Archive for the ‘Artists/Collage’ Category
Remember . . .
Sunday, May 26th, 2013Two more tribute miniatures
Saturday, May 25th, 2013Some collage artworks spring spontaneously from a random juxtaposition, a mental picture, or the way various ingredients coalesce. Others are sparked by thoughts about an individual. The first example below was a tribute to Zach Collins, one of the more prolific American collage artists whose work is also consistently innovative. The second piece is dedicated to a couple of guys I know who both had birthdays this past week. One is a friend, and the other is family.
Blind the Mocking Eye
collage miniature by J A Dixon
5 x 5 inches
private collection
Sufficient Alacrity
collage miniature by J A Dixon
4.875 x 6.875 inches
Purchase this artwork!
Mystery Solved ~ details
Sunday, May 19th, 2013For the full viewing experience, one can never get too close to a collage, but this opinion from a person so enamored with the miniature probably comes as no surprise. When I create a larger piece, lessons learned from the small format have a strong bearing on my approach. As a concluding exercise to hone compositional awareness, it is beneficial to discover croppings that can stand successfully on their own. Before Mystery Solved left the studio, it was interesting to visually isolate six square miniatures, just to see if they might capture in microcosm the essence of the parent design.
A ‘Jack of Diamonds’ was too visually outstanding
at first and had to be massaged into balance.
I enjoy creating a montage of linguistic symbols,
but “a-l-e” was accidental (or perhaps subliminal;
one never really knows with collage).
Integration through color: photo of butterfly
specimen + ticket stub + magazine scrap.
Juxtaposition: illustration from an exotic soap
wrapper + book engraving + photo of flower.
The interesting effect of a raised panel: the
illusion of depth versus actual dimensionality.
From diverse sources: combining ingredients
that seem to have always belonged together.
Thanks again for looking. Please share your thoughts, suggestions, or constructive criticism (frankly, our medium of collage always needs a healthy dose of it).
On giving it away . . .
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013“Giving is an energy that not only helps others but creates even more for the person who is doing the giving. This is a natural law that is true regardless of whether the person who is giving wants or even realizes what is occurring. Any success you have is despite your lack of giving, not because of it. The universe knows what it is doing. Everything you give away will return. With interest!”
— Richard Carlson
Once every two years, I contribute a work to our local arts scholarship fundraising effort. As a fine artist, I limit my charitable involvement to a single event out of numerous worthwhile causes. Creatives have to be very discerning about this type of thing, because, as others have pointed out, organizations have an insatiable appetite for donations of art and the phenomenon is out of control. It is up to each individual to find the proper balance of self-interest and generosity. My suggestion: keep it small, infrequent, and close to home.
Mystery Solved
collage on canvas by J A Dixon
16 x 16 inches, collection of J Morgan
Dearest Mother
Sunday, May 12th, 2013Happy Happy to my “Mombo” on her day!
I love you forever . . .
Dearest Mother
collage miniature by J A Dixon
3.5 x 7 inches, collection of V E Dixon
Questionable Femininity
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Questionable Femininity
collage miniature by J A Dixon
4.5 x 6.5 inches, collection of M Higgins
Compliments of the Haus
Saturday, May 4th, 2013“We don’t critique a gift. We don’t worry about its technical qualities or how its built. We don’t want metrics on our gifts. When we get a gift, it makes us feel something. Gifts tap into our sometimes irrational emotions and move us. We don’t question it. We simply give thanks.”
— Jarrett Fuller
Yesterday was my nephew’s birthday, so I produced the customary personal miniature as a greeting card cover image. Many of these creations are so idiosyncratic as to be virtually unexplainable (not that a collage needs any explanation in the first place, of course). Long have I found the personal miniature to be one of the most enticing of art forms. It begins with a pleasant agenda — engage the unique personality of the intended recipient — yet it offers profound opportunities for wild departures, because one already knows that the result will be met with joy and high regard by the primary observer. Much could be written about this subject and the history of artists as gift-givers. Any creative person will undoubtedly appreciate what I mean by this.
Here are a few more cards from my archives:
A Furious Struggle
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of B C Adkins
Gravitational Familiarity
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of S Lister
Solar Deliberation
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of J M Menke
Organic Potential
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of C Dixon
Compliments of the Haus
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of H Coomer
Cosmic Crust
Monday, April 29th, 2013Today is my birthday, and I was the fortunate recipient of the best pie ever — red raspberry and tart cherry with whole grain crust. Therefore, I shall celebrate by exhibiting a collage miniature with pie!
Cosmic Crust
collage miniature by J A Dixon
7.5 x 7.5 inches, collection of Dana Dixon
Out Of Favorites
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
Out Of Favorites
collage miniature by J A Dixon
4.5 x 6.5 inches
Purchase this artwork!
A day of honor . . .
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013“Never lose sight of love and kindness for family, clan, and friends. Family comes first and many times we make it, or seem to make it, last.”
— John Edward Dixon
This would be my father’s 90th birthday, had he not been lost to us nearly 20 years ago. For the rest of my life I shall create pictures of him. Of course, I can’t know what he’d think of that, but I suspect his feelings would be mixed. Modest enough to be uncomfortable with the practice, he probably would have approved, on the other hand, of my using his image as a mechanism for continuous artistic investigation. It’s natural for me to think about him on his birthday and how enhanced my life would be if I still had access to his wisdom, evolving perspective, and keen sense of leadership. Whether we comprehend it or not, each of us has a meaningful influence by our very presence in the drama of existence, affecting our world and others in countless ways. Perhaps our departures from the stage will be less profound than his, depending on how each of us has played our part. When one is as beloved as my namesake, the absence is a deeply felt void which sends wide ripples across the surface of family life. And so, it is a day for me to pay tribute, in the springtime he cherished, and to declare that I shall love him forever.
Variations on a Theme by Grandybo, Part Eight
mixed-media collage by J A Dixon, 2006
collection of A Kenner
Realms of Wonder ~ art by Kathleen O’Brien
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013The primary reason that I look forward with great anticipation to this Friday’s LexArts Hop is because Kathleen O’Brien has a new solo exhibition. The opening reception for Realms of Wonder at the M.S.Rezny Studio & Gallery is from 5 to 8 pm, and it is certain to be one of the highlights of the evening. It was no surprise when a local Marketing Maven recently exposed herself as a Kathleen O’Brien “groupie,” and I suspect that there are far more than two of us. It’s not at all baffling to find oneself totally captivated by her visionary art.
Kathleen’s artwork clearly grows out of how she thoughtfully observes and attunes with the world of nature. It also literally contains and preserves natural ingredients. But in contrast to collage that maintains its focus on formal or intellectual juxtapositions, Kathleen’s art always nudges one toward a deeper sense of wholeness and the inner complexity of our balanced existence as both organic and spiritual beings. Without question, she has made a personal commitment to creating art as a mystical practice, and, on a communal level, to providing nature-inspired beauty as a source of healing in a fractured world. With the strong presence of these intangible dimensions, Kathleen’s art is always esoteric, and yet she manages to make the work accessible to all with her choice of subject matter and allegiance to traditional drawing. At the same time, she can delight the eye of a fellow artist with her methodology, aesthetic choices, and pictorial skill. I’m not ashamed to admit that much of Kathleen’s symbolic virtuosity is beyond my ken, but I appreciate that it’s all in play at the intuitive level. Being near the prolific output of her creative life is simply uplifting, and that’s because all the facets of her art —whether conscious or subliminal— unify as a total perception to nourish the mind, heart, and soul.
Here is a video of Kathleen in the studio discussing her art.
Find out more about the artist at her website or blog.
3 Worlds (detail, This World)
mixed-media collage, © Kathleen O’Brien
22 x 15 inches