Marieke's blog (Treats and Treasures) has been inspiring me lately, so I thought I would share some imagery.

This is the journal - playground - laboratory of Marieke Berghuis (1979). I live in Amsterdam, where I fill most all of my days drawing and designing - if I am not attending classes in art school that is. On this website you will find daily pages of my (paper) journal, with sketches, notes and scraps, and once in a while a picture of something finished.

[ Continue reading "constant inspiration: treats & treasures" ]

Thought I would let you know about Eva Han's solo show going on right now in Dusseldörf, Germany (Jan 29 - Feb 19, 2010). I have always been a fan, and her new work is really something. Here's a review from her website:

Artist Eva Eun-Sil Han's work of poetry and geometry goes for a visceral response
By Lennie Bennett, Times Art Critic

Eva Eun-Sil Han definitely has both sides of her brain engaged. "Measured Emotions," an exhibition of her work at C. Emerson Fine Arts, has poetry and geometry at work. The artist collages photographs, her own and others, often drawing and painting onto the paper. Many of them seem purely abstract and in most, the assemblage of images is in such bits and pieces they don't seem meant to be discerned specifically. But Han is going for a visceral response from us (that's the "Emotion" part of the show's title), whether it's a response to the cut-and-paste drama of her constructions or the provocative glimpses of recognizable body parts. She doesn't give us any hints since all are untitled.

via Eva's website.

I am pleased to present Danielle's work, we exhibited work in the same show last year in Toronto. Her work is so lovely, and it's amazing how she can create such unique pieces with other people's family heirlooms. In this post she talks about her own family heirlooms, and also the struggle between being an artist and being a designer, which I know all too well!

Name (Real or Screename): Danielle Hession / Danny&Dani
URL (Blog, Website): http://www.dannyanddani.blogspot.com/, http://www.daniellehession.com
Location (Where are you from?): Grew up in Kingston, On/Aspen, Co (Currently in Toronto)

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Playing with the old, the loved, the forgotten.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: Found vintage photos, wallpapers, packages, maps, letters, journals, notebooks. Anything old!!! I also love letraset and rub-off decals that are found at scrapbooking stores. Recently, I have been playing with coloured and patterned tissue paper and my newest obsession is washi paper tape from Japan.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I started making collages with rubber stamps and different papers when I was about 10 years old. I had a little card company with my friend at one point. I kept visual journals obsessively since I was pretty young; collaging my little heart out. I tried to focus soley on Graphic Design in university but always got in trouble from teachers for veering on the artsy/illustrative side. It has only been 4 years that I have been collaging professionally. I never thought I could make a living from it so I made plans to be a graphic designer.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: Happy to say that I am solely and artist. Most of my business comes from custom artwork. I create pieces from people's old photos and favourite memories.

[ Continue reading "danielle hession" ]

I am always pleased to see Notpaper's featured artists grow stylistically over time, and I feel so grateful for this opportunity! Recently, I came across some work on Flickr I enjoyed, and contacted this "anonymous" person to see if I could feature them. It just so turned out that Clara Mata—an artist featured here twice before—was submitting work under an alias, a547555. So naturally, I asked her some questions about her experience being "someone new" online.

Name (Real or Screename): a547555/Clara Mata
URL (Blog, Website): www.claramata.com
Location (Where are you from?): Spain

Q: How has your work changed since your last interview?
A: In many ways. I still cut and paste paper, but I've learned a lot since then. My personal work has turned more "personal" and I'm getting more experienced as illustrator. I'm finding my language. I think I'm less interested about perfection and rational relations between images, and more attracted by abstraction, and other ways of understanding images.

Q: Collagists love experimenting, can you explain what your experiment was?
A: Last year, I erased my flickr account for personal reasons. A few months later I started thinking what will happen if I went back under a different identity. By this time my style, my collage work, had changed, and I wondered if a new experince in flickr would be different. Flickr is a good place to receive feedback of your work, but it's most of all a social net, and I decided to come back with this "ghost" identity, whith no name or face or gender, just to see if I got to meet the same people and friends I made in the past. And I did! but I also found some other really interesting artists... or they found me.

Q: Why did you decide to change your style?
A: Hmm, it wasn't such a decission. It was more like a natural evolution, I guess. I really like some of the work I did in the past, but I had the feeling I wasn't completly myself. I was kind of a student, just trying and trying... So I searched a lot, just to find my place. I think actually I'm closer to finding it now.

Q: Did any other artists influence your recent changes?
A: Of course. Flickr gave me the opportunity to know the work of some awesome artist, like elsrGarcía, Cless, Never Always or Falling Apart. Getting in contact with their work and with them (really good friends of mine some of them) has enriched myself and my work very very very much.

Q: Any recent accomplishments you are proud of?
A: A collage exhibition I was offered to organize this year. It was for illustrators. I chose some of the best illustrators/collagists I know and all of them took part in the exhibition. I couldn't believe it. The result was so beautiful! It took lots of work, and sometimes was stressful and really frustrating, but it was worth it, no doubt.

Q: Do you have any future projects in your mind?
A: Improve my english.

Thanks again, Clara!

I love how clean and simple Donna's collages are—but there is interest in the graininess of the imagery she uses. It's all about placement in her work, I particularly like the ones that are based around shapes. I can just picture her collection of ziploc bags with paper cutouts arranged by size and type, and it makes me smile—also I wish I could be that organized!

Name (Real or Screename): Donna K.
URL (Blog, Website): www.flickr.com/photos/donnak
Location (Where are you from?): Schuylkill Haven, PA

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: I'm going to try and make you laugh or something.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: My images are all from National Geographics from the '60s & '70s. For a while I liked vintage Playboys from the 60s & 70s too...and these inaccurate, illustrated encyclopedias from the same era.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I remember forcing my preschool teacher to teach me how to use scissors to make a Valentine's Day card collage for my mom when I was 4. I even opted out of snack time to do it! I think it was because the older kids were doing it and I wasn't satisfied with the pre-cut heart selection!

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: Right now I make my own stuff (some videos too!) and assist/collaborate with my professional artist boyfriend and his insane projects.

[ Continue reading "donna k" ]

Upcoming collage show tonight if you're in Chicago—wish I was there to see this, I love Chad's retro-feeling collages. (Apparently there are over 50 new pieces!) Also congratulations on your first solo show, I know it will be a success!

Concoction
New Works by Chad Kouri
January 8-24, 2010

Chad Kouri is a stuff junkie, glue and adhesive enthusiast and a procrastinator. Chad spends most of his time in alleys looking for treasures to build out his found-art collages and illustrations. The rest of his time is spent writing emails to people he has never met and other things to pass the day. He is a member of Chicago art collective The Post Family. This is his first solo exhibit.

Opening Reception for Both Exhibits
Friday, January 8, 7-10PM
with music by DJ Sean Doe

Info via Rotofugi.

I was excited to do this post for a number of reasons—Darren is a Canadian artist who is doing something truly different in the world of collage. It's almost hard to tell sometimes that his work is collage. I first saw his work on the cover of Janine's (from UPPERCASE Gallery) publication Work/Life, and loved it. I didn't realize it was collage until I looked more closely at my copy. Since then, his work has been all over the place, and now I'm sharing it with you!

Name (Real or Screename): Darren Booth
URL (Blog, Website): www.darrenbooth.com
Location (Where are you from?): Ontario, Canada

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Painterly style with fragmented collage.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I always work with magazines. Mainly for colour blocking and textures. I also use a fair amount of vintage papers that I've found and collected over the years, or from vintage magazines.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I've been working with collage since my first or second year of college, so roughly 10 years ago. One of our assignments required collage aspects and I haven't stopped using it since.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I make my living as a professional illustrator. My typography work falls into the illustration category as far as I'm concerned. I do a bit of fine art painting and design on the side, as well. The painting and design is just another outlet and gives me an excuse to do something different when I feel like it, or need to do something different.

Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I graduated from the Illustration program at Sheridan College.

[ Continue reading "darren booth" ]

I really enjoy the collages of sasaki-san. I'm really influenced by Japanese everything lately (I don't know if you've noticed)! I would somehow love to find this book and see more of these simplistic and beautiful collages. Let me know if you can get your hands on one...

Found via ii-ne-kore.

I usually don't post about digital collage work unless I think it's really fantastic. So in this case, yeah, it's pretty fantastic, because Rodrigo's work is mainly digital. I like the greater amount of detail that can be accomplished by using a computer, even though my preference is still handmade. I love the way Rodrigo combines his collage and graphic design work in a very harmonious way, which digital collage artists can do so well.

Name (Real or Screename): Rodrigo De Filippis, "RodrigBoy"

URL (Blog, Website): flickr.com/photos/rodrigboy, www.bxaxdxg.com.ar

Location (Where are you from?): Argentina



Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.

A: Reconstruction, impulsive, complex, visual, retailer, recycled.



Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!

A: I usually work from cutouts of old books and magazines (Argentine Magazines or international), from the 60s-70s-80s (digital/scan), or from photos and advertising (analogue and digital).




Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?

A: Not much time, about 4 years, but I've always been working in graphic design.



Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?

A: Now I'm studying graphic design in UBA (Universidad de Buenos Aires)



[ Continue reading "rodrigo de filippis" ]

I love that Tilman uses every resource at his advantage to create collages. Found paper, tape, drawings and photographs. I particularly like the pieces that layer tape and paper in a way that gives it a translucent quality. I look forward to seeing more!

Name (Real or Screename): Tilman Dominka
URL (Blog, Website): Website & Flickr
Location (Where are you from?): Wuerzburg, Germany

Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Hand-made, that's the most important aspect of my work.

Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: I like to work with all types of things, mostly with found objects out of magazines or newspapers and drawings I've done. Recently I started doing collages out of photographs that I took.

Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: I have been making collages for about six years now and it started with collecting things in my traveling journal/sketchbook.

Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I work as a freelance graphic designer and photographer. Doing collages is more of a personal thing, but recently I got one or two jobs including some collage art, too.

[ Continue reading "tilman dominka" ]