My Collage Demo at Halton Women’s Place

There have been plenty of sources of creative inspiration this summer and I drew from a variety of those sources for a recent workshop at Halton Women’s Place.

I have been inspired by the sights and sounds of summer as well as the beautiful artwork from other artists work that I have seen at the recent Bronte Lake Walks and the Oakville Art Society’s Art in the Park.  One of the local artist’s work that I have been fascinated with lately is the intricate collages of artist Joanna Turlej (www.joannaturlej.com) who creates beautiful pieces entirely through the use of ripped paper.  I am also always inspired by the beautiful mixed media collage pieces that I have seen within the pages of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and decided to combine the two techniques.

Although it is often a different group of students every month at the Women’s Shelter, I do find that collage is a big favourite among all who have attended.  I told them about the paintings that Joanna creates entirely out of ripped pages from magazines, as they enjoy hearing what other artists are doing.  I then showed them the demo I created with that in mind by filling a shape I had drawn with ripped pages and then finishing the painting with a combination of either paint, markers, stencils, pastels or some of each to create a mixed media collage.

The women were encouraged to use the information given as springboards to jump start their creativity and they were also encouraged to use their imagination in selecting their subject matter and the different materials they wanted to use to create their paintings.

Here are some samples of their creations:

Creative Collage Participant

Creative Collage Participant

Creative Collage Participant