Collaging for Fun

     I started out collaging just for FUN. I found a local collage studio that gave classes twice a week. Without any expectations, I went to my first class and embarked on the journey of creating a collage. The group was seated around a long rectangular table, and all the materials we needed were provided.

    After introductions and a brief recap of what we would be doing, we began at 1:00 p.m. and through soft music and conversation, we slowly built up our piles of cut out images. At 3:00 p.m. our artist/teacher/facilitator announced that it was time to begin creating our collages. This was quite a struggle for me for I had no idea what to do.  But as I looked at the work of the others beside me, I began to see that it was just a "put it together" sort of thing. So I picked up my glue stick. 

    After moving images around and creating something, at 3:30 p.m. she announced it was time to put it up on the board. We were then told to look and only comment with positive thoughts, this was a safe space, and negative comments were not accepted. Whew! For a while I was back in grade school and thinking "what is the teacher going to say? Am I going to get a passing grade?"

    Instead, what I heard were lots of great comments about everyones work and positive feedback. But what was even more interesting was what each woman explained about her work. What meaning she got out of it. Now THAT was a powerful insight to what emerges from our personal collage. 

    Here are two collages I created that during some of my classes.

       

Collage tip - an easy way to start is by finding just 3 images that call out to you and words that inspire you and mean something to you.  Put those together and you have your collage.  Go with the FLOW, play your favorite music, and just do it!

Paty