The annual pre-spring studio intensification is upon me, including 30 new collage artworks over the next 30 days. Follow daily progress at my Instagram profile.
The Earth is Full
imaginary landscape by J A Dixon
paper, tissue, gel transfer, tea bags
(workshop demo) 5.875 x 8 inches
March Exertion / 30-in-30, day 1
Reportedly my workshop seats are filling up. If you owe yourself a day’s immersion in papers and paste, this could be it. Find out more and register today!
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This miniature originated as a demonstration of intuitive collage at my autumn workshop. My next class is on February 28th, the last Saturday of this month — a full hands-on day of instruction and experimentation that I call “Painting in Papers.” Register here if you’re interested in learning more about making both nonrepresentational and pictorial collage art.
Her Jumbled Curiosity (detail)
collage exercise by J A Dixon
5 x 5 inches
My next collage workshop will be held one month from today at Art Center of the Bluegrass.
Find out more and register soon!
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Collage is always about the ingredients. They will provide the stimulus, the catalyst, the “muse,” if you will, that leads to an unexpected next step. They can provide a clue to follow, the suggestion of continuity, and sometimes one piece of paper is the puzzle solution that you never saw coming. Respond to ingredients intuitively, and learn to recognize a spontaneity that isn’t driven by thoughts or feelings. What seems right for the context? It is a sense that an element does or does not “belong,” whether it is a harmonious similarity or an energetic contrast.
A Tolerable Complexity
collage experiment by J A Dixon
6.875 x 9 inches
“Never put off until tomorrow what you
can do the day after tomorrow.”— Sam Clemens, Oscar Wilde,
or some other unknown wit
Would that I had followed Ben Franklin’s advice in preparation for my class to share collage-making techniques and perspectives. When I “pick a card” like this and invite Lady Luck, I am more likely to find myself in the Mark Twain frame of mind. At any rate, everybody who signed up was fun to be with, all went well, I’m more than pleased, and surely I’ll do it again. We tackled multiple experiments to short-circuit the calculating mind and build intuitive spontaneity. Five participants were there on Friday and six on Saturday. My thanks to each of them and the hospitality of Kleinhelter Gallery!
When Chance Comes to Call
collage miniature, 2025
7 x 8.25 inches, in the Merz tradition
available to collectors
