7 Reasons to try collage
Looking to improve your art? Collage might help.
I’ve always loved drawing and painting, but the state of most contemporary art today (basically a huge unregulated market and giant money laundering scheme) can be disturbing and frustrating. So instead of losing my faith in art, I started making collages in 2018.
Although the technique of collage is as old as the invention of paper in 200 BC, and Mary Delany was cutting and gluing painted paper to make arresting floral images in England in the 1700’s, collage as an art form today is a distinctly modern invention. The modern art of collage emerged out of the shift from Impressionism to Modernism with the artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who began pasting sheet music and newspaper onto their canvases in the Cubist style in Paris in 1912. And also with the German artist Kurt Schwitters who was making his Dada style Merz pictures in 1918. (The term ‘collage’ comes from the French word ‘coller’, which means “to glue”.)
So I started collaging to learn to think more playfully and abstractly about making pictures, to discourage my reliance on photo references, and to establish a daily routine. It really helped me to loosen up and led to some interesting experiments, and it basically improved my art practice overall. So if you are stuck in a creative rut, or want to think more abstractly about forms and colour, or if you just have art materials gathering dust on your shelf, then I want to share seven reasons to try collage.
Reason #1 - Learn about the importance of composition; play with shapes and colour relationships; develop intuition.
Fundamentally there are a few principles of good composition: balance, contrast, hierarchy, movement, pattern, proportion, repetition, and unity. Thinking abstractly with collage allows you to really focus on these principles which are discovered differently by everyone- and what you do with your collages will teach you about you.
Since composition and design are one of the most important considerations in art, collage will help you to train your eye to recognize shapes and colours that are in a proper relationship to each other. (And by proper, I just mean what looks good to you.) By moving shapes and colours around, you can see how changes in placement or subtle shifts of proportion and hue affect the overall composition. As these elements pull together you can watch and actually sense when things click and feel right. It‘s good practice for paying attention and training your perception about when things are looking harmonious with colour relationships and composition. This is a feeling that you need to cultivate and develop over time.
There is a great book by artist and master colourist Josef Albers called ‘The Interaction of Color’ where he describes the magic of colour relationships and how colour can appear to change depending on what other colour surrounds it. In fact his book contains colour studies that are rudimentary collages about training the eye to notice colour. Collage can help develop your own sense about how colours can change and what looks good next to what, and to create an awareness for these magical effects, and specifically what looks good to you and your unique eye. You will begin to see how shapes and colour relationships can elicit feelings. In this way you can develop your own personal style and explore what looks right to you- you have to develop your taste and practice this discernment- exercise it like a muscle. This knowing of when things are working is an important thing to nurture.
Reason #2 - It’s easy to change your mind; practice abundance as shapes generate more shapes; create from a sense of play by asking “what happens if?”
Collage gives you a chance to move shapes and colours around and compare the options. You will learn to not take design decisions too seriously or personally- it’s just paper! You can play and experiment discovering when things are working or not. With collage you always end up with leftover shapes that can be used later in future collages. This creates an awareness of positive/negative space relationships and repetition in design. As you play with iterations of shapes, you will notice certain shapes and colour combinations that keep coming up.
With collage nothing really needs to go to waste- but it’s also important to notice when you are holding on too tightly and to learn to let go. Sometimes it feels hard to use your art supplies to just play and experiment. But actually a real wasted art supply is one that you don’t use- is there anything you are saving for that special future project? Art supplies do have a shelf life- they will dry out or change in consistency. The time to use your supplies is always now. Use all your supplies and play with colour mixing or layering and use these experiments as collage paper.
It’s important to cultivate a practice of abundance in your art- more can equal more. There is this principle called the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule. It describes a pattern where in any cumulated effort, 80% is inconsequential and 20% really stands out. You can see this pattern play out in the fact that people most often wear only 20% of the clothes in their closet, or in business where only 20% of the customers account for 80% of the sales. So in art, you need to keep making the middling work to discover that 20% of great work - and sometimes you can’t even see what’s good at first. So you just have to focus on the making, knowing that the good will be discovered- these pieces will reveal themselves over time. You can give yourself the freedom to experiment and play and not imagine that you need to create a masterpiece every time you sit down to work because reality doesn’t really work that way. Ask yourself “what happens if?” and go from there.
Reason #3- No expensive art supplies; use what you have; use what you can find.
You don’t need to buy expensive art supplies to start making collages. If you don’t have any paint, you can use leftover wrapping paper or pages from magazines. You can also buy coloured card stock at the Dollar Store or IKEA.
(Actually IKEA has had great paper and other art materials too- take a look in the kids section. They have different kinds of coloured paper, rolls of paper, even lap top drawing easels. They also sell these plastic bumpy boards - which I think are meant for some kind of bead craft- that are great for cleaning your paint brushes- you just have to gently swish you brush over the nubby surface to get any paint off your brushes. I keep one at the bottom of my water bucket.)
Envelopes are also a great source for collage paper. Sometimes they come in great colours, and even the white ones can be interesting. Look for ones that have a security pattern printed on the inside- you can cut this envelope open and use it in your collages. I have a collection of different colours of patterns from these business envelopes.
Basically anything you can cut with a scissor and will lie relatively flat can be used in collage: newspapers, old notes, junk mail, tickets, etc. There is even a category on eBay called Paper Ephemera where you can by boxes of old vintage paper like accounting records, postcards and old documents.
I will use up my leftover paint to make painted paper for collage. I just paint on regular 8.5” x11” bond paper that is for printers or photocopiers. It’s a great way to play with different colour combinations and practice mark making and line control. I’ll also use this paper to wipe off my brush to create unexpected shapes and colour mixes, or I’ll take my paint brushes out for a test drive and see how many kinds of different marks I can make. It’s also fun to layer pastel, paint, markers, ink, etc to see what happens. None of these experiments are a waste of time or material because they can always be used for collage!
Reason #4 - No drying time or toxic materials; it’s quick; it resists overworking.
Sometimes it’s hard waiting for paint to dry- in fact that saying is basically synonymous to being bored. I think this is why artists sometimes stop making art when it gets hard to keep the momentum going. Oil paints can take almost forever to dry even with mediums and especially colours like ultramarine or alizarin crimson. Acrylic paint will dry faster- which is why it’s great for making collage paper, but if you are working on a painting you still need to wait around for the layers to dry.
With collage everything is dry and ready to go- you can work fast and not worry about your clothes or wet brushes or the paint drying out. And with collage there are no toxic materials - only glue or tape and all the glue sticks that I’ve seen are non-toxic. I also found this Italian ‘Coccoina’ glue which is non-toxic and acid-free. It’s been made since the 1920’s from potato starch and almond oil and smells like almond extract- which is amazing if you love marzipan like me. It dries white, is water soluble and is perfect for gluing paper to paper.
So with collage, you don’t need plan- you can just jump right in and get started. Sometimes it can be helpful to set a timer if you find yourself deliberating, but if you are working at a manageable size you can finish a collage in one sitting- usually between 20 - 30 minutes. The hardest part is just getting started, but once you start to move paper shapes around, compositions seem to suggest themselves. There is also a saying that if you leave a painting unfinished for a day, the painting will leave you for three- so it gets exponentially harder to get back into a work that you haven’t completed. This is why it is important to train yourself to finish work. When working abstractly, there can be confusion about how to know when a work is done. Just like training your eye to recognize colour harmonies and strong composition, you also need to develop the awareness for knowing when a work is complete. This is a feeling that will develop over time and continue to get more sophisticated. Usually it is hard to overwork a collage like you can a painting- some call this “licking the surface”. There is something always fresh about the arrangement of cut pieces of paper that will stand out and say it’s done.
Reason #5 - Establishing consistency; a habitual routine; the flow state of creating as you go.
Collage is a low pressure way to warm up and to just get started. You don’t need to have an outcome in mind as you learn to listen to the work and create as you go. There is also magic in developing a consistent routine. When you commit to a daily 20 or 30 minute practice, things that at first feel hard and awkward will quickly become second nature. This routine isn’t just about repetition and grind, but more about decision refinement where you exercise that creative muscle and build up a fluency for your intuition and craft. It has been observed that how you do one thing is how you do everything, so by paying attention to these small decisions, you can discover what your choices could be revealing to you. Consistency has this magic effect where effort changes into a sustained flow state and personal meditation.
There is another saying that “The more you do the more you do”. And making art is really about the participating in the doing- the making of the thing. This is why it’s important to practice everyday and to complete a work. Collage is an easy way to establish a small routine and develop a habit that is easy to start and finish.
Reason #6 - Small footprint workspace; no messy cleanup; minimal tools.
You do not need a big space to make a collage. The work area can be the size of your kitchen table or the size of a cutting mat- collage can be as big or as small as you want. It is nice to have a bit of space because sometimes certain compositions can suggest themselves in the disorder of cut paper scraps, but that is not necessary to start working. You can create collages in different locations like a hotel or coffee shop because there is no messy cleanup. It’s easy to make a travel collage kit, but don’t take large scissors or an exacto blade on a plane! I have even made a collage outside at the beach, though I wouldn’t recommend outdoor locations because wind is not friendly to cut pieces of paper. There are minimal tools required, all you need is paper, scissors and tape or glue. The work area is easy to set up by simply pulling out a few paper shapes, and quick to pack away. You don’t need to worry about making your clothes dirty, you won’t leave a big mess of wet paint and you don’t have to clean out your brushes.
Reason #7 - Accessible to almost everyone; you probably already have the skills.
The great artist Henri Matisse started making collages when he was in his 70’s. He was bedridden from surgery and didn’t have the physical stamina required to paint or sculpt, so began creating his ‘cut-outs’ with painted paper and scissors while lying in bed. Matisse ended up making hundreds of these collages and felt that he was truly expressing himself with this medium. His collages are recognized as some of his most famous work (think of the Blue Nudes series) and he felt that colour had healing properties so he often brought collages when visiting sick friends.
The skills required to collage have been learned by almost everyone at least by kindergarten. If you know how to use scissors and tape or glue you can make a collage! In fact you can even ditch the scissors and tear your paper apart. When I work in my studio I also use rulers, exacto blades, weights etc, but it can be as simple or complicated as you want it to be. One thing that is great about cutting shapes out with scissors, is that it’s hard to be precise and this is good for not being too precious about the outcome- it’s ok and often better if something is a bit wonky or not exactly straight.
There can be a lot of pressure to stick to a certain art niche when making art. Painting can feel intimidating because it is so historically revered and there are some true technical aspects that need to be considered. But there are no gatekeepers with collage and really no rules about the medium. Us artists tend to be really high in openness which means that we love new experiences and learning how to do different things. So collage can remind us that it’s important to try and experiment like Matisse- to keep that spark of curiosity alive, and to recognize when we are getting bored or repetitive. Really the more we can make, the more we can explore our sensibilities and and our unique style will unfold for us.
Making art can sometimes feel uncomfortable because often you don’t know where to start or you don’t like what you are making initially. Sometimes I can get in the habit of buying art supplies as a substitute for making art. I know that this is a form of procrastination or resistance because it can be intimidating to confront that blank paper or canvas and justify the reasons why you should spend valuable time playing with colours on a surface. Collage is a way to remind myself that the practice of making is important just in and of itself - the practice of doing- of just the making of the thing. It has motivated me to get into the studio, to use my materials and just get started. And if sustained, this practice will inevitably lead to other ideas and tangents- basically it will get the ball rolling.
In a way, collage is to art like a DJ is to music- you take bits of fragmented stuff and combine them together to make this new whole thing- a unity that it composed of many different parts. Somehow this feels especially relevant today where we struggle to isolate the meaningful moments from a flood of information (which is steadily enabled by technology) to try to create a moments of solace and wonder in the world.
So I hope I’ve convinced you to give collage a try- it has definitely rounded out my art practice and it might do the same for you!