Geoff Wonnacott lives and works in Kinburn, Ontario, Canada
Geoff told us about his studio and how he works:
The room you see is upstairs from my shop space. Downstairs in the shop, I produce sculptures and exhibition components for museum displays. My income. Upstairs, no income, I do a variety of things, but more and more it is becoming a studio for collage. As I continue to amass more material, it naturally requires more space. Given my method of working, this has to be organized space.
I have a huge inventory of materials. Hundreds of thousands of cut up pieces from magazines. Sorted into files. Shapes, colours, texture. Drawing from what I regard as my palette, I can assemble these small bits into almost anything I may imagine…and more.
The photos show works in progress, varieties of file types and this somewhat illustrates my process for creating a collage. Usually I begin with an idea and then draw from my resources (colours, textures, etc), the things I wish to use. Sometimes this is a time consuming exercise. Trial layouts, colours, searches. I try to keep control of things with large Mylar-covered layout files and smaller plastic sleeve files. A good memory helps. I use spray glue. All the pieces are adhered to black 3/16-inch foam board. I try to keep floppiness at bay. I hate spilling hundreds of little pieces.
Usually it takes a couple of days to complete a work. This two days, however, does not include the groundwork required before I start executing my idea. Sourcing used magazines, ripping out pages with potential, cutting, sorting, filing. My files are extensive, but not in files are boxes filled with thousands of pages of uncut material.
Relative to much collage I see, my works are large yet everything is cut and glued.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GEOFF WONNACOTT AND HIS WORK
In the Studio is an online-only feature of Kolaj Magazine. If you are interested in being featured, visit the In the Studio Call to Artists page and follow the instructions.