Category: Collage Workshops

Peace Flow emerged in August of 2016 as part of a Journey Dance dedicated to peace led by Shielagh McGlynn.

Sheilagh, Cate Laurier, and I started the piece at The Inner Arts Collective, and then I took it home to fill in some spaces and add finishing touches.

A year after Peace Flow was completed, Sheilagh felt called to offer another Journey Dance for Peace, and I joined her at Pegasus Studio for a reprise of the beautiful music.

A collage session followed the dance, which gave us a chance to catch up as we tore and cut selected images. We had an especially good laugh over using alphabet stickers to spell “Booty” in honour of what Macy Gray had encouraged us to shake in her song “Beauty in the World.” (The vowels e, a, u in the alphabet pack had been used at my last collage workshop, so two o’s were pressed into service to spell booty/beauty).

As time was limited at the studio, the piece went home with me for some additional work. In the process, a peace bird, a river, a dream fish, and a feathered dancing figure appeared on the circle of green paper.

Peace. Divine. Booty. All one for a harmonious planet!

On February 28th, I facilitated a collage workshop for Centennial College’s 2017 Teaching and Learning Symposium. In this one-hour session, I invited faculty to experience collage-making from the perspective of post-secondary students in the classroom.

Working individually and in small groups, nine participants gathered and arranged images to illustrate Centennial College’s vision statement: “transforming lives and communities through learning.” The resulting visions-of-the-vision-statement beautifully express what transformative learning means to our community of educators.

On February 28th, I facilitated a collage workshop for Centennial College’s 2017 Teaching and Learning Symposium. In this one-hour session, I invited faculty to experience collage-making from the perspective of post-secondary students in the classroom.

Working individually and in small groups, nine participants gathered and arranged images to illustrate Centennial College’s vision statement: “transforming lives and communities through learning.” The resulting visions-of-the-vision-statement beautifully express what transformative learning means to our community of educators.

On February 28th, I facilitated a collage workshop for Centennial College’s 2017 Teaching and Learning Symposium. In this one-hour session, I invited faculty to experience collage-making from the perspective of post-secondary students in the classroom.

Working individually and in small groups, nine participants gathered and arranged images to illustrate Centennial College’s vision statement: “transforming lives and communities through learning.” The resulting visions-of-the-vision-statement beautifully express what transformative learning means to our community of educators.

Creating collages together was an ideal way for international students and staff at an ESL learning site to celebrate the experience of living in Canada.

Recently I offered a collage session to enrich an ESL textbook’s chapter about trash and recycling. I loved how the eleven international students in the class called on their creativity to transform magazines, leaflets, cards, calendars, old books, music scores, and stickers into individual works of art.

In collaboration with Scarborough Arts’ Yearbook Exhibit and Myseum’s Intersections Festival, an opportunity to facilitate a collage workshop arose this March.

Resonating with Reese’s work for the Myseum exhibit, the objective of the YEARBOOK collage workshop was to support the creation of personal collages that explored related themes, such as memory, history, identity, and loss.

All art materials were provided, but participants were also invited to bring personal photos or copies of them. Almost all of the eight attendees came prepared with an engaging assortment of photos, beautiful stationery, fabric, buttons, and even driftwood and a glue gun!

I loved the communal hum of work and conversation that continued throughout the two-hour event. Together we hunted for just the right images when somebody would call out that they needed a picture of a dog or bright colours for balloons.

By the end of the afternoon, it was uplifting to see the gorgeous variety of collages that surfaced.

Thank you Scarborough Arts and Myseum for creating the conceptual and literal space for the YEARBOOK Collage Workshop! Making art with the support of these two organizations felt both meaningful and fun.

I loved these collages created by eight international students in an intensive English program. In addition to photos of the artwork, I’m including descriptions that the artists wrote to explain their individual collages. (Sending a big thank you to their instructor, Barb, for assigning and collecting the written work).

Once upon a time, Professor Monster lived in the house. Although he looked like devil, he like to use magic to help people. He hoped to improve their life, so he gave some rice, bags, and clothes to them. Finally, they were very happy.

Don’t believe in money. Believe in yourself.

This collage’s topic is Empty. Recently in Korea some intelligent young people think emptiness is an important problem. We use many objects. We have many goods, but we are empty for nature, for earth, for simple human life. Now this is Korea social trend.

My collage is about lovely story. Everyone have a dream about your ideal and everyone goes to his dream.

The old man in the small picture is the monkey’s conscience. He says, “Don’t worry. She (the doll) is crazy about you. Repeat after me, I’m the Best.”

Man: Hey girl! Look at me! I’m soccer superstar.

Donkey: No! Look at me! I’m the super donkey. Ha! Ha!

Penguin: You are really funny. I’m the super penguin. See me fly!

It is free and dream. Many people are not free because of work and life. “The world is very big. I want to see anything!” This sentence is a catchword in China.

Creating collages with peaceful images can help with stress reduction. Please enjoy these calming pieces created by six English Language Learners at Centennial College.

Facilitating several collage workshops on the theme of “Picture Your Success” was a rewarding experience, especially when I saw how much the resulting artwork meant to the participants. I love the colours, stories, and messages contained in the collages featured below. They help me picture peace, fun, success, hope, freedom, love, and inspiration!

From random piles of paper, stickers, and images arose eleven collages that showcase the creativity, humour, and playful spirit of their creators. Thank you, ELL students, for your willingness to try a new art form!

 

In a recent workshop, fourteen students in an intensive academic English program created art from images that inspired them. I love the range of interests represented in the collages below, which include art, fashion, dance, religion, family, flowers, wild animals, waterfalls, sports, and space. Inspiring work, EAP 2 Study Skills!

Supporting the theme of environmental awareness, I recently facilitated two collage workshops for international students at a local college. Using recycled paper and images to great effect, the participants created a total of twenty-seven strikingly individual collages that delighted their teachers, their classmates, and me.

Please enjoy this on-line tribute to recycling and creativity!

Today I had the privilege of facilitating two collage workshops on the suggested theme of relaxation. After I got home this evening, I rushed to process pictures of the students’ collages because I was so eager to share their beauty, poetry, and magic!

The earth is at the bottom of the collage. I come from China, which is the other side of the world. There is a wave pushing a ship towards the colourful  future (the flowers). My house is on the ship. The crane is like me because it looks back towards the sun, towards China and towards the past. My heart is with my family.

When I came to Canada, I had to start again at the bottom. I struggled and had a lot of stress. The stairs show my difficult climb back up to success.

(Then Geraldine removed the paper veil from the gold coin, making other participants literally gasp with surprise).

Brazil is not just about soccer and beautiful women. We have beautiful nature in the Amazon and a lot of interesting animals.

I wanted to make a collage about Mexico and one about Canada, my second home.

I come from a small town in Venezuala, and I used to spend a lot of time in nature. I miss it. It’s so different from city life in Toronto.

I wish all animals to be happy and to have enough to eat.

I have a mysterious side, and the right side of the collage represents this. I’d like to share some of these quotations with you.

Love isn’t just about love between a man and a woman. Love can also be for your family, your friends, for nature and all the animals, and for the world. Personal freedom is also important. I believe each person should be an individual and not have to be the same as everyone else.

I think our society is too focused on outer beauty and things like make-up. I believe inner beauty is more important.

The following day’s workshop on February 19th produced twelve more engaging collages which also call out to be shared here.

I wanted to show connection and emotion in this piece.

This is home life. The family around the table are missing their ancestors and praying. In the picture, some people are sad, lonely, or happy.

I grew up in the era of black and white photos, and I really like them. I think the world was simpler in the past.

If you go to Beijing, you can see old houses like these.

My collage is about overcoming fear. In life, we are often afraid, but we should take risks to achieve our goals. Fear is like a mask that limits our view. If we dominate fear, we can change a tiger to a kitten. It’s also important to smile and laugh. We have to laugh at life. Otherwise, life will laugh at us.

My collage is about freedom.

Love is love!

To have hope, we need three things: fire, water, and family.

Responding to the theme of relaxation, a group of ECE students created  this collection of spirited, meaningful, and colourful collages: