Saturday, February 16, 2008

International Collage Exchange # 4 & 5


Untitled collage. Number 4 of 14 in this series.
National Geographic Images , found barcode
Untitled. Collage 5 of the 14 in this series.
National Geographic Images, found playing cards.

* My son is such a gem, he found the barcode at the park this morning and the playing cards in the sandpit at school a few weeks ago! It means so much to me that he finds these things and brings them home for his Ma!


It's been a very productive day. This morning we went to see the Jim Cooper exhibition again and my eldest made a 'Jim Cooper' inspired mask and I saw the whole exhibition again. I came home super inspired again but instead of painting I made TWO collages (as you can see!)
I tried to be a little more light hearted with the 5th collage, not all nests are badly woven after all. There are places that children can play and learn in safety and they are worthy if mention!
The nest concept is quite hard for me to write in words, the idea almost feels too big sometimes!
Essentially a nest is woven from our cultural, religious and politcial beliefs, our values and our morals.
There are many parts to the nest- our schools, our communities, our churches and our homes are all woven in some way into 'the nest' that is society. In some places the nest is strong, woven with love, compassion and hope. In some places it is weak, destroyed by greed, war and selfishness. It is these places that fail to nuture the eggs (children) which in turn become damaged birds (adults.)

It is up to each of us to look after our part(s) of the nest and do what we can to raise birds that soar. That's essentially what I am trying to say. Although I think it is just as important that everyone is able to come to their own conclusions, find their own meaning. I love reading your observations and sometimes learn things about my own collages through your eyes. That is art though, what I see will never be exactly what you see. We all take a slightly different journey- because we live in different nests.



8 comments:

John M. Mora said...

These are all very strong - fopcused and thay truly are a series - somethingn that I have a hard time kleeping to. Most impressive, Lisa - I mean it.

Great that your children are involved - you plant and cultivate art even if they become rugby players.

I'd like to see more septic tank imagery in our work....no, birds seems better. They do soar and sometimnes drop things on our unlucky heads.

You should be very proud.

Word verification is dumuz - is blogger speaking to me?

Lara said...

so interesting! I fully admire your work!

Artists With Artitude said...

Number 4 is outstanding!

Isn't great when our kids contribute (in more ways than one) to our creativity? What a cutie!

Now..I'll just go on and fix our nest..:)

Bev said...

To me, these powerful collages show the contrast between the artificial constraints of society and the instincts of the natural world, which are quite simple, to raise the next generation.

Mick said...

I like both of these very much, Lisa. I'm still finding myself coming back to study them; trying to make some of my own sense out of them. :)

The Artful Eye said...

Lisa these works are absolutely remarkable.
What a perfect landing spot for that barcode and how wonderful to have a son who can appreciate found objects.

with #5 My first initial response was seeing an undisclosed hand, because of the single card facing down. Maybe this symbolizes what is left to be done.

Great work.

Irene said...

I am too down hearted at this point to see the beauty that is obviously there, but that I can barely acknowledge. I see the soldier being shot and find myself feeling similarly right now, as if I am about to topple over too. I want a nest to burrow in, can you make me one? I will try to cheer up, but I feel so tired. I need a bright bird in my life, one that says, "cheer up, cheer up."

Anonymous said...

Great collages Lisa! I find myself drawn to the first one especially. The way that you have placed the man behind the birds on the branch, it almost seems as if the tails of the birds are "piercing" his body. Very interesting and very, very thought provoking, bravo!