Day of the Dead, year 13, opens Thursday, September 26, 2019, at Guardino Gallery in NE Portland. Not only is this a fabulous group show featuring over 50 artists, it is the place to be for the celebration, costumes, face painting, music, food, and inventive art. I’ve participated for many years, frequently getting into the spirit by dressing up.
Stephanie and DaynaMr. and Mrs. Collins
My art for the show has always been assemblages and found object art. This year, I created four pieces, all nestled into vintage wood boxes. Three of my pieces are tall and narrow boxes, each with a single chair, a word, and a minimum of objects. In creating these simple pieces, I was thinking about those I have lost and the desire to sit with them for one last conversation.
lost listen linger
The other piece I created for this show is a variation on a design I created in 2017 for a community read project and then for the 2017 Day of the Dead show; this time around, rather than hanging found objects of remembrance on a branch or a piece of wood, I nestled the items in a box, attaching each piece of string with a vintage and aged thumb tack.
I love this show and I hope you’ll be able to attend the opening reception on Thursday, September 26, 6-9 pm, or visit the show, which will be up until October 27.
The opening reception for my show (with ceramic artist Michelle Gallagher) at Guardino Gallery, was on Thursday, July 25. It was a warm evening and lots of people were out enjoying art and the festivities of Last Thursday on Alberta.
The official photos:
Michelle Gallagher, Donna Guardino, and me
The unofficial photos:
Friends!Alea and meHoward chats with Stacey and FredGreg Carrigan catching up with friendsHoward and Donna watch the festivities of Last Thursday on AlbertaWith my daughter AmyStan and BobbieGrandson Major ponders the artHoward and Steph
Thank you to everyone who came out for the opening and for those who have been visiting since the show opened.
My show is hung. After working on a variety of pieces over the past year and a half, I can take a deep breath and revel in the accomplishment of creating a body of work and getting to share it at Guardino Gallery. All of the pieces I have been working on for this show have been created out of old books. My Artist Statement pretty much says it all:
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.
Here’s the tiniest glimpse of what has been going on over the past 18 months:
Then it became time to begin putting the pieces together into some sort of format for presentation. I ended up using six different formats.
Salvage Collages on vintage blocks.Book boards floating in a custom black frame.“A Lulling Possibility of Happiness,” salvage collage on book board.“A Shattered Sense of Normality,” matted and framed in white.“Secrets Spill Out,” salvage collage on vintage piece of wood.“Hope Carson,” salvage collage on watercolor paper, mounted on cradled panel.
Then there was the Herculean task of titling, mounting, photographing, inventorying, and packing. There were a few hiccups with the floating and the mounting, but after a few tears, I nutted up and found a solution.
Prepping for the “floating” of the book board collages.My photography studio.
It was fun to work in so many styles, using the same materials to create entirely different looks. Unfortunately, it was a challenge for Donna and Gail to hang such disparate styles of work. But they did a magnificent job and created combinations I never would have imagined.
One of my favorite things about having a show at Guardino (this is my fourth one!), is designing the window. As soon as I got notice that I would have a show in July, I started plotting and planning for the window.
It turned out just as I had hoped.
Photo courtesy of ceramic artist Michelle Gallagher.
The show opens on Thursday, July 25, from 6-9 pm. I’m sharing the Feature Gallery with my friend and fellow artist, Michelle Gallagher, who has created a delightful series of ceramic corvids. Their dark beauty compliment my pieces perfectly and we were excited to share this show. Michelle took some great photos, so here is a peek at our show. . . . hopefully this will entice you out tomorrow night for a summer evening of merriment and refreshments (and to experience Last Thursday on Alberta).
Photo courtesy of ceramic artist Michelle Gallagher.Photo courtesy of ceramic artist Michelle Gallagher.Photo courtesy of ceramic Michelle Gallagher.
PS Last weekend our local YMCA had their final book sale in their old building. Of course, I was there first thing on Friday morning, restocking my art supplies . . . .
There is no doubt about it, creating my Salvage Collage mixed media pieces are time-consuming and messy work. First is the collecting of vintage books (worthy of a separate post), then the dismantling of the books (another separate post). When all of the collecting and ripping apart has been done, it is time to slog through the piles, looking for just the right scraps to create something new. All of the pieces I use in my collages are from discarded books that have been ripped apart and disassembled – from the linen covers, to the gluey spines, to the book boards themselves.
Eventually it is time to stop sorting and auditioning and actually glue the pieces into place.
Meanwhile, I’m off to the YMCA annual book sale because today is the final day and all books are $5 a box!
UPDATE: I got SIX boxes of books. I can’t wait to begin ripping them apart!
Here we are the day of our show opening, stopping by for a final sneak peek since we hadn’t yet seen our scrounged letters hanging above the word beauty. We loved it. We spent the day tromping all over Astoria, took a short rest, then returned at 5:00 to celebrate our opening for the rest of the evening.
Final formal photos of Stephanie and me.
Once the guests began to arrive, it was a riot of activity, laughter, fun, chatter, music, visiting, drinking, eating, and general merriment as people came and went, lingered, wandered, stopped back for another look and chat. Stephanie and I were blown away by how many of our friends drove from out of town: Seattle, Salem, Portland, and Albany.
After the last guest drifted away, a group of friends joined us for dinner across the street at Fulio’s and we lingered late into the evening, basking in the afterglow of a successful show and opening party.
After years of being junking partners, my friend Stephanie Brockway and I are doing a show together at RiverSea Gallery in Astoria. Both of us have shown our work at RiverSea for years, and Stephanie had a solo show there a couple of years ago. I show paintings, she shows a combination of paintings and outsider folk art. Scrounged Beauty is found object art, highlighting the best of our collections of found objects, and as some would say, junk.
Months of Auditioning
I spent months pulling things out of drawers, bins, bowls, and trays, choosing which pieces to try out on various pieces of reclaimed wood and prepared boards.
Weeks of Connecting, Titling, Signing, and Photographing
A Day of Hanging
Okay, Colin actually did the hanging, while Steph and I gallivanted around Astoria.
A Sampling of My Pieces (out of 42 I have in the show!)
“Delightful Daydreams,” by Dayna J. Collins“Giddyup, Little One Trick Pony,” by Dayna J. Collins“Obscured Thoughts,” by Dayna J. Collins“A Whisper of Conspiracy,” by Dayna J. Collins“Drawn Into Memory,” by Dayna J. Collins“Daily Interactions,” by Dayna J. Collins“The Tiniest Things Mean Something,” by Dayna J. Collins“Most Expedient Route,” by Dayna J. Collins“Painstaking Exactitude,” by Dayna J. Collins“Traveling Side Show,” by Dayna J. Collins“Seeing Through Shadows,” by Dayna J. Collins“Little Time to Talk,” by Dayna J. Collins“Untroubled By Disturbing Dreams,” by Dayna J. Collins“Beckoning,” by Dayna J. Collins“Staring Into the Distance,” by Dayna J. Collins
Every once in a delightful while you come across an individual who is so apologetically bold and creatively daring in how they live and work and play that you cannot help but feel inspired by their vivacious presence and vibrant energy. Jessica Murdoch
I was invited by Carlee Wright, publisher and editor, and Jessica Murdoch, co-editor and writer, to be featured in the second issue of Press Play Salem, an arts + entertainment + culture magazine focusing on the people, places, and things to do in Oregon’s beautiful capital city, Salem. How could I refuse, it was such an honor.
Carlee came to our July Art After Dark Open Studios at The Studios at Mission Mill, where I have my Special Projects Studio, and shot some photos of me for the article. Then Jessica sent me a series of questions to answer – a LOT of questions – and I wrote and wrote and wrote, wondering how she would ever decipher everything and boil it down into an article. But she did. Amazingly well, I might add.
I ran downtown on July 31 and picked up a stack of copies. I spread them out the next day and shot this photo. But I didn’t read the article. I really didn’t. I was too nervous. Two days later, I finally decided I would read what Jessica had written. I read it out loud to Howard, choking up a bit as I read. How could this article be about me? But there it was, a beautifully written expose of how I live my life and the art I make.
The next day, we met our son and two granddaughters for lunch at Taproot, where there was a huge stack of Press Play Salem. I grabbed a couple to show Scott, just as Avery grabbed crayons and colored over my face. Sounds about right.
Jessica’s final paragraph:
And that’s Dayna. The woman is — in a word–colorful. She is a kaleidoscope of personality and spontaneity. Her art and her method reflect the most intimate version of her spirited self, and she is fearless when it comes to sharing her artistic expression with the world, making no apology for the outcome: ‘Taking an idea and expanding upon it, with twists and turns along the way, and ending up with something entirely unexpected, is the thrill of the process.’
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.
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
Last October, I taught a one-day workshop titled What’s Your Story, Real or Imagined: Telling Stories Through Black and White Photos. It was very successful and I had several artists tell me they wanted to take it if I offered again. I decided to turn the one-day workshop into two days and to hold it at The Art Studios at Mission Mill, where I have a studio.
I limited the class size to four participants so we would have plenty of room to move around in the smallish classroom. Both workshops filled quickly as I contacted everyone who had mentioned they were interested.
The two workshops were a blur of energy and activity. Rather than try and share the individual workshops, I’m just going to post a series of photos which represent the frenzy of creativity that took place the last two weekends of January.
On our first day, everyone created a series of backgrounds using acrylic paint, a variety of pencils, inks, plaster, and stains. On day two, mixed media collages were created using vintage letters, envelopes, and ephemera, and then a black and white photograph was added – either the photo of a stranger from my stash, or a photo of a relative, brought by the student.
Show and tell. Just a sampling of the collages created over the two weekends.
