Dagmar Maston

I never formally trained as an artist but throughout my life I have always beeninvolved in one creative undertaking or another. I worked with gourds, didbeading, worked with polymer clay, or was just simply knitting, crocheting orsewing. This desire to create has always been an important part in my life but itdeepened and blossomed after I retired and I actually had the time to be moreinvolved and take classes.

I am particularly intrigued by collage art because the premise of this art form isto take something that already exists as a whole, take it apart and rearrange it tocreate something completely new and different. A variety of different creativeprocesses are required such as making prints, cutting out stencils and masks,painting, and using stamping and mark making before I even get to the meatand bones of choosing colors and composition. I continue to learn and fine tunethis skill set and in doing so have fallen in love with the creative process itself.I usually prepare and print my own papers finding inspiration for stencils andmasks on my walks, where I will pick up leaves, grasses, and flowers for theirshape and texture. But even my junk drawer in the kitchen or a walk through astore can hold treasure. I see possibility for further exploration everywhere. I usea variety of papers, some so thin that they become transparent when glueddown, letting the previous layers shine through, but I am not above usingmagazine snippets, book pages, letters, or receipts as collage material. Reallyanything papery goes.

The process itself is very intuitive. I decide on a color palette and then I start bycutting up pieces of paper and gluing them down. The steps that follow aresimply responses to what I have done and what I see in front of me. I surrenderto the moment and just do the next thing that the collage asks for. There areusually about 4 to 6 layers of paper, paint and mark making involved before Ihave the sense that a piece is done.

I am curious to see where this new found passion will take me in the future andas long as I get joy out of it I will keep creating. Thank you for following along.