Galvanized for Day of the Dead

I've been wanting to try out some different supports for collage and had some small pieces of galvanized metal in the studio... So I used a 6 x 4" piece to create a collage ofrenda to donate to A Book About Death's Day of the Dead exhibition at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in Fort Worth, Texas, sponsored by the FluxMuseum.

"Retablo 2010" (above) has acrylic paint applied to the metal, with collage added, and was coated with a UV varnish. The collage elements seemed to adhere well to the galvanized metal and I like the very understated, industrial, sparkle. I will definitely experiment further with using metal in my work. The composition is intended to be somber, thought-provoking, and uplifting all at the same time... hope I've accomplished that in some small way!

So many responses to four words

"A Book About Death" has been chronicled in a video showing glimpses of each piece and the show installation at the  Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery in New York City in September. Approximately 500 artists sent in 500 post card works to be distributed in the gallery space as pages for the book. Pretty amazing to watch so many pieces and consider the imagery that recurs. My collage shows up at about 5:25, or read about it in an earlier post. Pleased to have my work included in this project.

A Book About Death

I'm watching this show, which opens in NY on September 10th, as it grows online each day -- now at 434 submissions. Very compelling, intriguing, and powerful work... I'm glad my collage is included and plan to spend some time perusing the blog of all the work that's been submitted over the weekend. The sensibilities of the artists responding is so vastly different, from lyrical to gritty and everything in between! This promotional poster was designed by mixed media artist Robert Mars and is available, among others, for download on the blog site.