April 13, "Cut and Run" Collage-a-Rama Reception at Arc Gallery

Making collage takes me back to my teenage years when I used to cut and paste creations on envelopes to letters I'd send in the mail. 

In recent years, I've been involved with Collage-a-Rama, which is a group of local artists who meet monthly for collage-making sessions at Arc Gallery. Collage-making is an art form that can go so many directions, and the artworks take on the personalities of the artists who make them.

For this exhibition, I have created 3 rockets roughly corresponding to different eras in my evolution as an artist.

Independence--

This piece represents independence to me on a few levels: spending time at "Lake Independence" growing up, breaking free from religious bonds and the closet while coming out, and deciding to leave my established career to make art. The squeak toy dinosaur in the center was one of the first things I painted as an artist, featured in dozens of paintings.

Buenos Aires--

I always had to have maps, and a lot of my collage work incorporates actual maps I used for travel. One of my most popular characters has been the Double Robot--a robot in a robot. Their names are Mark and Randy after childhood friends.

Liz--

This is a map of Manhattan, and the square grids of the map called for square images. Old stamps seemed perfectly suited, and I found I had so many with Queen Elizabeth on them. This is my commemoration of her, arranged in rainbow colors. Robot Darius in the porthole is among my most recent characters. His name means kingly.

in the Project Gallery at Arc