Learning to "paint" with collage

Meet Marjorie! She's 97 years old, maybe 77 pounds dripping wet, and obviously THE person for whom the phrase "cute as a bug" was invented. She's also a regionally well-known and respected artist specializing in collage. She continues to create her own art and still gives the occasional workshop. Pretty amazing.



I was lucky to have the opportunity to participate in Marjorie's most recent workshop. She and a couple of volunteers drug a massive amount of supplies 45 minutes or so from Visalia to Three Rivers. Marjorie and her late husband lived here, and I think she has a very soft spot for this little community. So, a group of us gathered at a local gallery as part of the 1st Saturday event for November and began to learn to create a collage.

Marjorie speaks of "Reckless Abandon" and "Careful Planning" as the two approaches to this process. I'm not your basic careful planner, and I was in need of therapy anyway, so I began a meditative (though surprisingly fast) application of paper to board to create a painting.


OK, it'd no masterpiece, but I had great fun, and I feel more prepared to do this again. And, the Brandon-Mitchell Gallery in Visalia wants to have a show of the works created at Marjorie's workshop and/or as a result thereof.

Given that the local Student Art Show (featuring the work created during the 4 weeks of October that I "taught" at the grammar school) was also a part of 1st Saturday I was more than a little busy. Friday found me very involved in hanging the student show as well as doing some of the set up for the workshop. After the workshop my uncomplaining husband showed up with our old truck to load and deliver the tables, chairs, etc., back to folks who loaned them for the event. The last of that got done today. Oh, and along the way I managed to grab a few photos so I can put together another article for our weekly paper. That's WAY too much for me at one time, but the way this particular cookie almost "crumbled".