creativity

This just in: Putting it together through paper collage

Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry
Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry

Last week I went to a house party and was struck by a piece of art in the host’s entry way. It was a paper collage made of torn magazines that depicted the famous National Geographic photograph of a young girl in Afghanistan. It’s one of my favorite photographs of all time and this torn paper version brought it to life in a whole new way. I love how the artists took a found object we all have piled up in our homes and turned it into something brand new.

Inspired by the piece, I started to look through my giant stack of magazines and separate the pages by their primary color. I felt an urge to tear the paper to pieces and put it back together in a whole new way. I started googling how-to on paper collage and chose a few images on which to model a collage of my own. I even picked out a space to hang it on my apartment wall.

Sometimes art just grabs you and won’t let you go until you do something about it. That’s how I feel about this collage project. I’ll share a picture of it when it’s done.

creativity

This just in: Happily drowning in art

A forest of color and light
A forest of color and light

Whenever I feel the need to get away from it all, I lose myself in art. Photographs, paintings, books, theater, music, writing. Any or all of that transports me to somewhere new. It provides an escape that helps me find my way. Art lets me leave my troubles behind, at least for a while. It clears my head and my heart by opening my eyes and ears to a new world of possibilities.