Collage comes in many forms, from the works of pre-schoolers to Picasso. Three distinct modes of collage are on display at Gibsons Public Art Gallery’s new exhibition, Make the Cut, featuring three Sunshine Coast artists who aptly and entertainingly demonstrate a range of techniques.
The show was conceived by Teryl Mullock, a retired Gibsons architect and now a full-time mixed-media artist who creates pieces that look from a distance like two-dimensional abstracts, but in fact are 3D collages, many of which have started as sheets of torn paper drenched in paint. Last year, Mullock invited artists Carol LaFave and Gary Sean Loewen to join him in this celebration of collage.
“I was excited about the idea of collaborating with other artists who do work that’s also collage-based as a way of showcasing differences and allowing us to kind of mix things up together,” Mullock said in an interview. “I love seeing Gary’s work and Carol’s work alongside mine. I think it’s really fun to see the juxtaposition. We’re all cutting paper and gluing it on, right? But the results are so different.”
The differences are distinct. Roberts Creek’s LaFave describes herself as a contemporary collage artist, offering up “quirky and spontaneous works,” in a process “similar to puzzle solving.” What LaFave has brought to this exhibit is a selection of her new bird-collages composed with thousands of strips of coloured paper painstakingly glued onto wood. There’s nothing abstract about these striking pieces. You know right away what type of bird you’re looking at. What draws you to look more closely is the artfulness and skill with which LaFave has accomplished it.
Sechelt artist Gary Sean Loewen’s dozens of pieces here are smaller, framed assemblages created from newspaper and magazine photos, clippings, ads, and snippets of text and typography that produce offbeat statements that are each unique, often funny, and just as often enigmatic. It’s work that’s difficult to describe but easy to experience and is without a doubt collage, but nothing like that of Mullock or LaFave – which just emphasizes collage’s broad scope.
Adding yet another layer of visual intrigue to the exhibit is an untitled swath of yard-wide plastic coiling its way across the length of the ceiling of the gallery’s main room with works by each artist attached. That installation alone could take a pleasant half-hour to view closely.
Make the Cut is on until May 30.
