Today, January 6th, would be my dad’s 74th birthday. He died suddenly and unexpectedly just over a month ago, and I wish so much that he was here to celebrate his birthday. Instead, I will make art in his honor … and I’d like to invite you to do the same! When I wrote my book, ‘Collage’, a few years ago, I asked my dad if I could use this hilarious picture of him {mustache} and his brother, my Uncle Bill {cowboy}, as the starting image for a challenge I’d be giving all thirty artists in the book. As usual, he said yes! So, today, on his 74th birthday, I’d like to give you the same project I gave all of those amazing collage artists from around the world:

Create a new collage from photograph, circa 1958. Use some, or all, of this image of a little cowboy and his accordion-playing brother. Print it out several times, or use this as the base on which to work. The exciting thing about collage – while the starting image is the same for each of you, every single result will be completely different. 

Right click on the photo to save it to your desktop, and then do what you will! Hashtag your final pieces with #DanCummingCollage and I’ll share them on Instagram over the next month or so. Have fun!  ps. Here are a few examples from the book. The first one below is mine … because I can never resist a good art challenge:

Happy Birthday, Dad ♥ xo

Hey, campers! Ok, it’s week 4 so you know the drill… before we get started I want to show you some of the unconventional artwork that came out of last week’s “unconventional materials” art project (hashtagged #AFYEcamp). When I was at the grocery store I popped down the paper goods aisle and grabbed some envelopes. The post-its were a last minute fix, found on my desk at home, when I needed a turquoise ocean for Daryl to enjoy:

“he’d paid extra for ‘the gold sands ocean view’, so yes, daryl was going to get his GD money’s worth.”

And once again, zillions of you took this challenge and RAN with it! Here are a few pieces pulled from Instagram via our summer camp hashtag, #AFYEcamp {photo credit links are at the very bottom of the post} :

Candy, eggshells, lego stamps, candy sprinkles, old bananas … yeah, I’d call that “unconventional”. Ok, let’s see what you’ll do with this week’s project:

Art Project No.4 

“Captured through Collage “ : Today’s challenge is all about capturing the essence of your favorite place through collage. That might be your garden, New York, an imaginary planet, or even Venice! Yep, VENICE! I mentioned this at the end of camp last time… for two weeks this August {weeks of the 7th and the 14th} I’m going to be teaching part of a course through the European Cultural Center’s Academy that’s happening during the Venice Biennale. Crazy. Here’s another crazy tidbit… the Academy wants one of you to be there too so they asked me to make this week’s challenge a contest… the prize? A week of tuition at the Academy, for one of the two weeks while I’m there {which happens to be worth 950 Euros!}. Insane, I know. Travel / hotel is NOT included but the tuition for a week would be. If you can get yourself to Venice, and you want to enter this contest, please do! Your collage would be Venice themed, obviously. Just hashtag your work with #AFYEcamp AND #JealousInVenice so that I’m sure to see it!

For those of you who aren’t interested, simply take this challenge in a different direction using your own personal dream place, wherever that might be. I can’t wait to see them!

Artist Examples: 

Here are three artists who create worlds with found images, scissors, and glue. Given the Venice theme, I think it’s best to start with an Italian artist, yes? Yes! This is “Greetings” by Caterina Rossato. One giant collaged landscape made from more found postcards than I can even imagine:

Don’t you want to go on a vacation in there? Me too! I’d also love to visit this folklore-filled land created by Tasmania based artist Bethany van Rijswijk:

Ah, I would totally go there too. And finally, the Romanian duo of Irina & Silviu Szekely. This series takes us into a really bizarre art museum:

Three for three… I’d totally spend a day in here, too!

And finally, the campfire story all about Milton Rauschenberg … aka Robert Rauschenberg. His “combines” combine all sorts of things – paint, silkscreen, random bits of stuff found on the streets of New York:

See? Once again, if you gather the right materials you can create any world you want! {I also had to include that photo of Robert in the studio with Jasper Johns, pre breakup}. Well, there you have it. The campfire is out and now it’s time to hit your local thrift shop and find those books, magazines, postcards, etc., that are going to make your world come to life! Be sure to hashtag your worlds on Instagram with #AFYEcamp, and #JealousInVenice if you want to be part of the contest {more info below}. Have fun!

Other info/links:

VENICE CONTEST: Make your Venice inspired collage and then post / hashtag it on Instagram with #AFYEcamp AND #JealousInVenice. The weeks you can choose from are the weeks of August 7th, and August 14th {that’s when I’ll be there as one of the instructors}. I will be choosing ONE WINNER on Friday June 30, 2017.

1. European Cultural Academy, Venice
2. Anthony Zinonos, Episode No.2
3. WideWalls.ch
4. TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST: subscribe on iTunes.

*Photo credits from Project No.3, in the order they appear above:

1. @jennifer_geldard // 2. @maryanndidriksen  //  3. @timbra_blog  //  4. @jodiejaneartist  //  5. @julieligerbelair  //  6. @kc.christmas

The only thing better than a pile of weird images & random bits of pretty paper is gathering up those little scraps, popping them in an envelope, and mailing them to another artist that you’ve never met! Oh, this is so fun… I’m totally going to do it, and you should too! Sara from the illustration blog, Brown Paper Bag has teamed up with Papirmass to put on this very clever & creative art contest… here’s how it works:

1.  Sign up to participate in the Col­lage Scrap Exchange until November 15 (click Sign up to sign up!)

2. After Novem­ber 15, they’ll match up col­lage partners

3. You’ll pack­age your scraps and mail ‘em via snail mail to your partner (this is a world wide project!)

4. Once you receive your partner’s package, make a col­lage (or collages) using both of your scraps! Theme: New Landscapes

5. Turn in your fin­ished art­work before the Feb­ru­ary 15, 2015 deadline

You can win a prize package worth over $250! {$125 cash prize // 2 free subscriptions for Papir­mass // Get your work published in an issue of Papirmass}

So many fabulous people are participating, including one of my favorite collage artists, Anthony Zinonos, so sign up today… I just did {those are some of my scraps above!} Oh, and if you have any questions please email the organizers at info@papirmass.com to find out more. Thanks!

‘

It’s here! After two years of work, COLLAGE finally hit shelves on Wednesday! I love, love, love collage which is probably why Chronicle Books asked me to do this! I chose 30 very talented collage/mixed media artists from around the world, but I didn’t want to just show their amazing work… this book needed a little twist!

I absolutely love found image collage, and could spend hours looking through old books in thrift shops. When I find an image that I love, it only takes me a second to make a cut n’ paste plan in my head – but what would other collage artists do with that same image? People like Jesse Draxler and Xochi Solis? Enter the twist! Not only did I feature 8 to 10 plates of each artists’ work, I also gave all of them the same starting image – a mustache-clad accordion player and his little bearded cowboy brother – and asked them to create a completely new, totally unique, original collage using all or some of that photo. And they did…

Gah! So good, right?! In some of them you have to work pretty hard to find the original image, and in other pieces it’s the star. I love that every artist took this image and completely made it their own. And so, I want you to be able to do it too! Here’s the photograph {which, by the way, is my dad and my uncle in 1958!}… Right click on it / Save it / Print it / Make a collage!

ps. Thank you to Chronicle for inviting me to do this, and for designing such a beautiful book! Thank you to the 30 amazing artists who made this book into a gorgeous collection of contemporary art.  To my dad and Uncle Bill for letting us use this hilarious picture, and for not making us pay any royalties! And, I absolutely have to send some love to UK based collage artist Anthony Zinonos. Not only was he one of the featured artists, but he also wrote the funny, touching, inspiring foreword… xoxo!

{work above by 1. Me  2. Hollie Chastain 3. Jesse Draxler 4. Bill Zindel 5. Xochi Solis 6. Anthony Zinonos}

Close your ears kids… We Are Fucking Awesome aka WAFA is a group of artists who are just that. Fucking Awesome. And so is this project. The control freak in me would have a very difficult time with this, but it would be an amazing and educational experience for just about any artist. Here’s what I’m jealous of:

‘A series of 9 collage books, passed back and forth between artists. As an experiment in disassociation, an effort was made to add to and tear away at eachother’s work, eliminating personal stake and attachment to the final outcome.’

See? Really hard, but fucking awesome none-the-less.

Yep, here we are… back with the second half of my conversation with my amazing friend, New York artist Petah Coyne. In case you missed Part I, Petah was kind enough to take over as ‘podcast host’ so she could interview me. We’re talking about the opening of my show, what worked, what I’d change, what’s next, and all of the many feelings that come crashing in after you’ve worked really hard on a body of work for a really long time. Listen right up there under that lovely vinyl lettering (I love it when that goes up on the wall!), or download ART FOR YOUR EAR wherever you get your podcasts.

Alright, here’s look at a bunch of the ‘specimens’, most of which were shot by my talented friend Stephanie Seaton:

Yep. Gum and cigarettes and birds and flowers and mushrooms and crocodiles! Stephanie and I are gonna go back and shoot the collages once the sun goes down because, boy oh boy, that resin reflects allllll the light. I’ve posted a few videos of the collages though, so if you’d like to take a peek you can find those right here: one, and two.

And finally, a selfie taken on one of my many quiet, on-my-own, visits to the show…

… to ponder what might be next. Thanks so much to Petah for doing this with me, and thanks to you for listening. ~ Danielle xo

Other links:

1. Petah on Instagram
2. Petah’s “Black Sand” (complete with motor oil!)
3. Full video walk through of the show! (via Instagram)
4. Penticton Art Gallery
5. Alexandra Goodall, Artist
6. Sandy Skoglund, Artist
7. White Lotus, TV Series
8. Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2022

At her request, I’ve handed the host microphone over to my dear friend, New York based artist Petah Coyne. As you might know, I’ve been working away, alone in my studio, for just over a year on a totally new body of work. Well, I wasn’t totally alone in there… Petah and I would meet via Zoom so we could talk through all of the ups, downs, and sideways. Well, after all this time, my first solo show in a public gallery opens TONIGHT! We recorded this episode about a week ago, the day before I installed everything because Petah wanted to document the “before”, and we’ll do an “after” episode next! Listen right up there under me dipping yet another flower in white paint, or download ART FOR YOUR EAR wherever you get your podcasts.

First up, the very first “3D collage” (which I do like, it just wasn’t do the job I wanted it to do) that I showed to Petah over Zoom, followed by a bunch of work in progress bits ‘n pieces:

Cigarettes, gum, and matching the gallery wall paint to one of my ashtrays, and a lovely little blush butt.

And here’s that wall, plus “Self-Preservation” starting to be put into place:

Eep! It is so exciting that all of this work is out of my head, out of my studio, and in a lovely, sunlit space! More to come in two weeks with the full reveal, OR keep an eye on my Instagram feed where I’ll be posting at the show TONIGHT. Thank you so much to my amazing friend Petah for suggesting this interview, and for – well – EVERYTHING. And of course, thanks to you for listening… the “after” episode will be up in two weeks. ps. “Self-Preservation” runs until May 15th.

Other links:

1. Petah on Instagram
2. Danielle’s art on Instagram
3. Penticton Art Gallery
4. Alexandra Goodall, Artist
5. MoMA

Are you tired? If not, listening to everything Vancouver based artist Sandeep Johal is doing might make you wanna take a nap! Murals, residencies, installations, solo shows… oh, and she also has a 6 year old son. Told ya. This busy, full-time artist went to university for… biology? Yep. She refers to her twenties as ‘the lost years’, but as you can see, she is now very much found! Listen right up there under Sandeep beside one of her murals, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

So, where should we even start? Well, let’s jump in with just the tiniest peek at a few of Sandeep’s murals:

So fantastic, and seriously, there are a lot more where these came from. Keep an eye on her Instagram feed, because there is always a new wall being prepped!

Alright, let’s take a step back to the work Sandeep was just starting when I met her. Here are just a few of Sandeep’s very emotional “Rest In Power” goddesses:

The piece in the middle is Natsumi Kogawa, the Japanese woman Sandeep mentioned. It’s so horrific that this series could go on and on and on. Hopefully their stories will be heard, and justice will prevail.

That’s not an easy topic to segue from, but there is more work to show you. Here are a few of Sandeep’s ‘beast’ collages:

Yes, this is exactly what we were talking about! Different mediums, but still very much Sandeep’s style. FYI,  these pieces are currently available through @vanartrental … just sayin’.

Speaking of beasts, here’s a look at “Beast of Burden” Sandeep’s final show for her residency at the Burrard Arts Foundation:

So fantastic! This was Sandeep’s first foray into textiles and, yeah, she nailed it. And, of course, there was so much talk about Pennylane and Jamie that I had to pop this photo in!

And finally — oh my word this is so good — “What If?”. This installation is on right now, until December 11th, at the Surrey Art Gallery in Surrey, British Columbia:

Custom wallpaper, too!? Love. If you’re anywhere near Vancouver between now and mid December, get yourself over to the Surrey Art Gallery to see this show in person… So. Many. Details!

Let’s wrap things up with a little ‘how it started / how it’s going’ combo, shall we:

Oh hell yes! From a birthday girl at McDonald’s to a MAMA BEAST! Thank you so much to Sandeep for taking the time to tell us all of her stories; thanks to Storyblocks for supporting the episode, and great big thanks to YOU for listening. I’ll be back with a new episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR in two weeks.

Other links:

1. Sandeep on Instagram
2. Sandeep’s website
3. “What If” / Surrey (BC) Art Gallery until Dec. 11
4. “Beast of Burden” / BAF Residency
5. Thrive (Founder Jamie Smith)
6. Pennylane Shen, Artist Consultant
7. Sara Khan, Artist
8. Crissy Arseneau, Artist
9. Vancouver Mural Festival
10. VAG (Vancouver Art Gallery) Art Rental & Sales
11. Storyblocks

This collage is part of a series I did featuring female artists who inspire me. The woman in this piece was the first artist I ever met… on the day I was born! From the time I was little, my mom, aka watercolor artist Judi Cumming, was cold hard proof that being an artist was possible. Throughout my childhood, she painted and showed her work a lot – then she stopped, and I was never really sure why. Well, we get into all of that and more. Our family always jokes that my mom is operating on a different cosmic plane than most of us, and after you hear her insightful thoughts today, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree.

Now, not only is my mom on the podcast, but in order to keep the “Mother’s Day” theme going, the boy who made me a mom is showing up for the Not-So-Speedy Speed Round! Yep, I convinced 14 year old Charlie to come on for a few minutes. Listen right up there under my mama wrestling with a blossom, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.

First up, a peek at some of the work she was showing in the early ’70s when I was just a teeny tiny baby:

Thank goodness for Delphine pushing my mom to keep creating. Ah yes, there’s nothing like a deadline to motivate an artist!

Next, here’s one of the pieces from the “In Tandem” series she did with her calligrapher friend Susan {I own this one}:

Yep, there it is in my living room!

So, we talked a little bit about my mom finding her way to walking when she experienced that bout of overwhelming anxiety. While she started out ‘learning to walk a 10k’, she eventually turned this therapy into two epic journey’s in France and Spain! Here she is walking the El Camino trail {I think this photo is in France?}, and a few of her watercolor paintings that were inspired by bits and pieces along the trail:

Sigh. Lovely.

So, as you can see, she knows what she’s doing with watercolors. When she came to visit us last summer, we headed down to my studio to make a couple of pieces together. She did the painting, and I added my tiny cut out people… now they get to wander around in these washy, dreamlike worlds:

I wish I got to walk around in there! Ah, that was so much fun… we even broke out some straws and blew the ink around like we did when I was little.

Okay, time to crack open the family albums! Me as a newborn, Charlie as a newborn {with baby Murph, too}, and Charlie’s first Mother’s Day with his Mommy & Nana:

Awwww! They’re all so cute. Thanks so much to my mom, Judi, and my NBA-bound son, Charlie for doing this special family episode with me. And, as always, thank YOU so much for listening. There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend.

Other links:

1. Coloop Podcast Network
2. El Camino Trail
3. The Ogopogo 

I’ve wanted to interview American artist Beverly Fishman for years… but, honestly, I was too intimidated to ask! Not only has she shown her work all over the world, she was also the head of the painting program at Cranbrook for 26 years. Yeah. Anyway, long story short – I asked, she said yes, and here we are! I’m so excited for you to hear this episode… it’s filled to the brim with stories, insights, and no-nonsense roll up your sleeves ‘n get to work advice. You can listen right up there under Bev and her jaw-dropping work, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.

First, the group of Bev’s paintings {!?} I posted a few months ago:

Yes, they’re paintings. Craziness.. they are literally glowing!

Here’s the piece I was referring to when I asked Beverly about titles. This is “Untitled (Digestive Problems, Asthma, Depression, Depression)”, 2019, Urethane paint on wood:

Gorgeous … who knew digestive problems, asthma, depression, and depression could be so fabulous!? Well, Bev did.

Up next, her carpal tunnel causing collages:

I love that her work translates into so many mediums, yet you always know it’s “Beverly Fishman”. Speaking of which… from paintings of pills, to pills made with glass:

Gasp! Aren’t those STUNNING? These beauties were the result of  her 2011 Guest Artist Pavilion Project (GAPP) residency at the Toledo Museum of Art. I would love to collaborate with a glass artist at some point… okay, I’m officially putting that on my very detailed “list of things I want to do”.

And finally, I had to include a few of these gems from the 80s & 90s:

Seriously. Such a kick-ass woman! Huge thanks to Beverly for coming on the podcast to share her stories, insights, and fabulous advice… and, of course, thank YOU for listening. There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend. ps. If you’d like to subscribe to ‘The NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH ART Society’ to receive my new daily art deliveries, you can sign up right here. ~ Danielle

Other links:

1. Beverly on Instagram
2. “Prometheus Bound” {Painting by Rubens}
3. University of the Arts, Philadelphia
4. Ree Morton, Artist
5. Cynthia Carlson, Artist
6. Yale University
7. Mel Bochner, Artist
8. Elizabeth Murray, Artist
9. Eva Hesse, Artist
10. Cranbrook Academy of Art
11. Mark Bradley-Shoup, Artist {episode no.12}
12. Petah Coyne, Artist {episode no.186}
13. Sydney Blum, Artist 
14. Samantha Fields, Artist & Educator {on the podcast: ep.91 & ep.153}
15. Bev’s Art Institute of Chicago Talk … watch it on YouTube
16. “Love Letter to LA” at Gavlak Los Angeles, May 1 – June 5, 2021