Collage: Art by Rebecca K. Brown and Soosen Dunholter

Introduction

Collage, from the French word coller (to glue or to stick together), is an art form made up of overlapping pieces of various materials, such as photographs, metals, fabric, and textured paper. Though its origins may be traced back to China as early as 200 B.C.E., it was not a well-known technique until poets and calligraphers paired glued paper artwork and written words in 10th century Japan, a technique now known as Chigiri-e. By the early medieval period, European religious manuscripts, icons, and coats of arms were adorned with gold leaf, shells, and gemstones. During the Renaissance decoupage, a type of collage, became a fashionable pastime among the nobility of France and Italy.

Despite a millennium of history, collage as we know it today, did not enter the realm of fine art until 1912 when Cubist artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque experimented with integrating pre-made materials—newspaper cuttings, old photographs, paper, wood, and linoleum—into their painting. Since then, every modern art movement has included some form of collage. Artists including Surrealist Man Ray, Fauvist Henri Matisse, Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock, Pop Artists David Hockney and Robert Rauschenburg, and an extensive list of contemporary artists have adapted collage techniques into their artistic expression.

Writer-artists like Eric Carle, whose books are illustrated with colorful tissue paper collages, and the modern-day resurgence of Chigiri-e have brought us full circle. We return to a place where collage adds meaning to words, and words add deeper meaning to the art.

The editors of Smoky Quartz are pleased to feature two collage artists. Mixed media artist Rebecca K. Brown creates montages of man-made and natural elements. Soosen Dunholter takes the technique in a different directon with whimsical vintage paper collages.

---

Rebecca K. Brown

Rebecca K. Brown is a New Hampshire based mixed media artist and poet who moved to the state back in the 1980s. Since childhood she has been writing and creating in a variety of ways. As a New England artist, she finds both urban and natural environments give rise to creativity, and she enjoys incorporating what each offers into her work. Over the years she has used photography, painting, and sketching, in addition to poetry and blogging, to explore the world.

 

 

 

SQ: What does collage (mixed media art) mean to you?

Brown: Mixed media allows me to explore with freedom, to really trust the process and see what rises to the surface. Plus it gives me a reason to gather odds and ends of ephemera to use.

SQ: What first sparked your interest in collage?

Brown: I started creating in mixed media as a contrast to my photography as it lets me develop ideas in unique ways. I often use my photographs as inspiration for pieces.

SQ: What most inspires your art?

Brown: My favorite thing about all my art forms is the freedom to immerse myself in the many possibilities. I love to get outside in both urban and rural environments, and visit museums and galleries to fill up my visual library.

---

Soosen Dunholter

Painter, printmaker and collage artist, Soosen Dunholter is never far from her roots in graphic design as a former art director with a focus on book publication. Her mixed-media work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in galleries and cultural centers throughout New England for over 20 years and hangs in private and public collections worldwide. Her work has been licensed for books, magazines, and CDs. She has won numerous awards and prizes, including the 2016 Ruth and James Ewing Award for Exceptional Achievement in the Creative Arts, as well as an entrepreneurial grant from the NH State Council on the Arts. On any given day, you can find Soosen in her spacious, eclectic studio adjacent to her home in Peterborough, New Hampshire, creating a variety of sophisticated yet whimsical works of art. She draws ideas from her surroundings by dividing her time between the studio and the many cottage-style gardens clustered around her home. You can see more of Soosen’s work on instagram.com/soosen/ or at soosendunholter.com

SQ: What does collage (mixed media art) mean to you?

SQ: What first sparked your interest in collage?

Dunholter: My initial exposure to collage began years ago through an assignment at school to create abstract pieces from historical paintings. I have continued to utilize the collage technique in my art practice over the last 20 years.

My recent series of whimsical collages gave me a pathway back to my art practice during the pandemic. It was a much-needed catalyst to get back to being creative while everything else was shut down.

I stumbled across an Instagram challenge called “Februllage” that tasked you with creating a collage each day for the entire month of February. It got me back into the studio every day, and I learned a great deal about the wide variety of collage-making techniques. By my third year of Februllage, I had refined my collage work to a contemporary style with a vintage touch, and I began to create my own series of fanciful, playful, and mischievous collages.

SQ: What most inspires your art?

Dunholter: I often find inspiration from the natural world around me: seed pods, a rock wall, leaves, and flowers. My Inspiration can be found in a poem, a sentence, or even just a single word. A recent series I called “Uncommon Ladies” was inspired by a collection of garden books I found at a yard sale.

Frequently, I go through my studio with the idea of “cleaning up.” I have so many projects that are in flux that one commonly leads to another. I might find a scrap of an old book page, or a leftover ripped edge of a monoprint, and it makes me think of something I had been waiting for just the right moment to use. They are all little stories waiting to be told.

Previous/Next

Fall 2023 Contents