Phyllis Schwartz

Phyllis Schwartz
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

STATEMENT

My interest in handmade (analogue) collage grew out of my fascination for juxtaposition in film and in flipping through fashion magazines. I combine disparate elements to convey complex stories through a single image. With nothing more than a pair of scissors and a glue stick, I layer together pictures from news, fashion, and architecture magazines to create hybridized images that challenge traditional notions of context and meaning. Through this recomposition process, I seek to explore the role that visual communication plays in shaping perceptions and influencing behaviour.

My work emerges from a spontaneous and improvisational process with the intent of inviting the viewer to take a moment to look again for a surprise in the clashing of imagery. Each collage is a voyage into the unknown that awaits my discovery of my compositional intentions and occult narratives. My body of work is intended to be playful and engaging. Through this exploration of visual language, I hope to inspire questions that will drive viewers into their experimental artistic quests.

BIO

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Texas, and educated in the Midwest, Phyllis Schwartz migrated to Western Canada during the 70s, where she put down roots and grew her artist practice. Coming from a family of artists, she was surrounded by artmaking and conversations about art. She recalls a conversation with her art teacher in the pottery shed at summer camp and sometimes wonders if that’s where her interest in becoming an artist began. Her first opportunity to learn observational drawing was in a biology class, where she was taught blind contour drawing and learned to trust her eye-hand coordination to draw what she saw in a microscope. At the age of seven, Schwartz started making photographs with a box camera and after that, always carried a camera. During her teaching career, she integrated art assignments into the academic subjects she taught, finding innovative ways to involve students in art experiences as part of the course content. Throughout those years, Schwartz spent long nights working on her art until she found a way to transition from a teaching practice to an artist practice that included guest teaching and residencies, providing more time for artmaking and curatorial work.

Phyllis Schwartz collaborates with Edward Peck to create art within communities. They recently served as artists in residence at the Wallace Stegner House in Eastend, Saskatchewan, where they explored a small agricultural community and showcased their work at the Xchanges Art Gallery in Victoria. Schwartz’s photography has been featured in PhotoEd and Aeonian magazines, and her collages have appeared in Kolaj Magazine and Contemporary Collage Magazine. Additionally, they are part of an international experimental photography collective based in Barcelona. Schwartz and Peck are members of Metchosin ArtPod, an artist-run center that regularly exhibits their work and hosts community events. Her participation in the Kolaj Institute’s curatorial and publishing Artist Development Workshops greatly informed the process of her recent solo exhibition, which included her collage work and an artist book.

ARTIST CONTACT

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IMAGES