Tag: Salvage Collage

Salvage Collage: “Making Abstract Art From Discarded Books”

Day 5: Final critiques.

 

How do I put into words my experience earlier this month. Imagine spending five days with artists who all love ripping apart old books. Fold in an instructor with mad teaching skills. It didn’t hurt that the class was held in the center of Whidbey Island at the Pacific Northwest Art School. The class was titled Making Abstract Art from Discarded Books and the instructor was Sante Fe book artist, Melinda Tidwell.

In the spirit of using few words, I’ll share a series of photos with captions in my attempt to convey how I spent my week and some of the work I created.

Pile of scavenged book pieces.
Melinda organizing piles of book bits.
Book bits divided by color.
More bits divided by color.
Auditioning book bits.
Auditioning pieces for a possible composition.
Work table.
Working on a grid format.
Grid in progress.
“A Shattered Sense of Normality,” by Dayna J. Collins.
Morning session.
Strata in progress.
“Wild Revelry,” by Dayna J. Collins
Altering and painting book pages.
Painted book pages.
Painted book page.
Painted book page.
Auditioning and gluing pieces.
“The Dim Veil of Sleep,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Looking Backward in Time,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“Laughing with Genuine Pleasure,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Rebellious Tendencies 1 and 2,” by Dayna J. Collins
“Occasional Flashes of Kitsch,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“Deep Urgent Conversations,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“A Truth Profound and Simple,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“A series of Small Coincidences,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“The Possibility of Change,” by Dayna J. Collins.
“The Pale Thin Light,” by Dayna J. Collins.

This pieces I created in this class fit nicely with my What’s Your Story project as well as my Salvage Collage pieces. Now I’m ready to start doing a better job of ripping apart my vintage books.

Melinda and Dayna.
Fun House mirror.

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