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.

Mexican Mail Art – Part II

The first batch of mail art was mailed from Mexico a few weeks ago.  I am not sure if anyone has received the postcards yet.  I started working on a new series of ATCs when I was still in Puerto Vallarta.  Two explored the local palette, including the day of Tropical Storm Pilar (which was a humid, rainy day but not much of a storm where I was).  When I got home, I finished the series and used more of the play money and lotería cards I picked up at a 25 Pesos Store and a local bookstore.  Like so many San Francisco artists, I can’t resist using lotería cards and have been incorporating them into my mixed media work for 20+ years.  What is it that draws us to these cards?  A new batch of mail art was dropped at the post office yesterday and is on the way.