Fishguard Arts Society
Cymdeithas Celfyddydau Abergwaun
Collage Workshop
in the e-learning Centre Fishguard
with Glenn Ibbitson
A fascinating and informative day with a variety of work produced using a life model alternating between a stand and sitting position again a backdrop.
some photographs of the work produced-glossy magazines were used so the shine in the photographs is inevitable.
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COLLAGE: GLENN IBBITSON
An environmentally friendly medium; recycling in action.
One of only 2 artforms directly created from the 19 Century industrial
revolution –the other is photography and its variant cinematography
Develped as a folk art medium from late 19th C. result of a proliferation of
affordable mass produced printed matter. Illustrated newspapers and journals,
mail order catalogues greetings cards
Victorian fire screens, scrapbooks, nursery furniture, changing screens etc.
Peter Blake.
Relatively underused medium because
1] questions of lightfastness, Will the print inks fade quickly?
2] I have only come across two leading lights in twentieth century art who have
made collage their main medium [Joseph Cornell and Kurt Schwitters]
…precedents have been largely 2nd rate. Google in the term collage and
see the results; a very few examples of fine artwork in a mass of mediocrity
= seen as a useful exercise medium and little more…
But can become art of the highest order in the right hands
Matisse: colour values only; scissor-cut flat shapes
3 types of 2d collage
stones were used in classical and byzantine walls and floor surfaces.
A] Cut paper stanley knife or scissors
B] Torn paper: tear towards you to prevent white edge
C] Tear and cut: Blue Nude
D] Paper-punch vermeer, standing figure
2] montage: Richard Hamilton: combine disparate source material to create image
on a theme almost, but not quite, in scale
fashion plate
3] combination of mosaic and montage
How Collage Feeds my work
A] COLLAGES AS EXHIBITS
1] Stand alone collages works in their own right
B] COLLAGES AS SOURCE MATERIAL
2] Sources for paintings
3] sources for drawings
4] underlays for mixed media painted overlays
5] backgrounds for painting compositions
WORKSHOP:
Aim:
to produce a collage from the figure through a process of careful colour and
tonal matching. Carole will alternate between 2 positions, so there are opportunities
to investigate and combine 2 models in an interior space
will be using glossy magazines today; my personal preference –but not a
prescription Alternatives to glossy magazines can be
a] tissue papers
b] prepared painted papers uniformity of paper quality and pigment fastness
c] artworks on paper which could be recycled
Raw materials:
1 lots and lots of magazines; only when you begin do you realise just how hard
it is to find that particular violet among a 2 foot high pile of glossy magazines.
2 pva provides both adhesion and a glaze which protects paper from UV rays
egs of collages from 1984-5
not cow gum
4 apply glue with brushes or card squeegees
3 backing: either board, card or paper. Can use none of the above, just develop
the collage by sticking fragments together. Advantage is here that there are
no limiting edges, so the collage develops to whatever shape is needed to create
the image, rather than being constricted by conventional format. Eg. Kurt Schwitters
and the Mertzbau
Some Notes
Work from larger general area to smaller specific details just like oil painting
but process buildup is much faster no drying waiting time
Edge qualities can be varied:
e.g. two adjacent tones or colours on same paper fragment will give a softer
edge than a physical tear or cut.
collect /accumulate general areas of colour; store in separate piles or large
envelopes. N.B. a stray draught can be disastrous.. use a paperweight
All the artists whose names appear in blue text are worth Googling; others producing
interesting work in the medium of collage are:
Robert Rauschenberg
John Heartfield
Max Ernst
Kim Frohsin
Ken Kewley