Art By Autumn - Pieces of My Soul: COLLAGE ART - By Autumn Boyet-Stinton (Original Article Written 1/13/2008)

I like to create COLLAGE ART. I like the mixed media and the depth illusion that a collage creates. There are different kinds of COLLAGE ART, and until I started doing it myself, I didn't think that I was all that into it...BUT, as it turns out, this form of art can be so much fun and very unique to the personality of the artist....and it still leaves much to interpretation. Here is an example of my Collage Art expression:

Lets start with the basic. The word COLLAGE - "Collage" was originally a French word, derived from the word coller, meaning "to paste."

But, what is COLLAGE? A picture or design created by adhering flat elements such as newspaper, wallpaper, printed text, illustrations, photographs, cloth, etc. to a flat surface to create a 3-dimensional look. This type of art might also be known as "relief sculpture," or assmeblage. Most of the elements adhered in producing most collages are "found" materials.

So, from where does this art form originate? It was introduced by the Cubist artists.

What is CUBISM? Thought to be one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century, Cubism was begun by by Pablo Picasso & George Braque in 1907. It was a relatively short movement beginning in 1907, and ending, if you will in 1914...but I'm not sure that an "end" should really be noted as this art form and the technique is very popular and is still being adapted in Contemporary Art today.

Oddly enough to me, the theory behind Cubism is a bit complex. In Cubism, the subject matter is broken up, analyzed, and reassembled in an abstract form. That I understand, but learning to follow the advice of Cézanne, who in 1904 said artists should treat nature "in terms of the cylinder, the sphere and the cone,"...this is where I start to get muddled. But it is a bit clearer if we look at how it developed...

In 1908 Braque traveled to l'Estaque, a place often painted by Cézanne. Along with another artist, he produced a series of very simplified forms inspired by the landscape. Limited color and shape was used. Everything, every form was "reduced to geometric schemas and cubes." - TA-DA! "CUBISM"

Then, Braque and Picasso went further to break other images and compositions into simple planes with limited definition....open edges sliding into each other and changing "depth." They even reduced all color to some shade of gray-tan applied in detailed small brush strokes. This allowed "light" to make a huge impact on the interpretation of the piece.

Next in their progression in this art form, they brought illusion into their paintings and began adding letters, fragments of words, musical notes, sand, sawdust, etc. to their pieces. This technique made the picture more of an physical object!

What a concept! Take a picture of something....a rendering of an object...take the reality and matter out of it and depict it on canvas, but then add element back into the piece and make it "physical" again based on your interpretation. WOW! I could mull that around in my brain for a LONG time....and it sure intensifies what I see when I look at COLLAGE ART. You take out the matter...then add the matter that YOU want someone to see. That is great artistic power!

So, THANK YOU Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque! What an amazing way to think "out-side the box"...or maybe it was more like thinking "inside, outside, next to, in, on, with, and without the box!"

Collage art has evolved and changed and adapted as time has gone on, and will continue to evolve and change based on what we as artist see and try to make others see.

SO...Do you have a favorite kind of COLLAGE ART? Do you have a favorite COLLAGE ARTIST? ...Do you COLLAGE?

SOME OF MY OWN COLLAGE EXPRESSIONS:

(All images are protected by Copyright Laws - Autumn Boyet Stinton)