Were you one of those kids? One of the ones who always had pockets stuffed full of stuff that was too good to leave lying on the ground where you found it? One who regularly got your mother steamed by getting paint or dirt or fill-in-the-blank all over a "good" piece of clothing? One who really couldn't quite get the hang of which were the "good" clothes and which were the "play" clothes, since they all mixed and matched so well? Or at least, you thought they did...
If so, then you probably have the messy collector's gene, one of the first pre-requisites to being a mixed media artist. Congratulations!
Personally, I have been doing mixed media work for as long as I can remember. There was no craft material that I didn't want to try as a kid, and the most fun was seeing how they could be combined into new forms. At some point in my "adult" life, I settled on mixed-media jewelry, at least for a time, since there were so many directions that it could take you. It seemed limitless.
Of course, later on I branched out yet again. I realized that I still wanted to make stuff that didn't neatly fall into the "wearable art" category. Why Not Art grew from this desire to explore altered books, collage, assemblage, and all things digital. There's a lot of cross-over between my artforms now ~ they seem to cross-pollinate each other. Anything I get interested in seems to naturally end up showing up in some piece or other...or multiple pieces.
And when a piece doesn't seem to be working out ~ well, I just carry it around in my pocket until I think of something to use it for!
If so, then you probably have the messy collector's gene, one of the first pre-requisites to being a mixed media artist. Congratulations!
Personally, I have been doing mixed media work for as long as I can remember. There was no craft material that I didn't want to try as a kid, and the most fun was seeing how they could be combined into new forms. At some point in my "adult" life, I settled on mixed-media jewelry, at least for a time, since there were so many directions that it could take you. It seemed limitless.
Of course, later on I branched out yet again. I realized that I still wanted to make stuff that didn't neatly fall into the "wearable art" category. Why Not Art grew from this desire to explore altered books, collage, assemblage, and all things digital. There's a lot of cross-over between my artforms now ~ they seem to cross-pollinate each other. Anything I get interested in seems to naturally end up showing up in some piece or other...or multiple pieces.
And when a piece doesn't seem to be working out ~ well, I just carry it around in my pocket until I think of something to use it for!
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