My kitchen table looks like an art-class nightmare. Three teetering stacks of assorted paper pads to my left, a large box full of assorted scraps, buttons, and tissue paper in front of me, and to my right, piles and piles of old books, their pages cut up, torn out, and scribbled all over. There is glue on my hands and cleanup is going to be a nightmare, but I have been having an excellent time! Nothing is quite so relaxing as collage.
But, what is collage, anyway? Collage is an art form that takes various types of materials and adheres them together onto one surface. Collage can take many forms, including designs done in paper or fabric, digital-only collages that exist in electronic formats, and mixed-media collage, which combines a variety of materials into one piece. That’s the kind that I like to make, although most of the the time, I tend to stick to paper products, such as cardstock, scrapbook paper, magazines, photographs, and book pages.
This is my favorite art form to work with, because you don’t need any special training or even natural talent to do it. You just need a keen pair of eyes, some supplies, and a creative imagination. That’s not to say that this is a “kiddie craft” (although kids can certainly do it, too!). It just means that it’s an accessible art style (with lots of room for growth) that’s beginner-friendly and fun.
If you’re curious about making collages of your own, there are so many places to start. But, here are a few books in our collection that you might want to check out. Just click on each cover view the item in our catalog!
