Open Studios – Dayna J Collins

Featured Artist at Open Studios: Salvage Collage

I was the featured artist at our recent quarterly Open Studios at the Mill, held on February 13. My show focused on a series of revamped and new Salvage Collages as well as some acrylic paintings done on book board covers, utilizing my materials in a new way. I worked on pieces feverishly right up until it was time to get the show hung.

Artist Statement about my Salvage Collages:

Dayna Collins has always loved old books. She hyperventilates at the sight of books which are stained, defaced, torn or marked up. She rips battered books apart, reclaiming their faded fragments, and creates collages using only materials she has excavated. Dayna’s mixed media pieces reflect the passage of time, repurposing the scraps that are worn and weathered, transforming the aged and tattered pieces into something unexpected and beautiful, celebrating their fragile decay.

My husband hung my show in two stages, and it turns out he has quite a knack for curating and hanging.

The end result was quite nice.

Some of the pieces in the show:

And some of the paintings on book boards:

Many thanks to those who stopped in to say hello, and to Luis Noriega for attending our Open Studios and interviewing some of our artists for his podcast: Down the Rabbit Hole DTRH Podcast

Head’s Up: Next opportunity to see my Salvage Collages will be at a Pop – Up in July in Astoria, Oregon!

Art After Dark: July Open Studios

I’m fortunate to be a member of a group of 11 artists who share the second floor of the Wool Warehouse at the Willamette Heritage Center. We call our space: Studios at the Mill. We have been together in various forms (in various studios) for the past four years. My space is always evolving depending on my latest project. What remains the same for now is this is my Special Projects Studio, where I house all of my ephemera, vintage books, and oodles of photographs.

Initially, we hosted Open Studios on a monthly basis, but after a few years, that got to be too much, so for the past couple of years we host Art After Dark Open Studios quarterly. Last night was our July event. On the second Thursday of our chosen month, we all fling open the doors to our studio, serve wine, sparkling water, and lots of food – savory and sweet. Our studio member Jim Hockenhull often has his wife, Jo, join him in providing us with music and last night they played and people danced. We also asked Steve, who owns a new restaurant at the Willamette Heritage Center, Krewe du Soul, if he would serve samples of his Cajun fare. He agreed and for two hours offered samples of jambalaya and gumbo; there were lots of people walking the halls with smiles on their faces. To best share our event, here are photos I took of people throughout the evening.

For our next Art After Dark Open Studios, we’re mixing it up a bit and it will be held a month later on: Thursday, November 8, 2018.

April Open Studios

Once a quarter, on the second Thursday of the month, Studios at the Mill host Art After Dark where we fling open our doors, serve refreshments, and celebrate the arts in our neck of the woods.

We are located on the second floor of the Wool Warehouse at the Willamette Heritage Center, which is across the street from both the Amtrak station and Willamette University, in the heart of Salem. We have 10 artists and everyone opened their door on the evening of April 12th. My studio is located in the NW corner, overlooking the Mill Stream, which runs through the WHC campus. Here’s one of my windows looking up from the outside.

I use my studio at the Mill for special projects since my painting studio is at my home. I love having a space devoted to working with paper, ephemera, book covers, black and white photos, and scraps . . . . all of which I call Salvage Collage.

Of course, I spruced up my space for this quarterly event. It is ever evolving and I love moving things around, touching everything, hanging things, and getting side tracked auditioning various pieces for ongoing projects. Here are photos of my spiffed up studio:

It is always more fun when people are added to the mix.

Our next Art After Dark is Thursday, July 12, 6-8 pm. If you’d like to be added to our studio newsletter e-mailing list, please send me your e-mail address: dayna@alleyartstudio.com

What’s Your Story: Open Studios Mini Workshop

Once a quarter, The Art Studios at Mission Mill, host Art After Dark/Open Studios. Our most recent event was January 11th. I was the featured artist in the studio gallery/classroom and I decided in addition to hanging some of my recent work, I would offer a mini workshop on creating a modified What’s Your Story mixed media collage. I set up some of the walls in the gallery as teaching walls. One wall told the history of the project, another showed samples of possible backgrounds, and then one wall showed the progression from blank 140 lb. watercolor paper to finished mixed media collages. (The other two walls were my most recent work using old, defaced books, but I’ll share those pieces in a separate post.)

I created three small sample collages, done using original letters, envelopes, and an assortment of ephemera, along with photocopies of black and white photographs.

With my guidance, guests were invited to create a little mixed media collage.

All ages participated, and Alex sat and read old letters to us during the evening.

Of course, sometimes the adults found it difficult to resist reading the letters.

Some of the collages created during the evening event.

All of this was a great set up and preparation for last weekend, when I taught the first of my two-day full length What’s Your Story, Real of Imagined workshop. I’ll be doing a post about my workshops in the coming days.

ART BLOX

Who doesn’t love little art? I sure do. The Art Studios at Mission Mill recently had the opportunity to host Mary Lou Zeek’s wonderful refurbished cigarette machine, which she transformed into a vending machine of small art blocks (the size of a pack of cigarettes). The machine, ART BLOX: Small Art for Everyone, used to be in Mary Lou’s wonderful downtown gallery space, but since the gallery closed, the machine makes appearances only on special occasions or by invitation. We invited and the machine was delivered last Thursday.

Mary Lou showed me the quirks of the vintage machine.

Mary Lou and Dayna with the ART BLOX machine outside the studio of Max Marbles.

Last Thursday night was our quarterly Art After Dark and Open Studios. The upstairs studios were open, refreshments were served, and art was displayed throughout the space. But downstairs was the ART BLOX machine, which was hoppin’ throughout the evening, where we sold the small blocks of art for $10 each.

Dayna Collins sold ART BLOX tokens throughout the evening.

Lois Stark waves her hands at the machine in the hopes of getting the perfect block.

Roger Hull randomly pulled a lever and the machine dispensed an original piece of art by Bonnie Hull.

A happy guest received a Bonnie Hull original.

This little girl hugged the machine because she said she “loves it.”

An original art block created by Nancy Eng.

Katy Vigland who created blocks for the machine, stops by to purchase blocks.

James O’Shea photographs the process of purchasing an ART BLOX.

Cheryl Creel goes in for a second block.

Dennis Creel gets into the ART BLOX stance.

A sampling of the blocks we received:

A big thank you to Mary Lou and Alan Zeek for the use of the machine and for the many artists who created and contributed blocks. The proceeds from the sale of the blocks, almonst $800 worth, will be going to an artist relief fund in Salem.

Quarterly Open Studios

The artists at the Art Studios at Mission Mill decided at the end of last year that they wanted to host quarterly Open Studios rather than monthly events. I personally liked having them monthly, but they did seem to roll around rather quickly. Our quarterly event, under the umbrella of Art After Dark, will be held this Thursday, April 13, from 6-8 pm (a change from our old time of 5-7 pm). Studio A, where I hang out, has been converted to my Special Project Studio, where I am working on a big mixed media and collage project titled: What’s Your Story, Real or Imagined: Telling Stories through Black and White Photos. I started this project last year, but it has been evolving and morphing into something bigger than I earlier anticipated. I still have my two walls of black and white photos, which have expanded and taken over more real estate.

I recently had the opportunity to sort through a couple dozen boxes and three chests of family photos and ephemera and somehow I managed to find room in my compact corner space for piles and mounds of paper, 3-D bits, and photos.

I’ll be doing an Artist in Residence at the Salem Art Association Annex in the fall, so for now, my ideas are percolating as I spend time in this special studio. I’ll be sharing more about my fall project a bit later, but it includes a panel discussion, two weeks of working in a spacious light-filled studio, and will culminate in a one-day workshop I’ll be teaching. In the meantime, come see my newest acquisitions and hear more about my project on Thursday night.

ART AFTER DARK

The Art Studios at Mission Mill are located at the Willamette Heritage Center, across from Willamette University on 12th Street and across from the Amtrak Train Station on Mill Street. All of the second floor studios will be open, Carol Green will be demonstrating a Polaroid emulsion lift process (“The World Through Polaroid Imagining”), and Bonnie Hull is bringing her instant camera and will be taking curated photos ($1, please bring exact change). There will be new art on the communal walls and all of the artists will be serving refreshments. On the first floor, Max Marbles, the bookbinder, will be open, the Eco Hub is featuring student artwork honoring nature, and you can meet the newest tenants: award-winning photographer Frank Barnett and his wife, 3D artist and writer, Mart Soloman. It’s going to be a splendid night!

Art After Dark Open Studios: January 12

Our December Art After Dark was cancelled last month due to snow and ice, so I’m happy to announce that it has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 12, 2017, 5-7 pm. The artists at the Art Studios at Mission Mill voted to go to quarterly Open Studios, so please join us as our next event won’t be for a few months. As you can see from the flier, we have a full line up of art and activities on the first and second floors.

In my studio (Studio A), I’ll be sharing the progress I’ve made with my newest mixed media project: What’s Your Story – Real or Imagined: Telling Stories Through Black and White Photos.

And as always, there will be appetizers and drinks being served in all of the open studios.

Studio Shuffle

Last fall, my good friend Tory and I were invited to join a newly forming studio group at the Willamette Heritage Center. We were thrilled to be part of what became The Art Studios at Mission Mill. We leased Studio F and had great fun making it our own.

What I discovered over these past nine months is that I can’t work in a small space and when I’m painting, for the most part, I need solitude. So when two studios opened up in June, Tory and I both put our names in, hoping that one of us would get one of the two studios. Bingo. Tory’s name was drawn for Studio B.

Tory moved her stuff out and I helped her paint her new space (a mere 10 steps from Studio F). I purchased a new work table and a funky chair, then spent an afternoon rearranging Studio F to function as my axillary painting studio.

I ordered signage for my two doors and installed it this week.

Our next Open Studio is Thursday, July 9, 2015, from 5-7 pm. If you ‘re around, please stop by and see our new studios.

Open Studios: The Art Studios at Mission Mill

The Art Studios at Mission Mill held their inaugural Open Studios on Thursday, November 13th (the second Thursday of the month). It was estimated that over 150 people braved wintery weather conditions to come see the new studios and the just opened Compass Gallery on the first floor. Here’s a look at what was happening on the second floor and in Studio F.

Studio F was open to receive visitors and a steady stream came through for the two hours we were open.

Mark your calendars for next month, when we’ll be open for TWO Open Studios: Our regular date of December 11th, from 5-7 pm, and then a special opening on Saturday, December 20th, 5:30-8:00 pm, during the Magic at the Mill celebration taking place at the Willamette Heritage Center. It will be a good time to pick up last minute gifts!