Growing up, my sister and I did a lot of crafts. Neither one of us was ever very good at painting or drawing, but if you gave us some cardboard, a couple of glue sticks, markers and a bit of construction paper, and we would have no problem keeping ourselves entertained for hours making poorly-constructed paper jewelry and assembling tiny accessories for our American Girl Dolls. These hand-made trinkets were by no means lasting works of art, but it was fun to get our hands a little dirty and say we made something together.
Over the years, my love for arts and crafts never quite left me. I have found that the process of cutting and gluing and making something new out of old scraps is extremely gratifying, and that feeling doesn’t go away with age.
In the second semester of my first year at Fordham, a friend of mine reintroduced me to the wonderful art of collage. It’s a creative medium that, thankfully for me, doesn’t necessarily require a ton of technical skill. Collage is art created from the overlapping, the meshing together and the interweaving of various pieces of found material. That material can include anything from photographs and magazine clippings to fabric scraps and old take-out menus. I’ve even been known to use old copies of The Ram in some of my collages.
Collaging is great for a number of reasons. For one, it allows me to put all the papers and magazines I collect to good use. Instead of collecting dust in a box under my bed, all my favorite photos and magazine clippings get thrown into collages that I can display on my walls or hold onto as proper keepsakes. The process of turning unassuming paper scraps into art is also the process of turning those things into memories that I can look back on not as individual pieces, but as a whole, as a collage.
The medium of collage is also surprisingly freeing. You are constrained by the materials that are available to you, but not by any technical limitations beyond the ability to use scissors and a glue stick. It removes the pressure when you work to create something new. Collaging allows you to imagine combinations of materials that would otherwise never have been paired together. It almost forces you to be creative, and the results are always fun.
There are no rules telling you what your collages should be about. I myself have made collages about all sorts of random things, including orca whales, modern technology, hot dogs, the state of Florida and the dairy lobby. Last spring, I made one out of materials I collected while on a trip to Ireland that features a map of Galway, photos of the Irish countryside, clippings from restaurant menus, bus ticket stubs and more. As you can see, the possibilities are pretty much endless.
Collaging also makes for a fun group activity. Some of my favorite memories from the past couple of years were made at collage nights in a friend’s dorm, and they are fairly simple to organize. All you need to do is get a couple pairs of scissors, some glue sticks, plain paper to serve as a base for your collages and as many materials as you and your friends can get your hands on. I recently had the great fortune of inheriting a giant stack of old calendars from my grandparents. The calendars are perfect for my purposes, as I prefer materials with lots of photos and big letters to cut out and put back together. I recommend checking out nearby thrift stores for old magazines, picking up free brochures or event programs around campus and holding onto all the random bits of paper you might encounter. Think museum guides, postcards and wrapping paper.
Collaging materials and inspiration are all around you, as long as you are willing to look for them. Like I said before, collaging isn’t just an activity for kids, it’s for people of any age, and it really is a ton of fun. I recommend collaging to everyone because I think it is the perfect opportunity to spend time with friends, reflect on fond memories and let your creativity take the reins.
