Cohort 52 is a platform for emerging voices from the Applied Art & Design program at Sierra College in Northern California. Cohort 52 is facilitated by Assistant Professor Vincent Pacheco.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
How much experience do you have with collage?
I have a bit of experience with collage art when I was in high school. We developed a vision board of what we wanted when we grew up, or see ourselves in. It was a fun experience. Over time, I would use collage to build a board of things that inspired me to work hard for and start a new journey in my current lifestyle. It would help me with my affirmations and ideas when I would wake up in the mornings, or sometimes add on to it.
Collage artists tend to be picky when it comes to their source material. Can you talk about your approach for selecting your images and/or publications?
Were there any large themes you intended to explore or unpack before you began with this series of work? Did you stay on theme, or did things change as you began physically cutting and pasting images?
How did your background and life experiences inform your collages?
This is a great question, my background and life experiences when prompting 15 colleges to explore the world, was off of many feelings. I had an emotional impact on each image and a reflection of a scene in my life. It’s a true code in the way things were placed in position. Yet most of what I express was a fun and expressive way to show viewers a glimpse inside my head.
What was your environment and set-up like when making the work? Did you listen to music? Did you work in isolation, or were you surrounded by distraction? Do you think this influenced the work you made?
I was in my two bedroom apartment when creating my collages. In the room we call the dining room, I have my dining room set up as a mini studio of all my arts and crafts. I have my paintings, my easel, a book shelf of art books, LED lights, drawing paper and more. I used my mini table, and sat on my rolling chair. I have a mini bluetooth speaker to play music I enjoy while crafting the collages. I was in my zone of free expression.
Scissors or X-Acto?
I used scissors for the bigger areas of cut out, and X-Acto for the smaller spaces of a cut out. I loved working with both. Why, because the scissors were easier to move in and out the bigger areas and the X-Acto helped with the smaller areas of details of images.
Was there anything unexpected that emerged while creating your work? Any new epiphanies?
I believe it was an experiment creating the collages. The black, white, and the colors. I realized I liked both. The black and white came from just enjoying an image without color and still gives it a unique expression of class. In the color collages it gives me a fun and playful setting. Balancing the two was interesting to express in my 15 collages.
Looking at your work again, has your understanding of your collages changed over time? Has any hidden meaning emerged?
