Collage Techniques « Collage Your World

Ruth Ann’s “Gifts from Heaven and Earth”

“Gifts from Heaven and Earth” (Dedicated to Arlene Margaret O’Rourke), Ruth Ann McClure, Mixed Media/Collage, 16 x 20 inches, 2012

Today, I take great pride in sharing “Gifts from Heaven and Earth” a commemorative Vision Board created by Ruth Ann McClure. A number of my spotlights have focused on students wishing for […]

Collage Your Nails!

Many summers ago while she was visiting from England, my grandmother Sophie and I would spend time painting our nails together. We hadn’t seen each other for years so it was a great bonding activity. While doing this, she told me stories about her life as well as advised me on the best nail […]

Changing the World, One Collage at a Time

Recently, I assisted elementary school teacher Catherine and her grade six students with a collage project. After working throughout the year on a social issues theme with her class, she asked them to create a collage of the “footprint” they’d like to leave in the world: things they wanted changed for the better.

Now, […]

Collage Tip #10: Coffee Table Collage

I’d like to invite you to shake up your collaging by thinking outside the box. Collaging doesn’t necessarily have to involve papers, scissors and glue. You can expand your collage repertoire by layering all kinds of materials. Today I propose we collage with books! Fiction or non-fiction. It doesn’t matter; the only tools you’ll need […]

Collage Journaling at Charlotte’s Place

Students, Brenda and Charlotte, sharing their journal pages, May 2012. Having students share their reflections about the process and discoveries they’ve made during collage journaling is a vital element of the workshop.

On a gorgeous afternoon last Saturday I held a collage journaling workshop in Carleton Place, Ontario. Charlotte, a former student, loaned […]

Embossing the Day Away with Wendy Southin

Arranging different textures together with metal embossing is so much like collaging. One can arrange and affix them onto a canvas or a small wooden frame with heavy double-sided tape.

Recently when my good friend artist Wendy Southin asked me to assist her with a metal embossing workshop for teens, I jumped at […]

Student Spotlight: Connie’s Journey from Quilter to Collagist!

Connie Howes-Davidson’s second journal page (Collage, 5 x 7 inches, February 2012) which was inspired by a favourite quilt. Quote: “A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” Arsène Houssaye

Connie Howes-Davidson was lured to my Collage Journaling Workshop by her friend Ruby who caught my show at the […]

Life through the Arts: Surviving the Impossible Dream

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how art helped me survive family turmoil during my early years. We had a lovely house, clean clothes and good food at the table, but at the heart of our home something was terribly wrong. By the age of 10 I began to sense how important communication and expression […]

Anne’s Vision Board: Words to Live By

My first few email discussions with Anne B. led to a flurry of misunderstandings on my part. When she described herself as a retired, single woman needing to build a positive outlook in her life, I envisioned a little old lady stuck at home alone (even though I should know by now that 60 […]

A Snapshot of Your Life Workshop: Student Journal Pages

A Student’s Collage Journal Page, 5 x 7 inches, February 2012

Last week I gave a Collage Journaling Workshop to a group of local high school students. Generally I teach adults, so it was great to be able to expand my experience to include teens. It’s been a while since I was in […]