Limits:
Testing the theory that constraints only sharpen the artist, even in a most playful, free-flowing art form.
I impose strict design limitations on myself before uncapping a glue-stick or touching scissors to paper. After these limits are in place, I set out to fill an entire sketchbook with collages that lived and breathed those constraints. I filled 43 sketchbooks in all, complete with 43 novel sets of limits. The pages here contain only a few (about 160) of the 1,100 or so collages I created.
During this long-term, sometimes daily exercise, the one overriding limit was that the result wasnÕt precious. It wasnÕt for display. These were just sketches. Nothing to see here, IÕd tell my inner critic. Process process process. If IÕm being honest, it led me to some extremely awkward compositions. Which was okay. I just turned the page and started a new collage. A few times I started an entirely new sketchbook midway through. I simply set it aside and started a new one.
And finally, after 6 years, IÕm ready to share the work. Please join me on this creative journey from structure to chaos to maybe, just maybe, something like art.