Virginia A. Spiegel

Figure 1
Kara Klein
8.5″x8″

Oh, boy, there has been some great jpegs coming my way for Collage Mania. I know it will be a great event when I have serious art lust every day.

Before we move on to the good stuff, I wanted to reiterate one important point about the collages for Collage Mania: They can be any size BUT they must be mounted on 10″x8″ mat or Bristol board with no dangly bits sticking over the edges.

And since you want to leave room for your title, signature, and date plus a little breathing room around the piece once it is framed, artwork smaller than 10″x8″ is optimal. The purpose of the size requirement is to allow patrons to stock up on 8×10″ frames in advance.

The above collage is by Kara Klein, survivor, who is dedicating it to her oncology team at Tower Oncology in Beverly HIlls, CA. I am always happy to add a dedication to the collages since this IS a FFAC fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

Kara’s materials include hand painted and embossed papers, hand drawn image, vintage beads, vintage gaming piece, turqoise beads, threads. Kara is a member of Fiber Art Traders and has already sent a second collage.

Love
Karen Stiehl Osborn
7″hx5″w
Materials: cotton cloth, papers, acrylic paint, pigment dye, ink

Karen Stiehl Osborn always sends new and exciting artwork for FFAC events. You can see the other three collages she has donated in this Virtue series on her website. Check out her interesting Rainbow of Sins directly under the Virtues. Please also visit Karen’s blog here as she is donating 25% of all eligible sales to FFAC for two weeks.

All Square
Frieda Oxenham
9″x6.75″

Frieda Oxenham sent her jpeg from England and I thank all the international artists who are participating. Frieda’s collage includes hand-painted fabric using acrylics, is mounted on batting, and machine stitched. The squares include couched yarns on fabric, Fast2Fuse background and are machine appliqued to the background. Notice the vintage bakelite button.

Frieda has sent two jpegs. Here is the link directly to her post about All Square, but if you work backwards through her posts you can also read about her first collage.

Chugunnoie Kruzhevo/Cast Iron Lace 1
Natalya Aikens
9”x7”

This is one of a series of three collages from Natalya Aikens. There is an interesting story, of course, behind her inspiration for these pieces. Again, start here on her blog and work backwards to the very first sketches. Materials: scraps of silk, cotton and synthetic fabrics, color catcher paper scraps, dryer sheets, rayon and silk embroidery thread. Techniques: Free-hand machine embroidered and hand stitched.

What I really like about these collages is the contrast between the subject matter and its ethereal rendering by Natalya. Natalya has an article in the current issue of Quilting Arts magazine.

Wonderful artwork from wonderful artists! Mark your calendar for these important Collage Mania dates:

April 1 – Deadline for receipt of collage jpegs. Call for Artists

Collage Mania - May 5 and 6