Collage Faces: Class #2
June 07, 2023
On Saturday I spent a super fast (time flies when you're having fun) four hours with a lovely group of artists in my Collage Faces class. I would say about a quarter of the class is attending live and the rest are watching the replay. That's the wonderful thing about Zoom. It's so flexible! Plus, I think the message board and ability to share images and ask questions between classes makes it feel like you don't have to watch live.
For class number two, we focused on the structure of the basic pleasing face and how to construct it out of collage paper -- which papers to choose, how to cut pieces, how to combine things, etc. These are my demo pieces from class:
There's plenty of time to join in on class. All the video lessons are downloadable and you can work at your own pace.
As a side note, I've been thinking a lot about the "job" of an artist. I've always maintained that it's about taking the view of how you see the world and getting it into a form that other people can digest. My collage faces are less about creating accurate portraiture and more about sharing how I feel/what I see.
Over Memorial Day weekend, I was at a barbecue and chatting with someone new. I asked him how he had gotten into his line of work and he said, "I feel like I'm at a job interview." I apologized immediately and we laughed about it. The fact is, I do like to interview people. I do like to ask lots of questions and find out all about them. I insatiably curious about people. I want to know if how they present themselves is how they are. I want to know everything. I find people endlessly fascinating and full of unexpected twists and turns. I think that's why my faces are less than traditional. I have a deep desire to show off interesting faces rather than pretty ones. I like faces that have stories to tell.
The further I get along in my artistic journey, the more I realize how important it is to tap into the things that drive you to create. I am interested in odd people. And so I make odd people.
Thanks for stopping by!