Janice McDonald


Unfurl
10″x10″x2″; collage on wood panel; 2015

Janice McDonald
Denver, Colorado, USA

STATEMENT

You open the in-flight magazine to discover odd bits and pieces of imagery ripped away, missing. There’s a hole in the newspaper. And the cereal box won’t close–one of the flaps is gone.

I confess: I couldn’t help myself. I’ve salvaged a compelling fragment to inspire (or add to) another collage composition. Collected ingredients bring inherent energy and potential. I am especially intrigued with the often-overlooked backgrounds, colors, textures, shapes, and negative spaces in everyday printed materials: junk mail, old magazines/packaging, discarded books/posters.

Each element is liberated from its original context/story, then transformed as the pieces meld together into fresh, layered imagery with new associations and meanings. Rearranged reality, assembled moments, constructed views, and elegant compositional studies materialize. The work often explores concepts of time/balance, growth and environment–and reflects my own creative/life journey.

BIO

Janice McDonald makes elegant, abstract collages with collected, repurposed papers. She graduated with a BFA from Oregon State University and now splits her time between collage work and a graphic design practice in Denver, Colorado, USA. Her unusual technique is the result of many influences and years of experimentation.

Her work has been included in: “Between the Medium: Seeing Photographically” at RedLine Contemporary Art Center (2017); International Collage Exhibition at Kansas State University; solo shows at Denver’s Spark Gallery (“Unboxed,” 2016; “Paper Trails, 2015; “Overlooked Artifacts,” 2013; “Bounce,” 2012 and “Composed,” 2011); “Re-Purposed,” at Denver’s Edge Gallery in 2009; and in juried exhibitions around the US and internationally.

Janice is a signature member of the National Collage Society and helps moderate an online collage group that is sponsored by the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage, and Construction.

Her artworks find homes with individual collectors, in site-specific commissions, and in corporate collections. Janice’s collages are included in the collections of the Adolph Coors Foundation, Denver International Airport, IMA Financial, CoBank, Beaver Run Resort, Castle Rock Adventist Hospital, Denver Health, Denver Seminary, Aspen Arbor Animal Hospital, and Boulder Community Hospital.

ARTIST CONTACT

(720) 308-2150
[click to email]
www.janicemcdonald.com
INSTAGRAM

IMAGES


Speed
18″x24″x2″; acrylic and collage on wood panel; 2014


Unboxed003
17″x9″; collage on flattened box; 2016


Introspection
10″x8″; collage on paper; 2000


Daily Mail MAR 29
8″x6″; collage on paper; 2013