June 25, 2006
Layer by Layer
Excerpted from the Creative Mom Podcast, Episode 3
Collage Discovery Workshop: Beyond the Unexpected
Hellmuth's intro notes talk about a period when her collage work really changed after a year-long struggle with artistic block. She talks about the process she went throughtrying tofigure out how to recapture the excitement and energetic feeling she'd once had creating art. She studied what she liked and responded to in art - and she made lists, lists, lists.
After determining where she was headed, Hellmuth freed herself from the pressure to do something "amazing" by focusing on simple materials. "It's just paper," she would tell herself. Then, she writes, "I decded to create at least one small collage a day and see where it would lead me. I wanted to make numbers of mini artworks quickly so that I could create without too much right-brained thinking. The only way to grow is to make a lot of art, so I leapt in." It worked.
The style of collage Hellmuth tapped into blends background, texture, pattern, hand drawing, and text with people constructed from photographs, photo copies, or prints of people's heads and clothing made from fabric or paper. She calls these people "poppets." The effect of her collags is whimsical and charming but powerful, too. The juxtaposition of the black and white photos with brightly colored hats, skirts, pants, and surrounding objects like houses trees, birds contribute to the narrative of each piece.
This is a beautifully done book. It's full of photographs of Hellmuth's work, but at it's core, this is a real how-to book. The book walks you step by step through the process of making a collage in Hellmuth's style. She teaches you 7 textural and easy to do backgrounds to add dimension, weathering, and visual depth to projects and then she shows 3 projects that use combinations of those background techniques. There is a section on printmaking (either by spoon or pasta machine). There are sections on working with fabric and color. And there's an extended section on using your own personal photos and stories. She gives concrete, hands-on suggestions for coming up with your own narrative theme for a piece or series and explains the thinking behind some of her works. The lessons feature clear and well-photographed directions that make it easy to reproduce the steps shown. (Even if poppets are not your style, the wealth of info on creating backgrounds here is excellent and can easily be used with other types of collage or mixed-media projects.)
