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Category Archives: Collage
Uppercase Magazine Feature
I was so honored to be included in the Spring Issue of Uppercase Magazine!
I‘ve been a huge fan of this magazine since Issue 1!
“How does gardening inspire your art?” was the submission topic.
My collage, “Posadas” was featured on page 80 of issue 53, Spring 2022.
Below is my response in writing to “How gardening inspires my art”
Walk and Look
In 2008, my husband and I moved from New York City to Norwalk, Connecticut. Suddenly we owed trees, shrubs, perennials that needed grooming, transplanting and cultivating. I was immersed and loving it!
As a new mom, I strolled the neighborhood daily with my baby daughter and would make note of plants I admired. Afterwards, I would visit nurseries and scour the internet researching these same plants. Throughout the years, I have cultivated our little land space with vegetables, perennials, trees, shrubs and annuals. I’ve learned so much.
Gardening had grown inside of me.
In early 2021, in the midst of the pandemic (and winter in New England), I began making art again. On my daily walks with my dogs, I started pinching off evergreen sprigs, and picking funky grasses, blooms, and twigs and prickly pinecones along the way. I pressed each one and began to incorporate them into my collages.
They seem to add a magical innocence, and quirkiness, to the pieces – an energy that can only come from nature. And each season offers me a wide variety of art supplies. All I need to do is walk… and look around me.
The Life Cycle of a Butterfly & The Creative Process
Hello & Happy Spring! I created the collage below as part of an International Art Challenge. “Wheel” was our assigned word prompt. “Wheel of Life” was my solution, with the center focusing on the life cycle of a butterfly.
While creating this piece, I realized that this illustrated life cycle can also act as a metaphor for the creative process.
From business start-ups to brand launches, to career changes to home improvement projects… Do you have a project? Where are you in the process?
EGG – LARVA – PUPA – ADULT – [ and REPEAT].
In the Adult stage.. the cycle continues. The mature project breeds new dreams and ideas for new projects. Your “Thing” can evolve, or even change, but the creative process keeps going.
For more thoughts like this, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter, “THREE”, which delivers 3 bite-sized design-related morsels to your inbox on a monthly-ish basis.
Hooray for the Year of the Dog!
mixed media collage by Amy Gorrek
Today marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dog. I was born in the year of the dog, so this is super exciting for me!
Chinese astrologer, Laura Lau sums it up on Refinery 29:
Lau says: “The Dog does his best to protect high-integrity people and support their cause.” In other words, this year of the Dog may see people fighting for the causes they believe in. This influence could manifest itself as large-scale political movements or something as simple as local community work and small acts of kindness.
Let’s hope this year brings forth some positive change on all levels.
Do you know your lunar symbol? How does it interact with your zodiac sign?
I’m a Leo born in the Year of the Dog.. I did a quick google search and found a pretty accurate description of the Leo/Dog combination. I guess this explains why I’ve always considered myself a dog AND cat person!
The collage above was created on chipboard with mixed media paper ephemera from my treasure trove(!) and gouache paints. To see more of my collage work, check out my instagram. ♥
Happy Thanksgiving
Wishing you much love and peace this Thanksgiving.
Along with cooking yummy recipes and spending time with family, I plan to take some time to nurture my inner artist by making more collages this weekend. I have a boxes of vintage ephemera I’ve collected over the years — waiting to be repurposed into new art. The above “Acorns” is one I created last Fall. ♥