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Carmen’s collages [UPDATED]
Published 2:28pm Monday, August 30, 2010 Updated 2:45pm Monday, August 30, 2010By Becky Stolle: Collage (rhymes with garage) is a French word meaning “to glue.” Gluing is a passion for Carmen McCullough, a Detroit Lakes resident, as she creates and sells unique collages. Her inspiration is the world around her, and her collages creatively inspire the art viewer. While employed in the active field of marketing, she has found time for a creative outlet.
“I wanted to be an artist ever since I opened my first pack of jumbo Crayolas in kindergarten,” said McCullough, a Perham native. She developed a love of art in all forms (oils, pottery, and watercolor) and took every art class offered.
Concerned that she could not make a living through art, Carmen earned degrees in marketing and advertising.
About five years ago Carmen started watercolor art. She said, “I love the free flowing, soft edges that watercolor creates.” But watercolor painting required an enormous amount of time. When she found a mixed media collage book. “I fell in love!” she laughed.
Basic techniques of collage were learned from her book and soon she expanded her own creative outlet. “No item is too small not to be saved from it’s destiny in the garbage can,” Carmen noted.
“My friends give me a bad time because I’m always picking up a candy wrapper, or what appears to be a piece of garbage for a collage. But they’ve been very supportive and now supply items that I add to my collage ‘stash.’ ”
A collage stash? Yes. McCullough has a bonus room in her home that serves as the collection site and production area for her art. Her attention is drawn first to producing several backgrounds of various textures and colors. It could be stretched canvas, plywood, or an old shelf. She may paint the background or cover it with paper.
Once she is happy with the background, an idea forms. Carmen is inspired by antique stores, vintage photos, a box of old toys, travel, music, nature, dark chocolate and a cheeky red wine. She says that some of the ideas “have been knocking around in my brain since I was born, I suppose.” She uses text, photos (many are images of her relatives that have passed on) and other images for her collages.
A quote by Robert Frost: “Good fences make good neighbors,” sparked a collage with an old man standing behind a red picket fence with a padlock, key and a potentially noisy rooster on a post. The photo used for the man’s head is Carmen’s great grandfather. The man’s suit is cut from a page of a book. The viewer sees a man with a story to tell behind a barrier fence which prompts discussion about Frost’s quote.
“Boys and Their Toys” includes many of the unwanted tiny toy items that may have been discarded. Overwhelming to view at first, this collage becomes a delightful reminiscence of the past.
Carmen’s collage titled, “Musical Chairs” began as she cut out upholstered chairs from a Pottery Barn catalog. A gold painted background with brown touches for the floor provided the perfect background. Finding musical instrument charms flourished the whimsical idea of fastening a charm to each seat with colorful beading. Round clear discs spell out “musical chairs” to complete the collage.
Mixed media describes the different colors, textures, sizes and combinations of items found in each of McCullough’s collages. Each collage requires a different amount of time to complete. One piece, “Red Shoes,” was developed in one day. It was also the first collage Carmen sold. “I was shocked! It seems the more fun I have making the piece the more quickly it sells.”
Some collages just don’t work. That’s when she white-washes the background for a new creative start.
Carmen’s collages can also be purchased in the form of prints and notecards. This was an inspiration from a vacation where she enjoyed the work of an artist but could not bring the large piece home. Instead she bought notecards of the art to pack up and enjoy.
Collage artist Carman McCullough works in the marketing department at Arvig Communication Systems in Perham. Her husband, Kevin, and their two sons: Austin, 14, and Ethan, 12 appreciate her unique artistic abilities.
