Happy World Collage Day!

May 8^th is World Collage Day.  These collages are examples of double recycling.   I always re-use the event calendars from the San Francisco Public Library when I paint.   And now I have cut them up for colorful collages.

Hand-Painted Wood Pisanki

This is the time of the year when I gather with friends to spend a day making pisanki — the traditional springtime eggs that are made in Poland, the Ukraine and other parts of Eastern Europe.  Often associated with Easter, this is a custom that predates Christianity in that part of the world.   Alas, Covid is still shutting down many traditions.  

On my own, I have been hand-painting wooden eggs (a form of folk art also found in Poland).  With pisanki the process involves layers pf dye and wax on the eggs.  A layer of wax, a layer of dye, a layer of wax, etc.  When the wax is removed from the surface of the egg, the complete colorful design is revealed.  

With wooden eggs, it is just paint.  But I do not have the steady hand required for the delicate paint work.  I have been experimenting with using small pieces blue painters’ tape to cover areas of the egg as I apply different colors.  The tape method is similar to the wax method.   These are the results so far.

World Collage Day in a Library

Sending this one to Belgium for a mail art call for World Collage Day (May 8^th).  The exhibition will be in a library, so it seems appropriate to make a collage from left over event calendars from the San Francisco Public Library.   I always recycle the calendars and use them when I am painting.  Now for recycled a second time and turned into collages.

Swedish Bookcases

As I continue painting books and things for this Chaekgeori-inspired series, I am never surprised that some of my friends have the same books on their shelves — and in a few examples the same objects.  The other thing we have in common is Ikea bookcases.  Not all, but many of the books in this series sit on those ubiquitous bookcases (including some of my own).   The first time I was in an Ikea, it was in Sweden, many years before it was a global empire.  It is weird to think that the plastic silverware tray in my San Francisco kitchen drawer was purchased in Stockholm in 1984.  

Look closely, you might even notice the holes in the sides of the bookcases for the shelf pegs.  This painting shows the multilingual dictionaries, books and things of artist friends in Sweden.

And now, a Professional Bookcase

A real San Francisco home has a certain look that reflects the personality of the person(s) who lives there.  Never cluttered, but always quirky.  We are a city of collectors who treat our homes like museum installations.  In apartments, it starts with the old telephone nook near the door.  They make for perfect altars.  A San Francisco bathroom is an art gallery with plumbing fixtures.  Our small kitchens never have an empty wall.

What San Francisco homes are not, in spite of the worst efforts of stagers and flippers, are the gutted Victorians that have been sterilized into white and gray modern lofts.  Stainless steel and marble slabs with all the charm of a mortuary.  We do not want to live in banal furniture catalogs.

 

The bookcases and things I paint for my Chaekgeori-inspired series are just a small glimpse into these wonderful San Francisco homes.

 

My friends have generously shared photos for me to work from.  When I asked one friend to send some snapshots, I waited anxiously for their arrival in my inbox.  He and his husband have a delightful Hayes Valley apartment that is like living in an actual cabinet of curiosities.  It is one of my favorite San Francisco apartments.

 

The photos he sent, and what I have painted here, are of his office bookcase.  Early on, I realized painting bookcases was, in many ways, painting a portrait as much as it is painting a still life.  This made me think about a person’s bookcase in a professional office.  Many of us wear different personalities to suit the occasion.   A downtown office bookcase is going to be different from one at home.  Maybe a little more restrained, a little more reserved.   This is a professional bookcase.

Books and Connected Things

 

As I continue painting books with my Chaekgeori-inspired series I am also documenting.  I am recording my own home as well as the homes of my friends.  This latest one shows the top shelf of the bookcase that sits behind my television.  Yes, don’t get fooled by all the books, I also watch TV.  Note the remote control and the even an antenna.   I don’t pay for cable, I have Sutro Tower beaming PBS into my living room.

The other things with the books include some spider plant clones, a vintage folding measuring stick and a piece of mail art from Robin Sparrow.  I display some of the favorite pieces of mail art that I receive on my bookshelves.  There is a wooden folk carving I picked up in Poland years ago and, on the wall, you can see the bottom of one of the Post-Folk Art pieces I did — a series inspired by Polish folk art.  

Tucked behind the remote control is a 4x4 inch piece I did for the 2011 Project.   

In 2011 I made a small piece of art each day for the entire year (365 in total).  It was not planned, but it is perfect that this 2011 piece was inspired by a visit to the Asian Art Museum — much like this series of Chaekgeori.  

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 21

Now the gluing starts.  Don’t let the buckling of the pages worry you.  I’ll use an iron and parchment paper to flatten out the dried pages.   For me, an iron is a tool for making art.  I’ve heard something about using it to remove wrinkles in one’s clothes, but I am not too sure if that is true.  ☺

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 18

Soaking old postage stamps in hot water to get the envelope paper to peel away easily.  I feel like a 12-year-old stamp collecting nerd again — but this time it’s for art. 

Stay Home, Sort, Sort, Sort and then Make Art – Day 16

I collected stamps when I was a kid and a few years back, I was using old postage stamps to make collages.  I still have thousands of them that I had no plans to ever use for collages.  Nowadays I make my own material for collage. I have decided to use the rest of my postage stamps in a stamp-themed artist scrapbook.  Before I can get gluing, I need to sort and sort (this will keep me busy for a few days). 

On another note, as we are all washing our hands, bags of old postage stamps are just filthy and if you need to be motivated to wash your hands really good, just dig in….

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 12

I paint with acrylics, which once you put your paint on the palette it is pretty much use it or lose it.  I even use a plastic tray with a tight-fitting lid to slow the paint drying out, but the best I get is usually about 24 hours.  With oil paints you can always loosen up drying paint, but it also would mean my apartment would smell like oil paint all time.  So, I use acrylics.

Last year I started an artist book where the leftover paint is used to cover most of the text on the each and every page.  I am only up to page 30, so this project will take a while.  Here is a preview — today I had some leftover green…

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 10 (and get some groceries)

More gluing today but also a trip to the grocery store.  We are allowed to go grocery shopping in San Francisco.  I have changed my habits and now only shop once per week.  Both to limit my chances for exposure but also to keep the crowds down so more people can shop safely.  

Like many grocery stores, the workers at Trader Joe’s are doing a great job.  A line with every customer at least 6 feet apart snakes through the parking lot and up the sidewalk.  At the door customers are given a freshly cleaned cart or basket.   When I arrived, I counted about 50 people in front of me.  Within a half an hour I was inside.  The store did not feel crowded and I was back outside with a heavy shopping bag and full backpack in less than 15 minutes.  The store was well stocked.  If this is the “inconvenience” we have to go through to keep us all safe and flatten the curve, I am all for it.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 9

Need more orange!

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 8

Today’s forecast is occasional spring showers and a good dash of color.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 6

Got some more work done on this art project this afternoon.  

Even though we are being asked to shelter in place and stay home as much as possible, we still are allowed to go out for some fresh air and walk.  The important thing is to keep that social distance of 6 feet or more (2m).  This morning I strolled around my neighborhood.  It was quiet and virtually everyone is being really cautious and maintaining that social distance.  This has been my experience that past week — people seem to be getting better and better at this new normal.  Although, there is one exception.  Every time I see a pedestrian failing the social distance test, they all have the same thing in common – they are distracted and talking on their phone.  We all need to get used to a new way of doing things, and if you cannot focus on walking safely, please wait to take the call until you’re back home.  

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 5

Making art today was all about cutting and using hole punches.   Tomorrow will be about gluing.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 4

Staying home and making art — It may look like I am channeling Rothko.  But for this project I need some more yellow and orange painted paper to cut up for the Post-Folk Art collages.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 3

Staying home and making art even the scraps for the recycling look fabulous.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 2

Staying home and making art. Cutting circles, organizing colors.

Stay Home, Make Art – Day 1

Staying home and making art.

A Catalog of Collage Objects

Like any collage artist, I run the risk of becoming a hoarder.  When you make collage, you are always on the hunt for objects to use.  Boxes of collage fodder begin to fill up and then, when are you going to get around to using it all? MUNI passes going back to your 1990 arrival in San Francisco, Czech matchbox labels, vintage cigarette cards purchased in New Zealand 25 years back, fortune cookie fortunes from years of lunch specials. It all just keeps accumulating. 

My collage work has evolved.   Nowadays I tend to make my own material by painting paper, cutting and reassembling.  I really have little reason to save these things anymore.  In an effort to thin out the hoard I have been creating artist books and then purging, recycling, donating and giving away the rest.  

My latest effort is a A Catalog of Collage Objects  where each pair of pages is dedicated to 19 different ephemeral objects.  Some of the highlights are show here.