I asked myself this morning why I am so intrigued by working with materials that I have to rescue, clean, and sort.  I can say that I love looking at them because they are so imperfect and because they are not so understandable as art. There is a mystery to these materials in their rough state and I often have to sit with them or dream about them before I can unravel their next use. . There is a moment when a use for, say, a bulging bag of quilt scraps, becomes a concept which then becomes a reality and the scrap becomes a tile to be used in a number of ways in a number of collages. There is another moment for discovering how a twisted piece of mystery metal creates perfect balance in an otherwise incomplete picture. I relish the practicality of working only with what already exists and the joy of seeing it reborn in a collage. This is the work that truly resonates with me.  Although my work may be less understandable than a landscape or a portrait, it provides for me an adventure in art making that I have found in no other arena.

Here are a few of the new Small Works pieces that are my current project.  As with all of my work, these are made entirely of reclaimed materials.  They come framed in a shadowbox to accommodate the texture and depth of the collages. Measuring only 5 by 7 inches, these are really great as single pieces of art to fill a small space on your wall.  And… the frames can be freestanding so they will work well on a dresser or desk. Although each piece is a gem by itself, these small works can easily be grouped together for a dynamic artistic impact.  I include a list of “ingredients” on the back of each collage and they are very affordable at $45.00 apiece.    Please check back and visit the gallery. 

These are some of my very small works.  When all is said and done, the pictures are framed and ready for sale, they will measure five inches by seven inches.  As with all of my work, the materials in these pieces have been reclaimed and recreated by me and assembled accordingly.  I am showing a few of the red series today but I have many more in green, blue, and teal.  Each is a mere $45.00 and that includes any shipping involved.

 These are all shown vertically but can also hang horizontally. They can be purchased individually or in sets so that you can arrange them for maximum impact on your wall.

Please stayed tuned for more Small Works.  I will be posting the varying colored pieces soon.  All are available as of March 1, 2010.

 I have had a lot of fun in the studio creating collages like this rain forest picture.  It is pure fantasy, nothing representational here at all.  I love working out of proportion and in a primitive format.  There is some scale confusion in that the trees in the foreground are determined to be trees only because their shape and presentation make them trees, not their relative size to the other flora.  The hibiscus flowers are huge in comparison to other plant life.  And the leaves for all the trees are enormous.  This work is designed as two-dimensional wall art and it can also be categorized as junk art because everything in it has been created from junked materials.

 These materials include: poster board, quilt scraps, old shirts, deer fence, toweling, Styrofoam, leaves and beads from silk flower arrangements, strapping tape, dried grasses, foam bird eggs for wreaths, blue jean seams, and house paints.

If you are interested in purchasing this piece or pieces like it, please contact me. I will be showing this piece and others like it along with my more traditional work in Healdsburg, CA at the Plaza Arts Center during March and April.  An updated show schedule will be posted soon.

I have been working with larger and larger arrays of squares.  This piece is comprised of ninety one individual squares each a maximum of three inches.  Within the three inch square is a two inch square and that is punctuated with something resembling a one inch square.  So the total number of squares comes to two hundred seventy three.  I must be nuts.

The elements contained here include yoga mats, meshes, radiators, grasses, old shirts and towels, Styrofoam, woven mats, hardware wire, and the list goes on.  It is all mounted on thick cardboard that has been sealed and painted.  A coating is applied to the squares themselves to stiffen them and help them withstand the dust mop. 

The entire piece and others like it measure approximately two feet tall and four feet wide.  They mount on the wall with a wooden slat attached to the back and they stand out from the wall by two inches.  These are priced at $950.00 each.

Many times I feel that I lack inspiration in the studio, something I know every artist goes through at one time or another.  Recently I was asked how I handle this and I had to stop and think about what I do to get into making art again.  Two activities usually work well for me.  One is to make rain chains with the scrap materials that I collect for my more free form pieces and the second is to make the free form pieces.

The chains are simply to get my mind away from the chores of life and into some fun. The serve as ornamentation outside my house and studio and are an excellent way to get a nice patina on some of the metal objects I use in the free form pieces. For the latter, I use anything I have at hand and follow no particular plan.  I do strive for good composition, pleasing shapes, and good color organization. Some of the examples below are available, others are sold.  No two are ever alike.

 I love working with different gauges and sizes of mesh.  It is all around us and clearly serves many useful purposes but I just like the way it looks and feels.  Included in these works are meshes from many walks of life.  Some is used as deer fencing, some is to contain oranges and onions.  Others are designed for floral arrangements.  Some are industrial metals.  They appeal to my history as a weaver and they add depth and texture to my tiles. I hope you enjoy what I have done with them.

           Also, please visit Whopple.com to read my recent interview.

I have begun this art with a mission: to use up anything I have or can find that is destined for the scrap yard or the land fill. Nothing can be new except for some types of paint and the frames (and even these are being phased out). My mission is to create wall pieces that so intrigue the viewer that they lose track of time and place if only for a few minutes and to do so with materials that no longer have value to us.  I hope you will follow me on this journey since the work will be evolving rather rapidly.  I am creating a series for different sets of materials and when the materials are used up, the series is over.  Currently I am making tiles from paper, fabric scraps, and paint.   Tiles range from one inch square to three inches square and are arranged in mosaic fashion.