Collage

Black writing is Jennifer, the interviewer. Red writing is me, Rebecca (Becky) Taylor. Green writing is Lillie, my daughter who is recording the interview. Blue writing is Gayle. Orange writing is Mrs. Gayle.

So, Becky, how long ago did you get this commission?

What? Was it about two months ago, Gayle? Yeah.

I know that you work in a variety of mediums. So what exactly was the nature of the commission? What did Gayle ask you for?

He saw, he got a glimpse of my collages behind me, over Zoom, and so he said, “That’s really cool, I want one of those.”

No, no. Before I said that, you said “I love doing collages. That’s what I love doing the most”. And then I said,

“Well then, I want one of those.”

That’s where I feel, when I do collages, I feel the most free. Even beyond painting. Because when I paint I, like, get into details, or you know, I want to come up with some kind of concept. But when I’m doing collage I like to just let it all fall together, in a way that Universe wants it to land; with a little bit of guidance.

I know that in your work, because you are teaching, when you’re painting, a lot of times I’ve noticed, you’re working on pieces that are intended for audiences, so they’re gonna be a little more sunshine and rainbows, a little more cheerful and bright imagery because your more __________ for audience. But I have heard you say that’s not necessarily the case with the collage, so what is it about collage that… tends …

I tend to do collage for myself. Nobody really likes it.

THAT’S NOT TRUE!

That’s not true, but many people that I interact with don’t understand it, don’t enjoy it, don’t appreciate it, and so nobody really wants to engage with it. So I find that when I engage with collage, I’m doin’ it for me and only me.

It’s deeply personal.

Yeah.

So it really sounds like it’s more a matter of you cultivating one audience for one part of what you’re doing in the world, and that audience isn’t necessarily the audience for this one.

Yeah.

Is there anything you want to tell us about this piece before we look at it?

I will just say about collage in general, I feel like when I’m painting or drawing, I deal with a lot of technique. And collage is like an almost instantaneous falling together of shapes and forms and colors. It almost does it by itself. And that makes it kinda fun, too.

Is it sorta because the elements are already there for themselves, so you’re thinking about how they are interacting with what you’re accomplishing?

Yes, exactly. They already existed….

What happened was after Lillie was born (my daughter), I didn’t have the bandwidth to sit down and “create art”.

And I stopped for three years.

And it took me a long time to get back into it. So, when I did get back into it, uh, like, what I was painting or drawing was … I had lost my muscle memory. And so I decided that was the point where I could embrace collage because all of the elements already exist somewhere. And all I needed to do was just pick up a magazine, and all the colors are there, and all I need are scissors and glue.

Lillie is shooting this right now, and she’s going “do not interpret this as I stopped my mother creating. I was a muse for my mother discovering that she had another calling for art.”

Well thought out, Lillie!

That being said, all artists have seasons, right? All artists have periods, the Blue Period or whatever, so you’re talking about a season. You went into a season and this is what made sense. Which is really inspiring to anybody who is struggling with “oh I can’t get my fingers to do exactly what I want them to do”, or “I’m not creative.”

Yeah. Which is just shift into a new realm.

Or a new medium, a new way of doing it. That’s awesome.

And a lot of times, for me, collage is playtime. It’s just playtime.

Oh yeah. Nice way to put it.

So um… what I have here is, Gayle, one thing I’m super grateful for, which has never really happened to me in the past, you gave me your trust. You saw my capability. You gave me all your trust and you said make me something. And that really means a whole hell of a lot when, you know, other people are like “oh well can you turn this 30 degrees or can you shift this?” You know what I mean? It was full trust, and I’m grateful for that and I just hope you like it.

And I think that’s an important message to the community, to people who are considering “How can I support the arts?” Unleash an artist.

Trust the artist.

Let the artist do something. Commissions are as old as art.

I disappointed so many artists when I was in advertising, having to say “The client wants you to make the logo bigger”, that I just wanted to give you freedom.

There are times where you have to be specific but this wasn’t one of them.

Which is why when I think of “let’s make a logo” —- blech! That’s the last thing I want to do is make somebody a logo.

Ok, shall we?!

Yes. And one thing I wanted to say is he gave me, um, he sent me an email with a bunch of words about himself, things that inspired him. I saw the piece on his wall that he references a lot. I saw the colors of your home, I see that through the Zoom lens. And so all of that went into this. Gayle gave me topics of stars, celestial. I understand your religion and your faith. Um, when I look at you, I see you as a doting dad. ummm….

Yes, I am in my dotage now. I am.

And I’m gonna stop there.

That’s fine, fine. And I’m gonna turn around, And I’m gonna close my eyes so it can be revealed.

And Mrs. Gayle, you’re going to have to live with this too, so I hope you love it.

Drum roll, please…………….

…………oh wow. ……wow.

(………………..long pause…………………..)

Alright, this is hysterical, because I did not mention anything about Famous Grouse scotch. But it’s my favorite scotch. So there in the bottom left-hand corner is a grouse. That is astounding- that was intuitive.

So, Becky, is there anything you want to say about the elements or about how they spoke to you, or their reason for being?

Yeah, when I began to search for my colors and my shapes and my subjects and my people and all my elements, the first thing that spoke to me was red. The red just called to me immediately. So I stuck with the red theme. Ummm, obviously I found a lot of red elements. Then, when I found the suns, that was number two. Then I wanted to contrast those colors with the light background. This um… do you want me to interpret a whole lot of it?

Yeah. Go ahead; I’d like to hear about what you were thinking.

The seahorse is a symbol of fatherhood; and the jewel-tones and the gold and the red in the cross, that just jumped right out at me. Um, and then the pheasant was one of the first things that popped out at me, and I didn’t know why. I pulled out a bunch of other animals and things, but the pheasant kept calling to me for some reason, so I kept the pheasant, which turns out is another symbol of fatherhood. Um, and then this to me, I felt like this is some kind of creator spirit or creation energy, emerging from the earth creating the heavens.   I don’t know why the little people are there. The little people needed to be there for some reason, so maybe you might find out why the little people are there. But I saw them, and I had to have them.

I love all this circular energy. So, you have the pheasants are actually circling the bottom.

I have to say to you, totally unexpected. Ok, not at all what I had envisioned. It’s mesmerizing. Absolutely. I’m pretty certain I know where I’m going to put it, over my desk where I write, so it’s something I can spend time with every day. …  The idea of multiple suns is fascinating. I know you’re a science fiction and fantasy reader, which I am not, and I immediately caught that imagery. And to have limited myself to just one sun, seems rather limiting, doesn’t it? And I love this idea, that creative energy emerging out of the, well I always think of the Primordial Ooze, and in this case, I guess we’re breaking forth from this volcano, rocks, freeing up somebody being stayed… I have no idea what the little people mean either.

I do… they mean community

Could be.  I was going to say, they’re gonna keep me company.

This is very much a pattern I see when I think of you, Gayle, and if you look at it, it’s mirrored on the pheasant.

Funny, I saw it has a hand of cards. And you know I used to make my living as a card player. So maybe that’s just what I am leaping to.

So YAY! Thank you, Becky!

And so thank you Becky.  And I really like the simple frame you chose. It’s like a window. It defines the space and it’s not gonna detract.

Gayle Turner is the brain behind Storyteller’s Channel. He has been my storytelling Guru for the past couple of years. Contact him to learn about how you can become a storyteller with his nurturing guidance. And You can see more of my collages here!