Faded Recollections
collage miniature on book cover by J A Dixon
5.625 x 7.75 inches
institutional collection
Faded Recollections
June 16th, 2018Note cards from Cherry Balm available online
May 31st, 2018Now you can purchase here at this site note cards that feature details from Cherry Balm as a packet of four assorted cards. Created for last year’s holiday market, this set of four vertical note cards contains cards with one each of four cover images. Larger than a typical note card, each blank card is 5.125 x 7.75 inches and is folded along the left edge. Envelopes are included.
Click below to buy with your PayPal account or a credit card.
No extra charge for shipping, handling, or state taxes within the USA.
International customers, please contact me directly.
Thank you!
Assorted vertical-format cards ~ 4 cards, 1 each of 4 ~ $22.00
features Cherry Balm
Preview each distinctive collage note card —
Governor’s Derby Exhibit, 2018
May 17th, 2018
My 3D collage from last summer, Star of Commonwealth, is currently on display as part of the Governor’s Derby Exhibit titled Reflections of the Commonwealth. It is an honor to have my artwork chosen and, reportedly, positioned near the door to the Governor’s offices. Yes, it’s a cool thing, if I do say so myself. The Kentucky-themed piece was created as part of the 225th birthday celebration for our Bluegrass State. I have yet to replenish my stash (hint, hint, wink, wink) that would enable me to do another similar artwork. The annual initiative coordinated by the Kentucky Arts Council is on view in Frankfort at the Capitol Rotunda through June 4th.
Star of Commonwealth (detail)
mixed-media collage construction by J A Dixon
22 x 21 x 6 inches
available for purchase
Silk Road Guardians
May 13th, 2018“We have had 6,000 years of history with the horse and only 100 with the automobile.”
— Gloria Austin
In the spirit of my preparations for the Derby Celebration, I finished the next miniature in the Silk Road Series. It, too, carries an equine theme and provided me a perfect opportunity to hone my technique for an “apparently seamless” impression when combining a rich tangle of ingredients. There are times when one wants to convey that each element is a distinct part of the composition, and at other times to disguise their individual identity, working with larger visual quantities and textures formed by a composite of scrap.
Silk Road Guardians
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7 x 9.375 inches
on consignment
The Governor’s Derby Celebration, 2018
May 6th, 2018“The Kentucky Derby is a time-honored tradition, and so, too, is our celebration of work by Kentucky artists.”
— Kentucky First Lady Glenna Bevin
It was a privilege to be among sixteen Kentucky artists selected to exhibit and sell their work during the Governor’s Derby Celebration yesterday on the lawn of the Old State Capitol in Frankfort. It was my first opportunity to participate in something limited to adjudicated members of the Kentucky Arts Council’s Kentucky Crafted program. The day started with such miserable weather that I wondered if anyone would show up, but I was surprised at how many came and enjoyed themselves at the rain-or-shine event. Kentuckians really do support everything with a connection to the Derby! In the spirit of all things horse, I created four collage improvisations with equine scrap. Please let me know what you think!
(clockwise from top)
Horseplay with Photo Finish
Horseplay with Pink Silks
Horseplay with Palomino Stare
Horseplay with Hunter Seat
four collage miniatures by J A Dixon
5.5 x 7.75 inches each
(below) the artist at the Old Capitol grounds
in Frankfort with his Kentucky Crafted display
Triple Play
April 30th, 2018“Friendship is a manifestation of God’s love for you, expressed through your friends, who constitute the richest possessions a human being can have.”
— Paramhansa Yogananda
As I have probably emphasized too many times in this format, one of the most enjoyable forms of collage artwork is the personal montage, which begins with a sort of meditation on a particular friend or family member and evolves with an array of ingredients driven by a unique set of preferences and associations. Over the years, in many ways, it has provided me an instructive path to a fuller expression of the medium, and I shall never miss opportunities to continue such a rewarding practice.
Triple Play
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.75 x 10.25 inches
collection of S P Vagedes
Various and Sundry Scraps ~ No.1
April 26th, 2018• Don’t we all want to be Cecil when we grow up?
• There was a time when Merz was deemed degenerate.
• Destruction of the Merzbau and the human toll in Hannover.
• Kurt Schwitters and his fellow artists in captivity.
• How synthetic cubism led to collage as a modern art.
Thanks to The Kurt Schwitters Society for sharing several of these links.
Mr. Kraler’s Distress
April 23rd, 2018“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”
— Anne Frank
It has been a distinct pleasure to perform in the company of some accomplished dramatic artists. I felt like a novice throughout our local production of The Diary of Anne Frank. There were times when the angst of my character, Mr. Kraler, spilled over into my off-stage being. So, naturally, I fell back on my own art and made a collage miniature as a creative catharsis. After a bit of sadness when the Secret Annex set was struck, I found myself eager to spend more time in the studio.
Mr. Kraler’s Distress
collage miniature by J A Dixon
8.25 x 9.375 inches
collection of the artist
from the diary of a collage artist . . .
April 7th, 2018Opened by Customs was created in Lysaker, Norway, after Schwitters emigrated from Nazi Germany in 1937. Here he attempted to continue his Merzbau, or Cathedral of Erotic Misery, which he had begun in c.1923 in his apartment in Hanover. While living in Norway his work was exhibited in his homeland in the Nazi Degenerate Art exhibition. He left Norway for Britain in 1940 when Germany invaded the country. … The complex mesh of language and layers that comprise the work suggests a correspondingly complex web of ideas and emotions. The turmoil of the period (experienced by Schwitters as well as other German émigrés) is conveyed through the conflicting languages, both printed and handwritten, and the fierce red marks added using stamps, cut-outs and daubings. The titular German customs label, which takes a prominent position at the top left of the work, points to a lack of personal autonomy and compounds the sense that Schwitters is escaping ideological oppression. The lack of cohesion – the texts run in several different directions – may be indicative of the upheaval that both the artist and the continent were undergoing at this time.”
— Hana Leaper
When it was announced that the artwork of my friend and fellow collage artist Robert Hugh Hunt would be featured to promote the planned production of “A Diary of Anne Frank,” the long-dormant Thespian awakened inside of me. 
In a moment of pure impulse, I showed up at the audition and soon found myself cast in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
I admit to woefully underestimating the commitment of time and inward focus, not having been involved with theater for nearly fifty years. As a result, my studio work surface has lain fallow and my sense of personal priorities has been throttled. Perhaps you’ve experienced something similar to this — an abrupt, self-generated break in routine that causes the discomfort of withdrawal, but at the same time, a positive awareness that the impending return to creative output will bring a new, energized perspective.
An unforeseen synchronicity is the juxtaposition of performing a character in dread of Nazi abuse with my evolving thoughts about what it must have been like for Kurt Schwitters as he fled his homeland, or when he escaped peril a second time as Germany invaded Norway. I had no conscious regard for treading into this emotional process when I walked down the street to my local community theater. Weeks later, I have no illusions about ever being able to simulate the terror that people endured during those years.
I am gratified to be part of a fine ensemble in an exceptional play. If you happen to be in my neck of the woods, get a ticket for our show before the seats are filled.
Promotional items for our local production feature
the mixed-media artwork of Robert Hugh Hunt.
Mouse in the House
March 31st, 2018“You can’t really make ideas, create ideas. You know, all ideas are the same. They just wander by. If your house has mice, you never know when they’re going to show up, or how, or in which room. and great ideas are the same. They’re like mice. Just a mouse. A mouse in the house. And you step on its tail and you go, ‘Hold it, buddy.’”
— Jerry Seinfeld
Ideas will suggest ingredients, but, as often as not, ingredients will spark ideas. Actually, I prefer the latter. In discussing the groundbreaking Merz pictures of Schwitters, curator Isabel Schulz asserts that his materials “surrender their original function … but not all semantic meaning.” Those meanings can generate layers of additional meaning when ingredients combine in synergy. Before long, if the exterminator is not on site, the house is happily full of mice.
Mouse in the House
collage miniature by J A Dixon
4.75 x 5.5 inches
Purchase this artwork.
The “Collagesmith” as Artisan
March 24th, 2018“Even in the absence of inspiration and talent, I think that through sheer craft you can actually create extremely good work, all the time, reliably. Great work is something else. I think for great work you also need a lot of luck. You can only aspire to really good work. The great work either happens or it doesn’t.”
— Christoph Niemann
Sloppy collage artwork has never held much appeal for me. Individuals might define “sloppy” differently, so I’ll rephrase that. I have always found well-crafted collage artwork to be the most appealing. In practice, I have aspired to the highest level of artisanship to which I am capable. According to my peculiar notions, the very nature of collage as a “mash-up” of visual ingredients suggests that one resist all the inherent temptations to condone careless techniques. To do anything less is a disservice to the medium, and strikes me as being a bit lazy.
I have been at this long enough to contrast current activity with a study of my “early” work. I perceive it now as more crisp and aligned with my long stint as a designer and illustrator. I remain proud of craftsmanship that continues to challenge my present hand skills. Like everyone who sticks around, I have moved relentlessly toward a period of life when manual dexterity and vision are unlikely to improve. At any rate, clean, precise work is more about attitude and personal commitment than it is about facility. Lately, on the other hand, I have sought a more organic, less contrived look — the impression that a piece is naturally the way it should be, rather than appear too obviously composed and belabored. As I work, I try not to permit the goal of a somewhat softer and cohesive whole to suggest a relaxation of craft. In fact, I have gradually introduced steps in the process that demand extra time and attention: sanding the reverse side of ingredients for adhesive-saturated compression and eliminating white edges on printed scrap to enhance a seamless effect. I combine that with ample burnishing and some hair-dryer prep before curing time under weight, followed by multiple light-touch coats of matte sealant. I would rather be thinking about practical methodology or a musical playlist than what is literally evolving on the surface before me, allowing that to be as intuitive as possible.
And perhaps (just maybe), Lady Luck will smile.
Cosmic Crucifixion
mixed-media collage by J A Dixon
2006, 16 x 16 inches
available for purchase