Friday, February 22, 3:30pm
La Biblioteca, Sala Quetzal, Reloj 50-A
$150

Collage, Assemblage, Ecology, photos - talk

Lecture / Photo Presentation

Part 1 COLLAGE & ASSEMBLAGE: PAST & PRESENT
Part 2 THE ART OF JOAN HALL

Collage, Assemblage, and Ecology
By Joan Hall

I will be presenting a lecture and slide show on collage and assemblage from 12th century Japan to contemporary American photo illustration.

Part 1 consists of works by Picasso, Matisse, Rauschenberg, and numerous other artists including local artists of San Miguel. You will see how everyday materials are recycled into art, including spare tires, money, and even blood. The use of collage in illustration has become a familiar sight. You will learn how artists cope with some of their hilarious and frustrating experiences in the workplace.

Part 2 consists of my own artwork. This program is both entertaining and educational.

The word collage stems from the French word colle meaning glue. Assemblage is three dimensional collage. I have been working in both mediums for 40 years, both as a fine artist and as a freelance illustrator.

Collage has rapidly gained popularity as an art form in the United States. I believe that there are sociological reasons for this. We live in a fast food mentality! Everyone is in a hurry, and the medium of collage conveys a feeling of spontaneity. With the advent of the computer and the internet, our world has become fragmented. This is reflected in the bits and pieces that make up a collage or assemblage.

There is also a growing awareness of ecological responsibility and the need to recycle. Creating a collage is frequently based on incorporating previously used paper, fabrics, and in the case of assemblage, found objects, into an art form. Probably many works of art were created without the slightest awareness of ecology on the part of the artist. It is interesting to see how, through the ages, various scrap materials and found objects were recycled into art.

Several years ago, I had the good fortune to receive a Mexican/American Cultural Specialists Grant to go to Mexico for a ten day program to conduct workshops to train teachers on how to educate children about ecology and the environment. The program featured creating collages out of recycled scrap materials. Many of the teachers had never made artwork of their own and doubted their ability to do so. The results were amazing and rewarding.

www.joanhallcollage.com