Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Want to Share With You My Obsession

  I am a mother of two and originally a painter.  Yet, once kids hit toddler-hood I've been less and less able to paint. So I allowed myself to simply explore any medium that would flow naturally with my current hectic life. I began photographing, I began exploring collage. I then bought one of these Fiskars Squeeze Punchers more as a curiosity. I punched out a couple of circles from a magazine I had laying around and was immediately hooked.  Oh, the possibilities began pouring out and the itch was too strong to resist.   I began creating punches out of all my unsolicited mail magazines, new and old. My kids (1.5 and 4) would sit with me and help me organize them in a container and throw away the trash.   I then bought a square squeeze puncher and even more ideas started flowing. I was so infected that I did not even notice the works begin to accumulate in my home. I started posting them in my Etsy store, Miriam's Art. I called them the One Man's Treasure Series.   All paper materials in collage are 100% recycled items. Specially chosen for their color value.   I then realized that I also loved the negative spaces created when the shapes were punched out.   I try to keep my designs simple and following no more than 2 rules. Like "sides must touch" and "circles must be in center". 

I try to always photoshop my work in a living room. It helps viewers see what it looks like in relation to other objects and evaluate its potential. 


I then wanted to play with shadows created by these oh so yummy "windows". I sell these prints as a set in my Etsy store.  


My son Luke, who is 4, usually helps me paint the canvases. I use either black, white or red as background colors. 

 I was teaching my 3rd graders (I'm an art teacher) about mosaics and realized I too could use my 1/2 inch squares to make recycled paper collage mosaics. This one is 3'x2' and is not yet done. I borrowed tons of books from the library to study how it is that these "tiles" are placed together to have that mosaic look. This one is an image of a woman turning into a tree; a very powerful image for me. 

Last, I really want to share my work with others and have them explore their ideas further. As I tell my kids in school, "In art, there is no such thing as copying, your uniqueness will always make the work drastically different than the other's."

This is the system I use to sort colors for my recycled paper mosaic project

I led a teacher workshop last week in which punchers were used to create designs. They all looked so beautifully different!!

To see more of my work, go to Miriam's Art on Etsy
To follow my work go to my blog, Miriam's Art Journal. 

9 comments:

Artsnark said...

how fun! Your work has a wonderful bold quality.

Miriam said...

Hi Miriam! My name is Miriam, too! Wonderful work!

Becky Brocato said...

I can see how that could be so addicting, especially to see what you can create with just squares and circles. Very basic and yet so creative! And recycling junk paper to boot, good for you!

Michelle (mkc photography) said...

thank you for sharing your work - so joyful!!

Anonymous said...

Inspirational ! Thanks.

Jamie Ribisi-Braley said...

That's a really cool idea and they come out very nice.

But aren't the size of your pieces in the 'room view' not to scale? I'm confused as to their sizes.

Art by Kristen Stein said...

Love the bold colors!

Miriam Cutelis said...

sweetland, the collages range from 16x20 to 36x24 inches.

The big one that's white is a huge one......most of them are about 16x20.

Mir

evillilgirl said...

awesome! Thanks for sharing! I think its so great to let your son help with the canvases!