How Are the Best Blogs Like a Great Collage?

Answer: The best blogs are good looking, engaging, multi-media, explore new ideas, and like the best art, invite you to share the experience!

nancy egol nikkal: 5×5 collage

I teach collage workshops, mostly with paper, so people can play with paper, paint and embellish paper, explore mixed media, and create art in their own personal style. FYI: the word collage (French: coller) is defined as an artistic creation made from various materials (paper, fabric, wood, etc.) glued to a picture surface. 2-dimensional glued media is called collage. 3-dimensional glued media is called assemblage. Everything sticks together.

My collage (at left) is mixed media on paper, includes tiny drawings printed on glossy photo paper, images from an old MASS MoCA exhibition catalog, and painted magazine papers. It’s all connected, probably includes at least 25 pieces,  and is glued down flat.

I’m an expert at collage. I’m a newbie at blogs.

So, I signed up for Blog Triage, led by Alyson B Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. The 4 week class ends this week with lesson #20. It’s been intense, productive, positive, and demanding.

Everyone had to write a blog for lesson #1 and describe an ideal person who reads our blog, maybe someone we know. My post, titled “Who I Am Writing For,” describes Sylvia. She’s a friend and loves to make jewelry.

Lesson #3, titled “Your About Page – The Heart of Your Blog” is still a work in progress. I like the way my sidebar and About Me looks now, and have to thank Blog Triage for all the information on what to include.

Lesson #6, titled “Cure Yourself of Blog Envy” asked us to find blogs that inspire us. The image below is by Gwyneth Leech, titled Cup of the Day #46 “Networks” (2010), colored ink on white paper cup.

Gwyneth Leech: Cup of the Day #46

Gwyneth’s Full Brew is a perfect example of a blog that appeals to me. I like the look and I like her content. She writes “… I am documenting the intersection of art-making and art-seeing, daily life in New York City and…my drawing surface of choice since 2007 is the cardboard coffee cup.” She also takes wonderful photos of NYC. Her blog is very popular with a lot of other people

Lesson #10, titled “Show Some Link Love”  pointed out the finer points of including links, especially the benefits of deep linking (touching on a topic you’ve linked to in an earlier post). I  understand so much more now thanks to Blog Triage.

Here’s some more Link Love:

Her name is Dale Copeland. She’s an assemblage artist extraordinaire (remember assemblage is 3D collage). She coordinates the International Collage Exchange (ICE), formerly called Bakers Dozen each year. The collage exchange is huge. Artists from all over the world send packets of 13 small (10×8 inch) collages to Dale in New Zealand. The ICE includes an on-line exhibition and a brick and mortar gallery show. I participate and want to recommend it to everyone who makes collage. See all the shows archived – one work from every artist every year. I’ve sold my collages in NZ twice!

Dale Copeland in her studio

Read my interview of Dale Copeland (January 2008) and you’ll  feel like you know her. She talks about her background (math and science), her travels, her studio and how she collects objects for assemblage,  and she talks about the logistics of the international show. She is amazing.

See the image (below) by Robert Rauchenberg (American 1925-2008). It’s titled “Aen Floga” (1962), is oil on canvas with wood, metal and wire, and measures 73 x 50.75 inches. The combines are on view at the Gagosian Gallery, located at 522 West 21st Street, NY, NY – through December 18, 2010.

Rauchenberg was an artist with amazing vision and exuberant energy. His genius has an enduring influence on every generation of artists that followed him.

Robert Rauchenberg, Aen Floga

Rauchenberg found his art media everywhere he went. In the tradition of Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948 ), who walked the streets of Hanover, Germany picking up papers for his collages he called “Merz,” Robert Rauchenberg walked the streets of NYC and picked up discarded objects and integrated them into works he called “combines.”

Read Holland Cotter’s NY Times 11/26/10 review of  the show for images and his wonderful comments on the artist and his work.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your comments about collage, assemblage and all the artists in this post.