AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
Scale, Influences, & Techniques with Janice McDonald
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, July 12-15, 2018. Learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend HERE.
The elegant collages of Janice McDonald are made with salvaged materials collected from her daily life and wanderings. Each element is liberated from its original context, then transformed as the papers meld together into fresh imagery with new associations and meanings. She comes to Kolaj Fest New Orleans with a deep curiosity about other artists’ practice and lots of questions.
At Kolaj Fest New Orleans, McDonald will lead a conversation amidst collage-making: Most collagist’s materials are intimate in scale. What strategies can be used to make larger works? Beyond the work of other collagists, where do they draw inspiration? She will share some of her favorite artistic gestures, such as ripping versus cutting. She will examine the question, How do participants’ studio practices inform their collages? She will demonstrate her wet working technique and share her work via a digital portfolio and some samples.
McDonald is just one of the artists leading demonstrations in the Collage Making Space at Kolaj Fest New Orleans. Collage making will take place 11AM to 5PM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Kolaj Fest in a space that is sure to become a central hub of the festival. In addition to free time to make collage, the space will also host other artists who want to share their work through demonstrations and activities.
About Janice McDonald
Janice McDonald, based in Denver, Colorado, holds a BFA from Oregon State University with a concentration in graphic design. She studied collage in Dale Chisman’s advanced abstract painting class at the Art Students League of Denver and with collagist Jonathan Talbot in New York. See more of her work on her Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory page, at www.janicemcdonald.com, on Instagram @janicemcdonaldart, on Facebook @JaniceMcDonaldArt, and on Twitter @JaniceMcDonald.
Images:
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Speed (18″x24″x2″; acrylic and collage on wood panel; 2014)
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Unfurl (10″x10″x2″; collage on wood panel; 2015)