VMFA class...Collage & the Altered Photograph.....

Two weeks ago I took a class from the VMFA called, "Collage and the Altered Photograph," by Susan Svendsen.  It was a nice opportunity to pack my bag full of art supplies (old photos, magazine clippings, bleach pens, oil pastels, ink pads, sandpaper, brushes, glues, scissors, and various types of paints) and do nothing but "get in the zone" from 10am until 4pm.  BLISS!

The kids have been taking art classes there on Wednesdays and I thought it was my turn.  I'm glad I did.  I have so many old photographs that I don't really think are frame worthy, but maybe patched together, they are?  The jury is still out, but at least I got to dig them out of my closet and go to town.  The hardest part for me is knowing when to stop.  Does it need something else? More paint, more interesting bits?  Who knows, I may continue to work on them, or not.  The important thing is I had fun and made an attempt to make use of my abandoned art.  I apologize in advance for the crappy images of my collages.  I was tired, it was late, and I didn't feel like getting the lighting right.

"Losing Track"
Since knowing where our food comes from is one of the themes of this blog, I'll start with my most passionate piece.  I used an old train photo taken at Hollywood Cemetery and collaged it with a Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden spring tree photo scene as the background, and the road from Skyline Drive.  This piece looks nothing like it did when I left class. It felt disjointed and you could see the seams of where I had pieced things together.  NO!  Not cool.  I pieced together some magazine clippings that seemed to compliment the photos and ease the seams creating one large image, hopefully creating a statement about the food industry. Will anyone get it? I have no effing idea.  All I know is it's my favorite, but next time I will work harder on insuring that the glue is smoothed since lumps are visible.  Perfection, people.  It's hard to come by.

After cutting out the train tracks in the above photo, I accidently created the shape of this bird.  I  glued him onto a sunset printed on watercolor paper, cut some bird lashes from some shadows taken from the treehouse at LGBG and whomp, there it is. What will I do with it? Your guess is as good as mine.

As you can see, I used the train again.  I also pieced together some photos I have taken of water, but most of them got covered up by acrylic paint.  I like the coverage of the paint, but up close it looks too lumpy, I need to sand over it, or cover with something else.  Anyway, I was inspired by these bad-ass ladies with their shields.  This one is definitely the most wacky, if I could only improve the texture.  It's also one that doesn't feel completely done, however, it has had many different looks, that I keep changing.  I worked on this for days after class. Inspired, tired and somewhat frustrated at the results. Cool, but Dali would you be proud? Doubtful, but he may cheer me on.

This piece is the most altered as far as keeping my materials to only photographs, sandpaper, ink and a few dots of a bleach pen.  This photo was taken at "The World Famous Old Pressley Sapphire Mine," in North Carolina around 2001 with an old point and shoot.  The gem mining itself was an experience, and I am drawn to the colors of the photo (green and blue are my favorite) but it was never enough.  After wetting and sanding, I cut the LGBG shadow photos and dyed them with a green, aging ink.  I used them as borders for the three horse images (all the same horse image, just different sizes).  I used a stronger glue since the photo paper is not conducive, nor as receptive to a mere glue stick.  I got tired towards the end since I added the other two photos late at night, days after my class, and got a little sloppy with the glue.  The texture is visible on some parts, but what are you going to do?  I will work on craftmanship my next go round.