Peeling Away and Redefining

A couple of years ago I realized I had to redefine my relationship with work and my professional life as a biologist. Things were not going the way they were supposed to. Disappointments were too deep, the fun seemed to have gone out of teaching, I wasn't happy with the way the future looked. There were real professional reasons for this, not just "midlife crisis." One morning I woke up and thought, "Aha! I can do something with those biology transparencies I don't use anymore!" The collage project was born.

I had lots of fun mounting things on plexiglas (I had experimented with it earlier as a surface for painting...some good results and some "meh"). And I got to exercise my intuition for composition, juxtaposition, line, and texture. The challenge was to make visuals that were full of "nothing" out of materials that were full of message.

Playing with all kinds of materials I was able to create what I think was a dreamlike state out of printed materials whose original intent was to communicate reality, not a fuzzy subconscious state of mind.

I liked the results a lot. Even sold a few pieces. But because these were not "art" I hid them around the house in places they wouldn't be seen so readily. Taking a second look at them I've decided they were quite good and worth putting into some kind of portfolio.