Pam Bickell
pjbickell@gmail.com
I started making collages from magazines at the urging of a doctor. She asked me to cut things out, glue them together, and bring them in for her to see. I did and was so taken by the paper! (And she told me they tended to have spiritual themes.) I never learned how to paint (everything looks like mud when I try) but images formed with the paper and they made me so happy. To this day, making this art soothes my soul like nothing else does. Eventually I discovered collage art online and I'm really not a true collage artist--I'm not interested in juxtaposition. I just like to see what happens. After that, I found the people painting papers and making pictures from them...That was it--I was truly hooked then. These pieces are a form of paper collages, built on canvas boards. I paint/stamp/stencil mostly designer papers and deli sandwich wrap paper now, often using the Gelli Plate, and then cut or tear the pieces into designs. I am happiest when I don't have to make something in particular, but I've learned to make things that people have asked me to make and am beginning to like them, too.
I think this is a very special way to make art. It takes away the fear of painting--you're just laying down pieces of paper wherever they tell you they belong. It's very freeing. And I've had so many people who have never tried to make art ask me to show them how to do this that I'm actually thinking of how to do art classes now! - Pam Bickell
pjbickell@gmail.com
I started making collages from magazines at the urging of a doctor. She asked me to cut things out, glue them together, and bring them in for her to see. I did and was so taken by the paper! (And she told me they tended to have spiritual themes.) I never learned how to paint (everything looks like mud when I try) but images formed with the paper and they made me so happy. To this day, making this art soothes my soul like nothing else does. Eventually I discovered collage art online and I'm really not a true collage artist--I'm not interested in juxtaposition. I just like to see what happens. After that, I found the people painting papers and making pictures from them...That was it--I was truly hooked then. These pieces are a form of paper collages, built on canvas boards. I paint/stamp/stencil mostly designer papers and deli sandwich wrap paper now, often using the Gelli Plate, and then cut or tear the pieces into designs. I am happiest when I don't have to make something in particular, but I've learned to make things that people have asked me to make and am beginning to like them, too.
I think this is a very special way to make art. It takes away the fear of painting--you're just laying down pieces of paper wherever they tell you they belong. It's very freeing. And I've had so many people who have never tried to make art ask me to show them how to do this that I'm actually thinking of how to do art classes now! - Pam Bickell