Something Alison is working on!

The excellent blogs Scoutie Girl and Modish have featured the collaborative collages made by Alison and I in their Collabo feature that focuses on collaborative art! We each answered a set of questions independently of each other, and one set is on each site. Here’s my interview on Scoutie Girl, and Alison’s interview on Modish.

I’ll be selling again this year at the Art for the Cash Poor event here in Philly. It takes place on Saturday June 14 (1-6 pm ) and Sunday June 15 (1-6 pm). Check out the event website for more details such as location, live music, etc.

This is my third year participating in this event, and I think it’s a really fun time and a great opportunity place to pick up some wonderful paintings, photos, ceramics, jewelry, clothing, and more by a variety of local makers. Everything is priced under $199. I think I spent half of what I made my first year at this event on buying things from other people. Which is awesome- it gets boring having only your own art on your apartment walls. I’m hoping to pick up some more things this year. Last year I was there by myself and was pretty much stuck at my table all day and didn’t really get a chance to look around.

I’ll have a bunch of new lens and watch part necklaces and digital collages for sale, and also some lovely decoupaged vases (if I get them done in time!). On Saturday I’ll be sharing a table with Alison Corrie, who makes awesome silkscreened things. We’re also selling some postcards from our first collaborative book project. I just got them back from the printer and they look great.

Hope to see you there!

(Originally posted on http://jenmccleary.blogspot.com)

Book One was handmade by Alison, then we sent it back and forth, each adding whatever we wanted- collage, painting, drawing, text. Everything is fair game, nothing is sacred. It’s ok to add to the other person’s work, draw right over it, cut up the pages, whatever.

I used to be a bit afraid of this kind of thing, viewing my art as “MINE!” Don’t touch it, don’t change it. Don’t tell me you think it would look better if it was yellow instead of blue. I think the bizarre, competitive atmosphere of art school just embedded this way of thinking even deeper in my mind. But I’ve come to see that there is value in being more open, more sharing, less controlling and clinging. Of course I still make things that are “mine” alone, but this process of collaborating with another artist has been incredibly inspiring and freeing. It’s fun to add to someone else’s work and be influenced by what they’ve done. It’s even fun to see what they’ve done with my work, how they reacted to it. And if they decided to paste something right over top of something I did, well, that’s just fine. It’s a totally different way of doing things- a dialog with someone other than myself.

Here’s the cover of the first book. More images to follow soon!

(Originally posted on http://jenmccleary.blogspot.com)