Art project, on the wing

I rarely participate in traveling/mail art projects however, every once in a while, I jump in.

While traveling in February, I had a chance to visit with artist Bonnie Ruttan who had received a passport-sized book to create artwork in and then pass along. It was so compact and interesting. It had originated in Austria, then traveled to Ireland, and now was being passed around in the US. Eventually it will (hopefully) make its way back to Kevin Geronimo Brandtner who started the project.

Inside cover of the mail art project book.

Intrigued, I decided to participate. The pages were small and had some stamps already in place as a background. Most artists were giving a nod to the passport/travel theme in their collaged responses. One of the fun things about the package was that it included a small packet of business cards and paper ephemera from artists who had participated before me, along with earlier mailing envelopes with scars and stamps.

The starting spread…

Here’s an image of what I started with and another of what my page spread looked like when completed.

My finished contribution to the project.

I included a ticket from Denver’s light rail A-Train to the airport that features a squiggle of reflective holographic security foil, plus other imagery that related to the colors and design already on the page. A nice departure from my usual work in the studio and the book is now off to its next stop in New Mexico.

Fun!

And yet another... Salvaged Elements exhibition

Soapbox collages in shadow box framing, each 10x10.” Shadows add so much!

I've loved working on the ThroughLines series of collages and plan to extend that thinking to more work eventually but, for now, I've returned to working with ideas generated from the "Unboxed" collage series that debuted in a 2016 exhibition.

This next show is coming up fast so I quickly reset the studio, put away all those beautifully ripped strips of paper, and pulled out the flattened boxes that I'd been saving for just the right moment. I've made more than two dozen collages on flattened hotel soap boxes, along with other pieces that have been on my mind since the original show of Unboxed collages. I'm still finding it really intriguing to respond to the irregular shape and fold lines with found paper elements. The collages are currently in the process of being framed.

In the past, I've made collages on flattened boxes that were first painted black and that work continues... They are such interesting shapes on their own that I'm also working on a large installation of flattened and painted boxes to animate the space in the gallery under a black metal stairway. It'll be a wall scaled collage, composed on the spot, out of black flattened boxes.I'll also be installing some experimental work on an arrangement of hangtags (the kind that typically describes clothing features). It's inspired by the racks of formica chips I used to see hanging at hardware stores. My version will be a lot more varied and freeform, with each tag hanging from its own nail and combining to whirl up one wall in its own composition. At least that's how I'm envisioning it... can't wait to see how it turns out!

I'm totally enchanted by the the very graphic nature of the papers that are being created as I'm preparing the boxes and tags with black gesso... it's bound to turn up in future work.

Salvaged Elements will be on view December 7 -28 at ReCreative Denver Gallery. I'm showing with fellow collagist Lili Francuz. If you're in the area, please come by sometime during the run of the show -- or for the opening on Friday, December 7 from 5-9pm when you can also enjoy the festive Luminariaevent associated with First Friday in Denver's Arts District on Santa Fe. (If you haven't been to ReCreative before, note that you have to walk to the back of the Creative ReUse Store to access the gallery... assuming you can get past all the potential art/maker supplies you'll encounter on the way!)

The stairway at ReCreative gallery where the “black box” installation will go…

Paint patterns on the paper protecting my work table.

Black-painted flattened box with applied collage.

Composed Landscape original collages

View from elevator lobby across interior stair to glass-walled boardroom.

Here are some photos of the collages arranged on the end wall of the IMA boardroom. The room features a huge wood-slab conference table and views to Denver's Union Station along one side and the office interior on the other. It's an exciting place to have an office… the renaissance of Denver's transit system is coming to fruition right next door.

These five original collages were scanned and digitally enlarged 900% to produce the floor to ceiling stairwell murals pictured in earlier posts. They are each 12" wide and of varying heights to account for the different floor to ceiling heights in the stairwell.

I'm really thrilled that my collages are highlighted in this gorgeous space!

Lots of framing to do...

                    My next exhibition at Spark Gallery in Denver includes collages made from papers culled from each day's mail over a three-month period. So I have 70+ small works to frame in the next week or so.This is always the hardest part of preparing for a show: the detailed and tedious parts of signing, labeling, inventorying, matting, framing (cleaning glass)... I'd much rather be working on new collages, or the commission I have with looming deadline! Ah, well, I'm getting there with the help of a neighborhood teenager's assistance and the knowledge that it'll all be worth it when it's up on the wall. The opening reception is on Friday, October 25th from 6-9pm. Save the date!