JANICE MCDONALD

Composed: Collage

My collage practice—deconstructing images and re-integrating many elements to create something completely new—is an intuitive and ongoing visual experiment. The collages are created with fragments of paper and recycled imagery collected from my daily life and wanderings. All are unique and hand made of original source materials.

Each collage begins with an evocative piece of paper. I am especially intrigued with the often-overlooked backgrounds, colors, textures, shapes, and negative spaces in everyday printed materials. Working intuitively, I allow the composition to evolve, one piece at a time, gluing as I go. The collage grows and develops as I cut, crop, rip and manipulate possible elements, making decisions about what works and what is needed next to complete the composition.

Eventually the re-purposed papers meld together into collages with fresh, layered imagery, as well as new associations and meanings, that reflect my interest in concepts of balance, movement, connection, and growth.

Images (left) from April 2011 exhibition at Spark are contemporary paper collages, varnished, and created on 10 x 10 x 1″ cradled wood panels. Ingredients are all paper—culled from magazines, newspapers, and junk mail.

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