“I tend to think of myself less as an artist and more as a Bower Bird, compositing and arranging archipelagos of intricate nests.”

Currently based in South Korea, American artist Jessica Oreck makes multiple collage series, all of which live under the theme of “Sent From Where I Am”. This dreamy grouping, for example, is titled “Manila, Philippines : Collected November, 2018”. It’s basically a mix & match game using faded historical figure flashcards she found in a dusty bookshop in a mall in Manila. LOVE. Here are Jessica’s words on why she does what she does…

“I am enthralled by the objects and remnants that fall through the cracks – caught somewhere in limbo between belonging(s) and trash – the habitually forgotten residues of other people’s lives … The collages each engage directly with a sense of place. Every collection is comprised of materials gathered in a single location. Drawing on the limitations and precision of the imagery, the collages reveal a sort of palimpsest of ethos – a layering of mutating cultural vogues, the anonymous censorship of time, and my own socially muddied sense of self.”

Beautiful. Happy Friday.

Let me answer that question for you … PAPER. Yes, this PAPER installation, titled “Model Home” is the work of American artist Sara E. Farrington. It is absolutely stunning – from the overall effect to her craftsmanship. But wait, it gets better:

“Model Home” is an installation of staged domestic space using heavyweight drawing paper to create everything from furniture and light switches to electrical outlets, rugs, picture frames and baseboards. Every piece is the same color, off-white.  The overwhelming amount of this color from floor to ceiling creates a sense of sterility, conformity, blankness, a clean or erased slate. The model home is a reference and a metaphor for the American ideal, the perfect domestic space marketed specifically for status, an unattainable goal for many. Rooted in a strong foundation in traditional drawing, this work expands the definition of drawing beyond the two-dimensional picture plane and into three-dimensional space, where the space functions as image rather than reality, much like the model home. Both the installation and model homes are staged to appeal to many; a space onto which one can project their desires. The “American Dream” of getting married, owning your own home and having 2.5 children and a dog becomes a failed promise due to economic insecurities. This installation embodies this empty promise.

Beautiful and brilliant.

These “one-minute-nudes” are the work of Hudson, New York based artist Gretchen Kelly. Now, anyone who’s ever taken a life drawing class will know about these quick exercises… the model changing positions every 60 seconds so you have to work fast and make decisions on the fly. I did hundreds of these in art school. Um, NONE of them looked like this! Elegant lines, washy wonderfulness, and a fabulous celebration of – not only the female form – but also the creative process. Beautiful and confident.

ps. These lovely (affordable) pieces are available  in Gretchen’s shop.

Gasp! Delicate, bizarre, and beautifully made … yep, that describes the work of Cuban born, US based artist Elsa Mora. Elsa does all sorts of things – from ceramics to painting – but she is also a master of paper! These images are just a small sampling of her series, titled “One Hundred and One Notions”. I’ll hand it over to Elsa for the explanation:

“This series is about perception, and it consists of one hundred and one small paper sculptures, each of them representing a mental disorder. Along the process of creating these pieces, I did research about the different mental disorders, some of which I had never heard of. For example, Fregoli delusion is a rare disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that different people are in fact a single person who changes appearance or is in disguise. This installation is an homage to the human mind and the endless ways in which it expresses itself. It is about the darkness, light, and mysteries of our human condition.” 

Beautiful. And in case you’re wondering, Fregoli Delusion is the peanut-looking piece up there!

ps. Elsa, her work, and her story are in the follow-up / evolution to A BIG IMPORTANT ART BOOK, which will be released in the Fall of 2019!

It’s the first full week in March! Okay, fine, I know it’s not the first day of spring, but at least we’re in March now… I’m hoping the flower and bird filled collage work of American artist Vivienne Strauss will help move things along. Hilarious and beautifully made… perfect combo. Happy Monday.

{Vivienne’s work – both prints and originals – available in her shop.}

Be still my collage-loving heart! Look at those perfectly matched lines and shapes… gorgeous. (un)intentional cuts is a collage series by Lithuanian artist Ieva Sliziute, and here are her words about this work:

(un)intentional cuts is a personal project of analog collages, designed by visual coincidences. This assemblage technique paired with creative intuition merges images found in fashion magazines into new scenarios, where everything is seamlessly interconnected through either shape, colour or context. Becoming an extension of each other, all photos are removed from their original stories and layered in unexpected ways to both celebrate the aesthetics of contemporary collage and provide a new contextual setting for visual material.

Gasp! 16,000 paper cherry blossoms hanging from the gorgeous, light-filled, domed ceiling of Frederik’s Church {affectionately known as The Marble Church} in Copenhagen… oh my word, yes. “Cherish” is the installation work of Danish artist Veronica Hodges. Clearly, it’s breathtaking, but her reason behind the project is just as beautiful:

“We want to create an installation in Marmorkirken out of paper, where thousands of pink cherry blossoms will be hanging from the ceiling to remind us of the spring we love, the world we live in, and to cherish it while we still have it. The thousands of cherry blossoms are folded by crepe paper, during a series of workshops and “community-workshops” in collaboration with the church and local institutions and schools. This ensures that the project has a local anchorage so that people will meet and start a conversation. Commitment free perhaps, but carried by the intimacy and engagement that occurs when you sit down with something (other than the mobile phone) between your hands. We want to mix the cards, the generations, the children and the adults, the believers and the non-believers. The cherry blossoms in the installation remind us of, that we are a part of nature and that it may not be so for very long, if we as humans do nothing to slow down the climate change and help the earth to regain its balance. We must appreciate the earth we still have.”

Amen.

{All of these images were found on Veronica’s gorgeous Instagram feed – some photos were taken by her, others were taken by visitors to the installation.}

Oh, the dreamy, cloud-filled collage work of Vancouver based artist Crissy Arseneau. These pieces {and a few #wips from her Instagram feed} are from two of Crissy’s most recent series: Cloud City and Suspended in a Sunbeam. See? Super dreamy. Her shapes, color choices, and the way she weaves hard lines into curvy clouds makes me want to take a deep breath… and then run into the studio to cut things out for the rest of the day.

Gasp! This is the work of Canadian artist Amy Alice Thompson, from an ongoing series titled Monument. I’ve written about her work before, because how could I not? Majestic landscapes and gold leaf geometric shapes that “draw the viewer in, and allow them to meditate on what is, and is not, missing.” Beautiful. Also beautiful… the most recent addition to this body of work. Yep, I’m talking about the bits and pieces in those translucent envelopes:

“Small fragments – often the cast offs of other works – have been assembled into glassine envelopes to create enigmatic, intimate compartments or phrases. The simplicity and limited components of these pieces likens them to the Japanese haiku. These pieces depict the essence of the haiku form, which is the art of cutting.”

Fragmented magic / Bits of gold and broken land / I’ll say ‘gasp’ again ~ Haiku by Danielle Krysa

A post shared by Clare Celeste Börsch (@clarecelesteart) on Nov 10, 2018 at 10:13am PST

Gasp! She’s done it again… an immersive collage!? This is “The Mushroom Hunters” by Berlin based American artist Clare Celeste Börsch. Can you imagine jumping around INSIDE a collage? That’s the kind of thing my dreams are made of. Well, minus the snakes. NO SNAKES.