Uncategorized – Page 7 – Dayna J Collins

What’s Happening Behind the Door of Studio A?

A History: Art Studios at Mission Mill

Studio F Shared With Tory

In August of 2014, my friend Tory and I were invited to join a group of artists who were opening a studio space at the Willamette Heritage Center; we named ourselves the Art Studios at Mission Mill. The space was pretty bland and boring, but in no time at all, we put our mark on our chosen studio: Studio F.

I used the studio for painting, but not as much as I had planned, partially because the space was just too small and I wanted to paint big. And partially because my process is messy.

Studio F By Myself

Then, in June of 2015, two studios opened up. When a studio space opens because an artist leaves, anyone who is interested states their interest and if more than one artist is wanting the vacant space, names are put in a hat and an impartial person draws out a name. Studio A and B both opened in 2015 and several of us put our names in the hat for Studio A. I didn’t get it, but Studio B was also open and Tory put her name in for that one and she got it, leaving me to have all of Studio F for myself.

Studio A

Fast forward to October, 2016, when Studio A opened up again. Two of us put our names into the hat, Rollie and myself, and we asked Max, the bookbinder, to draw a name.

This time my name was drawn and I moved to Studio A, leaving Studio F available, which Rollie moved into. Are you still with me? After all, this is about Studio A . . . .

By the time I moved down the hall to Studio A four years ago, I had already moved my painting practice home and started using my Mill studio for paper and collage projects. I quickly filled my space to the brim, the BRIM, with ephemera, black and white photographs, handwritten letters, typewritten documents, 3D tidbits, vintage this and vintage that . . . .

You get the idea. Although my projects morphed from my What’s Your Story collage series using black and white photos to using discarded books to create Salvage Collages, I just kept schlepping stuff into my studio, tucking things tighter and deeper. Fortunately, I’m organized, so things always looked pretty orderly, but the space was plump with stuff.

Studio A: Revamped

And then the pandemic hit in March. I started working on collages at home, so I took everything related to my Salvage Collages to my home studio: old books, book pages, book scraps, book linen, book boards – several loads over several weeks. I was content to work on book board collages for several months. Then two weeks ago, as my collage work was taking yet another turn, I found I was wanting more of my original paper collage materials: the letters, the ephemera, the booklets, the multitude of paper things I had tucked in bins and drawers. So with the help of Howard, we started making trips to the studio to bring things home. I discovered I wanted to bring it all home, not just the paper stuff, but also the fabric, trims, negatives, the whole shebang. We brought load after load and dumped it in the basement, my auxillary studio where I have all of my assemblage, found objects, and book collage material.

It two weeks to bring it home and two weeks for me to sort and find a place for it. At first it was so I would have access to the materials, but then it became about revamping Studio A.

Studio A: Revamped

Yesterday I brought home the remnants of what I wanted out, along with some of the furniture that filled the space. Today I spent the morning patching the holes (there were alot!), painting the patches, and vacuuming all of the nooks and crannies.

I love how sparse it is right now and full of possibilities. I have absolutely no idea how I will use my refurbished, refreshed, and quiet space. Maybe for reading art books that I never seem to have time for. Maybe for journaling. Maybe for writing about ideas. Maybe I’ll bring a specific project to work on. Or bring a limited number of materials and do a collage or journal page using only what is before me. Maybe, maybe, maybe . . . . .

Salem Art Group Daily Art Challenge

In July, my Salem Art Group hosted a 31-day art challenge, inviting the community to join our group in doing something creative every day for a month and posting on Instagram. I joined the challenge and managed to create something for all 31 days. I wasn’t always on time with my work or my posts, but I completed the challenge. Some days I did a little painting in my journal, other days I painted on 12×12 wood panels. And a few times, I did scut work, like prepping a bunch of panels. Most days I wandered into my studio and did something, but this challenge insured that I would go in and at the very least, create a collage or a small painting in my visual journal.

In no particular order and not all of my posts, here is a sampling of what I did during July to participate in the Daily Art Challenge.

Painting Frenzy

Frenzy might be an overstatement, but I have been spending more time in my studio and after a fairly long hiatus, I have returned to painting with oil and cold wax.

Since 2016, I have taught a four-day Abstracted Landscape class at Sitka for Art and Ecology on the Oregon Coast. Because of the pandemic, this year’s class, which was sold out and scheduled for August 21-24, was canceled (as were all classes at Sitka).

Somehow the idea of not teaching this year inspired me to jump back in to oil and cold wax after several months of painting with acrylics and working on a series of collages. It felt good to crack open the gallon of cold wax and whip up a satisfying mound of wax, begin choosing tubes of oil paint to mix, and dig out my R & F Pigment Sticks.

I had one deadline for a painting (so that was a BIG motivator to get into the studio and do some painting and I’ll share about that project when I can), but otherwise, I decided to pull out old boards that I had used for demos in my Sitka class last year. None of the pieces were completed, they just had fits and starts of paint and marks on them, all used to illustrate techniques and then set aside. It was nice to have something to respond to besides a plain, blank, board.

I also revamped a few boards that had been completed paintings, but something was niggling at me and those pieces got a light sanding to rough up the surface, and then I started over. It was nice to erase an old painting, but know that there was that sense of history lurking below the surface.

pen·ti·men·to

^{[ pen-tuh-men-toh ]}

noun, plural pen·ti·men·ti [pen-tuh-men-tee] . Painting.

the presence or emergence of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over.

What has emerged during my extended painting sessions is the reoccurring theme of circles. I have always loved polka dots and circles and they have shown up in my work for years, but lately I have tipped over into obsession.

obsession

[/əbˈseSHən/]

noun

the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

I’m using circles to excess and eventually I’ll reign myself in. Or not. In the meantime, here are several pieces in various stages of completion. All are on cradled wood substrates and they all have either Venetian plaster or limestone clay (the fancy name for joint compound) as an under layer. Other than that, some of the paint is from an earlier completed piece, or is from a demo at Sitka. Almost all of these have circles somewhere as a layer – in the plaster, buried in the paint, added on top of the paint, or some of the paint removed using a stencil to reveal paint, the circles serving as a window into an earlier layer.

GULP . . . Website Changes

Change is never easy and when those changes are related to IT, websites, blogs, platforms, IP addresses, and a whole lot of terminology that read like gibberish to me, it is even more difficult. But the time has come for me to transition from a website managed by my long-time IT guru, who is getting out of the business, to a user friendly website platform. Fortunately, my husband knows his way around computers and offered to be the guy to learn the Squarespace platform. He has spent hours and hours building my site, resizing photos, reviewing written descriptions, and putting up with my mini meltdowns (and I’m not even the one doing the work!).

Our plan is to launch to the new site early next week. There are still issues to resolve, so Howard has been chatting with Go Daddy about my three domain names: Dayna J. Collins, Dayna Collins, and Alley Art Studio. And then there is my blog. I started blogging using Blogspot in October, 2007 and used that platform until 2013, when I switched to WordPress. Not wanting to lose WordPress, Howard and I have been brainstorming how to incorporate that site into Squarespace (we’ve heard they don’t play well together) and we think we’ve come up with a solution that accomplishes what we need, but the actual transition could cause some downtime to my website during the actual transfer. During the transition, we will be linking two of my domains to the new site and retaining one domain to my old website, work out the bugs, then get all three connected to the new site, although that plan may change somewhere along the way, and as I type this there might already be another plan brewing.

If all goes according to plan (hahaha), my blog shouldn’t be interrupted, but we’re dealing with technology and codes and secret handshakes, so stay tuned and please check back.

Funky Junkyard Birds Are For Sale . . . Thanks for asking

I’ve had a few inquiries about whether my Funky Junkyard Birds are for sale and the answer is yes. Because I don’t usually sell direct or online, I needed to figure out the best way to make this happen. The first thing I’m doing is listing all of my birds on this blog post with a photo, name, and price. If you would like to buy a bird, please email me (dayna@alleyartstudio.com) and let me know which bird you have chosen and I’ll send you a Paypal invoice. If you live local, we can work out an in person exchange and no shipping will be necessary. If I am sending you your bird, the mailing charge will be $10.

Here is the whole gang, and in alphabetical order, no less!

Funky Junkyard Birds
Allie
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Barnaby
by Dayna J. Collins
$65.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Beatrice
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Beckett
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Cooper
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Crawford
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Daisy
by Dayna J. Collins
$65.
Guardino Gallery in Portland

Funky Junkyard Birds
Evangeline
by Dayna J. Collins
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Evelyn
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Finn
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
Guardino Gallery in Portland

Funky Junkyard Birds
Gilbert
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Harvey
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
J. L. Munkres
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Lila
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
Guardino Gallery in Portland

Funky Junkyard Birds
Lucky
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Margo
by Dayna J. Collins
$65
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Maverick
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Oliver
by Dayna J. Collins
$65.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Palmer
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Funky Junkyard Birds
Patterson
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
Guardino Gallery in Portland

Funky Junkyard Birds
Pearl
by Dayna J. Collins
$65.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Poppy
by Dayna J. Collins
$65.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Ruby Ann
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
Guardino Gallery in Portland

Funky Junkyard Birds
Taylor
by Dayna J. Collins
$75.
SOLD

Funky Junkyard Birds
Whitfield
by Dayna J. Collins
Salem on the Edge
Downtown Salem Gallery

Handmade Journal: The Great Pause (Part 2)

On March 23, I created a handmade journal, which I titled The Great Pause, referring, of course, to the Corona virus pandemic. Since that time, I have continued to work on the pages, gluing in more fodder, pieces of old books, and lots of scraps from my collage bins. Besides continual alterations and additions, I have been writing on the pages, in no particular order, just finding the best space to write down thoughts, quotes, poems, rants, and even daily activities during such a strange period in my life. I decided it was time to share some of the pages, calling this post Part 2. I could offer a caution that some will be offended, but it’s my journal and my feelings, so I’ll not write about why I included what I included, but just share photos of some of my pages as they continue to morph and emerge.

Stitching With Book Linen Scraps

My latest obsession has been exploring using little bits of book linen tabs, collected from when I rip books apart. I have quite a stockpile of these colorful little remnants.

I’ve been fascinated with the small size, the jewel-toned colors, and the raggedy edges since I began ripping books apart. In 2019 when I had my Salvage Collage show at Guardino Gallery, I first experimented with using the colorful little bits:

This was one of my favorite pieces from the show and when it sold, the design idea flew out the door along with the art. Until recently, when those little linen tabs started to make themselves known to me once again. Over the past week I’ve been playing and experimenting with them every time I walked into my studio; I started thinking of the little linen remnants as stitches used to hold pieces of paper together.

Stitched collage in scrapbook journal by Dayna J. Collins

And then I added some stitches in my Great Pause Covid 19 journal.

Stitched page in “The Great Pause” Covid 19 book collage journal by Dayna J. Collins

Of course, I couldn’t resist making a series of stitched collages on book boards.

Book board Salvage Collage by Dayna J. Collins

Book board Salvage Collage with “long stitches,” by Dayna J. Collins

Time to go rifle through my bin of scraps.

Handmade Journal: The Great Pause (Part 1)

In mid March, all hell started to break loose as the Corona Virus began to consume our lives in one way or another. On Monday, March 23, Governor Brown mandated a statewide stay at home order. March 23 was the day I decided to create a journal where I could record not only what was taking place around the world and in Oregon, but also for me tucked safely inside my home. What was my new life going to look like in the upcoming weeks, or perhaps months.

The first thing I did was to make a journal using an old book and then gathering lots of paper fodder. I used book pages, music, scraps from torn apart books, and pieces of random papers, post cards, and handbills from my collage stash.

Once my papers were gathered, I bound the book using waxed linen thread and began embellishing the pages with scraps and raggedy book bits. Every day I would go through my journal and add interesting pieces to several pages, put wax paper between the pages, weigh it down overnight, and then come back the next day and do it all over again to different pages. I did this process of turning the pages and adding more day after day for three weeks.

Finally, on Monday, April 13, I declared that my journal was ready, the pages prepared.

At the same time, throughout the past three weeks, I have been writing notes to myself and making lists about the pandemic: sleeping in, routines, gift of time, rhythm of the day, tooth pain, sporty sneakers, oral surgery, helpless, daily walks, fake news, megalomaniac, self care, roller coaster . . . . .

I have printed things I have read: a poignant poem, a particularly good article on adjusting to how to live during this strange time, the timeline of how our president has fumbled and mismanaged the entire pandemic since the beginning. All things I feel inspired to record, share on my pages, or use as jumping off points for processing the range of emotions I have been feeling.

For now, I’m sharing a sampling of my pages before I make any entries, do any writing, make any lists, record poems and timelines, letting the beauty of the collages and materials speak for themselves.

Did I mention when I made the first journal that I made two more at the same time!?! What was I thinking?

Obsessive Quarantining Activity

Before all hell broke loose, I registered for Nicolas Wilton’s popular 12-week ART2LIFE Creative Visionary Program. If you aren’t familiar with it, here’s how Nicolas explains it:

The program is designed for beginner to advanced artists who are interested in significantly shifting and improving their art. This program will guide you into a better understanding of your own unique creative expression. Over the 12 weeks, we will be taking a deep dive into all the 6 Art2Life Principles – Design, Value, Color, Texture, Risk and Soul.

Gaining a thorough understanding of the nuances and interconnectedness of these fundamental principles will allow you to have tremendous creative freedom in any kind of art-making you desire to pursue. Whether you paint realistically or abstractly, draw, paint, collage or any combination of the three, this intensive program will give you all the tools you need. The program is principle-based and its primary purpose is to clarify and strengthen your own authentic creative expression.

The program and the Art2life team of coaches provides you with an amazing community of supportive artists, concise ways to create a more sustainable, joyful art practice and most importantly, the fundamental art-making principles to finally bring your Art to life.

The program is intensive and to do it even nominally, requires several hours a week, and that is without doing any painting. Then, all hell broke loose when Covid-19 began gaining ground and I found myself with extra time to jump all in to the ART2LIFE Creative Visionary Program. However, this post isn’t about the program, but about how Nicholas has all of his paints in squeeze bottles, often the type that restaurants use for ketchup and mustard. One of the benefits of using the squeeze bottles is the consistency of the paint, not too thin (fluid paints don’t work for this program) and not too thick (like tube paints). Nicolas has his own line of paint that are the perfect consistency, but Nicholas is generous with information and he has shared how to get paint to the right consistency.

For the past two weeks, I have been on a mad tear sorting all of my paints, throwing out old dried up ones, and then combining like colors into a mixing bowl, whipping, stirring, adding mediums and water, and then pouring my energized and reformulated paints into plastic condiment bottles. Most of the time I mixed like colors together, even if they were from different brands, but sometimes I just mixed up an assortment of colors, like several different greens, which after mixing I dubbed “Weirdo Green.”

It has consumed me, it’s been messy, but the end result is a beautiful cacophony of colors. No more excuses not to paint.

A side benefit in the clean up process, is that I started wiping excess paint onto a large canvas and I’ve ended up with a vibrant first layer.

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!