Esprit de Collage at Artiscape

I recently invented this class after trying some experiments on my own. I brought many mats with me of varying sizes and openings. Most of them were purchased at second hand art stores. Some I painted with craft paint or Annie Sloan Chalk paint. I challenged (nicely) the students to create a collage the size of the mat opening, rather than create a mat to fit a collage. I had done this on my own with some old mats that I had and found it really fun and educational to create collages in a predetermined size and shape.

The theme of the class was finding inspiration in the look and exuberance of the early 20th century collage makers. The class rose to the challenge and found they found creativity enhanced by the limitations. I brought lots of vintage papers and fabrics and emphasized the use of original rather than commercial materials. We used Ceracolors in addition to collage elements.

When we ran out of mats for the second collages, (this was a big class) students tended to create their own predetermined spaces for their collages (see above.)

Here they are: participant works in the esprit de collage!

 

To see some splendid work from my "Paper., Oil, and Wax class at Artiscape, visit my other blog, "Cold Wax and More."