Me + Collage Art

Recently I decided to revisit my youth and create something using my very first artistic style: COLLAGE. More specifically, self reflective collage from magazine images. So much of junk journaling is collage work and I've been thinking lately about when I was first introduced to collages and how in all these years, I've kept some form of collage in all of my creative expressions.

Way back in Jr. high school, my 7th grade teacher (let's call her Ms. J) brought in a bunch of magazines and had the entire class make collages on copy paper. She told us to find images and words that we liked and that represented who we were. After cutting them out, we glued them haphazardly all over the paper. It was supposed to be a cool piece of art all about us that we could keep.

I have an extremely clear memory of that class and I must have went to ask her something because I can see my teacher sitting at her desk making her own collage on a sheet of orange paper. When she cut out a bottle of perfume called "Beautiful" and glued it to her page, I could immediately smell the deep floral fragrance and had a sense of maternal hugs. My mother has always wore Beautiful and to this day, I associate both the image and the smell with her. Now I watched as Ms. J claimed this image as her own.

At first, I felt possessive. She shouldn't have that image! I should have it because it was MY mother's perfume. Then I felt odd... because my logical thoughts knew it wasn't MY perfume or even my mother's. Yes my mother wore it, but obviously other people bought it from the store too so it makes sense that Ms. J could wear it too. Then I pictured Ms. J in my smell memories holding her own children who also must love that smell... and I saw that this teacher was an actual person with a life beyond her desk. WHO KNEW?

Up until then, I really only associated my teachers with being in the classroom and even though I might have known they were married or had children, I had no real context of who they might be outside of the classroom. I think this memory is so clear because as a 12 year old, I was entering a new phase of awareness. I was starting to see the world, the people who surrounded me, and also myself differently. It's a rather confusing age and as I'm thinking about it now, I appreciate how appropriate of an age it was to assign a self-reflective project. Thanks Ms. J.

Collages stayed with me after that. In high school, I struggled quite a bit with identity so it was helpful to have a form of art therapy. I started making large and complex collages that took hours and hours to make. I would get in the zone and stay up half the night cutting and gluing. (Thankfully, I was young and had the ability to sit of the floor that long without getting massive leg cramps!) In adulthood, collage has been present in almost all my creative expressions. I've collaged fabric into quilts, paper into junk journals, and have a deep love for making mixed media art.

As I worked on this collage, it felt good to think back on the very first collage I made and how much I've learned over the years. I haven't made collage for my wall in a long time and it was quite interesting to focus on making something that represented me and what I like today. The day after I finished, my daughter asked if she could use my magazines to collage for herself. Of course I said yes! She spent several hours cutting out images then taped them to the wall above her bed in a cluster. Seeing it really makes me smile when I go in and kiss her good night. I wonder what she learned...:)

~ Anna B.

Journal Idea

What can you remember about your first time seeing or learning your favorite way to create? (art, music, stories, ANYTHING!)