Connecting with an artist whose work I’d admired online, Andrea Burgay, who brought the first issue of Cut Me Up magazine with her. A call and response project, you cut up the first issue to inspire a collage, then submit your work to be considered for inclusion in the next issue, and so on. Only a few copies remain; order one here.• Hearing about the many creative collaborative projects that Amy Tingle is working on via the Creativity Caravan.I'm enjoying her book, Strange Diary, or How to Make a Collage.• Seeing presentations that placed collage in a broader historical sense and learning about Todd Bartel’s concept of “UnCollage.”• Meeting Danielle Krysa... aka blogger/podcaster The Jealous Curator. Be sure to check out her new book, coming in October, titled A Big Important Art Book (Now with Women). Mine is pre-ordered :)• Learning about Jay Berrone’s business, Toil, launching now via kickstarter -- for the purpose of reproducing collage via the medium of silk screen printing.• Having conversations about raising the profile of collage plus creating more community and collaboration opportunities... riffing off all the enthusiasm in the air.• Getting fresh ideas about my role in the world of collage and wondering how those might develop...• Exploring previously-unknown-to-me parts of New Orleans in the mid-summer heat and being rewarded with amazing food, jalapeno watermelon margaritas, and great conversations.OK, I’ve barely scratched the surface! Kolaj magazine’s recap of KolajFest is here and worth a read.  Maybe I’ll see you at the next one?Huge thanks to everyone who participated with such a spirit of generosity and to all those who made this inaugural event possible.