Waste Not, Want Not 2

Nine more itty bitty collages

Nine very small collages made with papers from my scrap bag.

Waste Not, Want Not 2

Recently at one of the collage group meeting of Scissors and Glue ABQ Zach Collins showed up to make some collages with the gang. The archives have a number of great collages of Collins in the collection. Zach brought a small plastic box of collage material bits and pieces and some small blank paper supports to make collages on. I really enjoyed the compact ‘travel studio’ that Zach had set up.

(you can see his flipping through the box at minute 3:50 in this post...)

OM.2012.293 - Zach Collins - USA - collage on paper

I asked him about it after he flipped through his papers and asked how he was keeping his collages that are so small and he said that he keeps them all, by the hundreds, tucked away in a shoebox in his closet. This seemed like an incredibly compacted and interesting way to work. I asked what he is going to do with them and he just shrugged his shoulders. I was thinking about Zach when I was making these little collages. @zachcollinsart

I was also thinking about Allan Bealy in Brooklyn who works in an amazing compact studio space that in my part of the country would be considered the size of a small walk-in closet.

If you click here you can see Allan squatting on top of his studio desk.

Below is Allan’s piece for the Visual Poetry and Color show.

OM.2024.047 -Allan Bealy - TREADS - 8 x 8 inches - collage on panel - visual poetry and color

I am just too much of a Tasmanian Devil to be that contained and disciplined. Even way back in my college days in the 1970’s my printmaking teacher would comment that if left unchecked I would take over the entire printmaking studio that was meant for about 20 students.

But I must say, it is very enjoyable to have a very contained miniature set up for making itty bitty collages.

Another thing, with very small collages, the tiny elements in the collage material become more monumental in such a small environment. Often the smallness of the type or the little stains or tears in the paper take on more significance and have a louder voice where as in a larger scale collage these elements are only a whisper.

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The small collages at the top of the post are now for sale in the Coffee Club Shop. Be a part of the Coffee Club for random daily 'coffee house style' conversation about almost anything that comes to mind just for Coffee Club supporters. Click the button to check it out.

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