Collaging

written by Eric Truchan

I've always been a collector; collector of music, movies, random artifacts I deemed cool along the way in life.  In a way, collaging is an extension of what I generally gravitate toward. It's a combination of sights, colors, and moments smashed together to create a new image or feeling. 

Collaging brings a sense of world building, sculpting a moment out of things that have been left to the side or forgotten about on a shelf. One of the most rewarding things about collaging, in addition to being able to physically carve out your vision, is the sense of repurposing and reimagining. Often, the fun is witnessing an image or images out of context when juxtaposed with other images, inviting a new feeling of humor, absurdity, horror, beauty, or exploration.

One of the benefits of collaging as an art medium is you do not need much to get started. I always lean toward an X-acto style knife, but a pair of scissors can help you get started as well (simply tearing out images can create a suitable effect as well). A glue stick works best for me, but people also enjoy using Rubber Cement, tape, or any adhesive to put your images together.  A cutting mat (available in most hobby/craft stores for about $10-$15 depending on size), and garbage can near by can help alleviate stress (and keep your surfaces scratch free), but not necessary. Lastly, you'll need some images. I love hitting up book sales, flea markets, online sales of people purging their junk, or asking around if anyone's unloading any old issues of magazines or picture/coffee table books.  

The limits are endless with collage. I've found the more I've collaged, the more risks I was willing to take in making them, and found new methods of how to intricately cut and splice images together. The act of creating through collage has become a new freeing outlet for me over the years, and I hope you can find your own joy in the hobby as well.  If you don't get your vision on the first go round, keep going. It will all glue into place eventually! Happy collaging!