Art

As a practicing collage artist, I feel a strong inclination toward the visual. I am drawn to pattern, color and texture which reminds me of the fabric work of my Mémère Drouin. Just as my grandmother made quilts from old clothes, I make collages with junk mail, discarded magazines, tissue paper and old coffee cups.

First Art Publication: On a whim, I sent some images to Persimmon Tree and hurrah, hurrah, here they are as “illustrations” for this issue “Rejecting Despair: Poems of Lament, Rage, and Resistance” which showcases the work of fourteen women poets, including Tess Gallagher and Alicia Ostriker. I am so honored! https://persimmontree.org/special-issue-2022/poetry/

During the first months of the 2020 pandemic I was working in my studio almost everyday. My purpose was to create intuitively and freely. Here are some of those quick collages: 

red flower 3/20/2020

fragments 5/27/2020

 I created these small pieces quickly in  6×9 books of heavy-duty (140 pound) art paper. I used a glue stick on my palette of colors-made up of New Yorker pages, bits of tissue or cardboard, and pieces of junk mail.

we will not be left 6/19/2020

I tried not to overthink each creation and found the practice peaceful and meditative. 



These next two pieces are collage portraits, both done with live models in Martha Miller’s Continuing Ed. Portraiture class at Maine College of Art. I’ve done some others, but these are my favorites. Both of these are anchored in narrative.

Rosemary
Rosemary

I think of “Rosemary,” as praying or meditating, though the model (serene and looking down) was actually knitting.


Robert in the East

With the black-rimmed glassed and a pink turban, the model, Robert, inspired me to build a vaguely Mediterranean city behind him. It might be Greece. Or it could be Turkey.

I’ve done a number of “cityscapes” which are meant to confront the dissonance of urban life. “Fractured City” originates from a 1970 National Geographic spread on Rome.


Fractured City

For the purely abstract pieces, I try to open myself to the suggestion of color and texture as I rip papers. Both the shape of the torn pieces and the negative space play a role in these collages. I name these abstractions when I see what emerges. These two are called “Catfish” and “Sunset.”

Poet and Artist

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