Editor's note: Last month, SA examined the most popular medium on today's show circuit, jewelry. This month, we tackle perhaps the most misunderstood form of art, mixed media. I have invited three of SA's reporters, all of whom have been labeled mixed media artists at one time or another, to comment on their work and the difficulties they encounter at art shows.
All three create vastly different art, even though they often are placed in the same category. Lynn Kishiyama, one of our California reporters, specializes in collage; T'Louise, our Arkansas reporter, creates 2-D mixed media images, primarily of a photographic nature; and Brian Sullivan, our Illinois reporter and feature writer, works mainly with found objects.
Lynn Kishiyama
Mixed media/collage has a long and colorful history. Collage comes from the French word coller, to glue. The American Heritage Dictionary defines collage as "an artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color." The medium frequently consists of paper, magazines, photos and fabric glued to a backing of paper, board or canvas.
Kishiyama's Okasan,
18" x 22"
The earliest collage was done by Japanese calligraphers in the 12th century. The Dutch put together cut-paper silhouettes; Italian Renaissance artisans pasted paper and fabric to coats of arms; and craftsmen in primitive societies used seeds, feathers and other materials to decorate masks, often choosing materials for their symbolic meanings.
Fast forward to the 20th century. In 1912, Pablo Picasso glued a piece of oilcloth to a still life. Also around that time, George Braque experimented by adding wallpaper to his artwork. This avant-garde distain of established art norms inflamed critics and heralded the beginning of collage/mixed media as a modern art form.
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