“I wanted less focus on the specific place but the experiences, emotions and feelings that I collected.“
Interview
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is Bella Madigan. I am very interested in the graphic design field, while publication is a bit different from my specific interest, I am looking forward to getting more experience with hands-on work. Outside of school, I do a lot of freelance graphic design work for many different semi-professional soccer teams, high school programs and sports performance companies. In my free time I enjoy spending time with family, traveling, the outdoors, and working out.
How much experience do you have with collage?
I don’t have much experience at all with collage, except for the month we’ve been in school. However, I am quickly learning how fast college moves and you have to be very organized.
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?
For my collages I knew that I wanted to go for a travel feel. I had the most luck finding old books and magazines at Goodwill. When selecting source material I just briefly looked through the content and if any of the images or typography caught my eye, I would purchase it. Most of my source materials were very different from each other, some were fairly new and others were very old. However, looking at all the different sources I got there was a theme and a feeling it conveyed when certain images were placed next to each other.
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?
When starting I knew I wanted to explore this theme of travel and exploration. While making my collages I would think of a location that is significant to me for whatever reason. Then, when designing the actual collage I would pick content that would help me express that feeling. I did receive a lot of feedback and added a few additional collages that were less straightforward and more expressive which helped add to my work.
How did your background and life experiences inform your collages?
I think that my background in travel and the way it has influenced me, helped inform my collages. Growing up in a family that travels I was always on the move, and I loved it. It was so impactful to me how no matter the place, whether it be in the mountains, desert or beach there was something so similar about each of them, even though they were all different. This was the feeling and emotion it conveyed to me. A feeling of youthfulness and freedom. This is the message I was trying to convey through my zine. I wanted less focus on the specific place but the experiences, emotions and feelings that I collected.
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?
My setup was very messy. I sat on my bedroom floor, which for me is my comfortable place, I had my favorite music playing and I just worked. I am usually a very neat person and I typically design simpler, cleaner work. However, college is very different from what I usually do and I think having that messy workspace helped.
Scissors or X-Acto?
Was there anything unexpected that emerged while creating your work? Any new epiphanies?
I kept a consistent theme while working on my project, not much changed for me. However, while working I realized that as you piece collages together even though the cuts and tears may be messy and imperfect, the imperfection comes together for a beautiful piece of work.
Looking at your work again, has your understanding of your collages changed over time? Has any hidden meaning emerged?
Throughout the course of this project I’ve learned a lot about this type of work. I thought that collages were a piece of work that took long hours of crafting the perfect piece of work that looks very appealing to the eye. However, I learned it’s actually quite the opposite. It became very obvious that collages have hidden meanings that sometimes are easy to understand and other times not so much. The collages itself are messy and imperfect but that is what makes it so beautiful and unique. I love that in a room of so many people looking at the same collage, every single person could interpret it differently and that is the biggest thing I took away from this project.
