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?
I’m Eshana, and I’m a senior in high school. I took a graphic design class last year in high school.
How much experience do you have with collage?
This was my first time making collages.
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?
I chose my source material from a cutout book and some origami paper.
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?
Not really at first, but when I looked at the book, I thought of doing a nature or architecture type thing.
How did your background and life experiences inform your collages?
I have always seen nature that fascinated me, or buildings that were interesting to me.
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 working at my cousin’s house, where we were staying for an event and my family was talking while I was doing the collages.
Scissors or X-Acto?
X-Acto
Was there anything unexpected that emerged while creating your work? Any new epiphanies?
My first collage came out better than I thought it was going to be. I want to make more zines now.
Looking at your work again, has your understanding of your collages changed over time? Has any hidden meaning emerged?
I have started to make more collages after doing them for projects. None so far but as a do more I think it will.
