Michelle Casey, “In Memoriam: Elizabeth Wortman”, 6 x 8.5 inches, Collage/Mixed Media Journal Page, January 2010. Women like my neighbour, “Bessie” Wortman, made me realize the importance of following my dreams. See below for text of this journal page.
Lately I’ve been reminiscing about the day I came up with the name for my business: Collage Your World (CYW) and the impetus behind it. Besides echoing the old paint store, Colour Your World, CYW invites ordinary folks to learn to express themselves through collage. For me, imparting this knowledge is as important as my role as artist. As viewers/interactors of my work and potential students, it’s my wish that you will choose to use it to empower yourself and actively engage with art in your life. Here’s the story that motivated the birth of my art biz…
In my third year of studying visual art at university, our department found out that its budget was about to be slashed. This meant that some amazing teachers and courses would be cut from our program. It seemed whenever the university needed to cut from the Arts, our department suffered the most casualties because visual art was not deemed as vital to society as: physics, engineering, computers, mathematics, or even ironically, medicine. Until that moment, I’d never been part of an organized student protest before. I tended to shy away from these things preferring to disappear into the background. This time, because a matter close to my heart was at stake, I decided to play an active role in our student group helping to design a poster and agreeing to participate in a sombre funeral-like march to the university’s main building to protest the unfair economic blow being dealt to us. Putting my pride aside, I also agreed to collect signatures from the public asking them to join us in solidarity to protect our budget. I was disheartened to find a surprising number of people balking at my request… they made me feel as though I was a lunatic to think that art even mattered to their lives. One such incident brought me to tears. In the end our efforts were in vain; the cuts were made. The act of taking a stand for something for once in my life however, strengthened my fighting spirit. I was more determined than ever to one find a way to combat the ethos that felt art didn’t matter … totally ignoring the fact that, if given half a chance, the visual arts could play a vital role in improving and enlightening our lives.
As I began to reflect upon why art didn’t matter to the average person, I realized that it was because budgets such as visual art were being cut left, right and centre over the decades in elementary and secondary schools here in Canada. Only the children of the privileged few who attended specialized schools that valued the Arts had the opportunity to appreciate it and gain valuable knowledge to develop their expressive skills. A vast majority of students hadn’t learned to “read”, research and appreciate visual art in the way I had at university. You know, nothing beats being in a room full of people wielding their creative energy! Their excitement is contagious and is something to behold and be a part of. While I was privy to these experiences, the average person, unschooled in visual arts, was busy surviving life; they didn’t have time to learn the benefits of integrating art into their lives. For many, art will only ever be that traditional framed print of a water colour or oil painting that perfectly matches their living room sofa. The business of the selling of art to consumers is happily taken up by big box home furnishing stores. Through them the public will only ever get to know a handful of old masters or modern artists like: da Vinci, van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse or Dali. As many don’t have artist friends, they will rarely come into contact with real art or the artists that produce it. For these folks art is meant to adorn empty spaces on walls and is not necessarily understood for its life-enriching purposes. From this point on I knew my mission would be to alter this perception even if only in some small way in my own community and, with the help of social media, perhaps other little pockets of the world – a lofty vision! I started by making and teaching art that was accessible to many and art that played a crucial role in transforming my life. I felt collaging journaling and vision boarding would be easily attainable art forms and be beneficial to a vast majority of people. Collage Your World has been 15 years in the making. It’s been a slow, painful labour of love for me to arrive here. And, I’m so grateful I’m still here and that so many of you care enough to listen, comment and share your art and reflections with me.
For me, art has always been about healing. In a home where money was tight, dreams of going to Disney World and summer vacations to far away places were not a reality. Instead, my flights of fancy were journeys to worlds created with papers, glue, scissors, and crayons or markers. My dysfunctional family life didn’t include professional counselling. Instead, it involved using the tools of art to invent places I could retreat to in times of trouble. In practicing my art I also derived its healing and meditative benefits without even realizing what it was really doing for me. Art has played such a crucial support role in my life therefore I’ve never solely viewed it as an activity to make objects to beautify my walls… it’s so much more. Some come to my classes wanting to create beautiful pieces, but they don’t realize that the true beauty of art is not necessarily in the outcome of the look of the piece but the energy and courage expended to express oneself in concrete form. The role of artist as a means to express one’s self is open to everyone. Here at Collage Your World I encourage you to live, cut and paste with me… no matter what challenges we face in life, together through art and collage, we’ll find ways to transcend them!
Journal Page Text (top of page): “I met Bessie Wortman when I was 12 and she was 80-something. She taught me to appreciate every second of life. She introduced me to Harlequin romances. She taught me how to make fried green tomatoes. Most importantly she told me to follow my dreams no matter what people said. Thanks Bess, I miss you.”
PLEASE NOTE: I’ll be off for the next couple of weeks attending to pressing personal matters. Will return June 16, 2013 with tips for creating collage envelopes! Also stay tuned for my June Newsletter and Zine Portfolio page coming soon…
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