But Why and Other Queries...

I often get asked what drew me to collage artwork rather than painting, drawing, sculpture or one of the many other numerous art forms. Although there are more reasons than I could go into (some I'm still discovering myself), one of the most fascinating and challenging aspects of collage for me is putting disparate images together to make a cohesive whole that tells a story or makes a statement. There are some pieces that naturally come together through images I have already gathered or a concept I have been eager to explore. Other pieces take longer and are often repeatedly deconstructed and reconstructed in order to bring the final story to life.

I'm constantly torn between wanting to include as much detail and as many images as possible to telling the story more fully versus keeping the piece from being too busily distracting and without having a main focus. Even the simplest pieces I've created however, tend to have fantastic stories behind the images used to make them in addition to the concept behind the piece.

It's common to ask what the piece is about or why I created it which is where I thought this blog might be interesting. Every couple weeks I'll showcase a new piece, either finished or in progress, and tell some of the stories behind the images, the piece itself, and how the original concept influenced the work and may or may not have shifted throughout the creation process.