Art and Design A comprehensive guide for creative artists - Aaltodoc

CHAPTER SIX
Collage
The word collage comes from a “French word coller meaning
to glue or paste.”(Jenkins 1980, 108)
According to Annette (1982), “collage is an arrangement of
several different shapes, cut or torn from various materials,
which form a pleasing combination of shapes, textures
and colours when glued onto a sheet of paper to make a
permanent picture.” Obviously, then, collage art is made up
of various collections of things.
Nevertheless, working to produce a collage artwork is
governed by serious creativity supported by “pasting” and
“assembling.” It is the “maximum diversity of source material,
to produce a coherent artist synthesis.” (Ashwin 1982, 63)
By analysis, collage art is well made with arrangements of
thrown away objects, which work as basic materials of its
different forms.
We can also see this from Kyeyune's (2003, 215) Art in Uganda
in the 20th Century denoting this excellent statement:
“Ssengendo produced a richly colourful imitation style from
a collection of things lying about in an untidy mass and that
their portrayal was made easy by a clear physical display
of shapes in distinct tones and texture, with ridges of fibre
and feathers.” Here we see that a collage artwork can be
constructed and defined by analysing shapes, colours and
textures of different things.
Walther (2000, 46) reminds us that “it was not until Picasso
discovered the technique of collage, or 'papier colle,' that
he started thinking about sculpture ... Sticking papers
onto a picture, ... a step beyond the strict two dimensional
character of painting. And when he begun to use other
materials such as card board, tins, wood, string and wire his
pictures changed more and more ... ”
Distinctly, then, learners should be made aware that collage
art is interdisciplinary, it combines other disciplines of art
and design like sculpture, painting, pottery and drawing.
We can conclude with Janis et al.'s (1967, 145) reasonable
explanation: “Collage brought the world into art and then
art moved into the world ...”
Thereby, creative artists should be encouraged to use
nature as the main source of useful materials. And it can
as well be a source of inspiration from whence designs of
collage artwork can be made.
The table below examines the different parts of plants,
which can assist to provide remarkable basic materials
necessary for creating collage art:
In our environment there are plenty of plants, which can
provide necessary glue for use on collage and other crafted
artworks. Trowell (1951, 26) suggests, “if you know any tree
which gives out a sticky transparent juice, you should try to use
it as a glue medium.” Here we see that it is important for the
learner to have the right kind of glue for the different materials
available to make a collage artwork.
As an example, boiled cassava paste; made by mixing hot water
with cassava flour forms a thick paste necessary for fastening
like glue. During stove preparations, keep the substance
moderately solid for better bonding results.
Here below is a proposed list of supplementary craft glues
and colouring dyes, which are obtainable from plants. Some
of them can be used to carry out experiments for scarce art
materials:
In their book Forest Climbing plants of West Africa; Bongers et
al. (2005, 171-172) suggested some of these climber species—of
plants, which can be used for crafting purposes:
Alchornea cordifolia; the leaves of this plant can procreate an
indigo colouring material.
Cryptolepis sanguinolenta; from its roots and the bark. We can
extract a yellow colouring material for dyeing fabric.
Lonchocarpus cyanescens (lonchocarpus); the seeds and
leaves of this plant can produce an indigo colouring.
Morinda morindoides (Rubiaceae); the roots and the bark
produce a yellow colouring.
Oncinotis pontyi; extract liquids from its stem, add lemon juice
then boil. Strong glue will be attained. Fit for repairing broken
pots.
Rhigiocarya racemifera (Menispermaceae); produces glue from
its fruits.
Uvaia; a yellow colouring dye can be squeezed from the roots
and the bark of this plant.
Canarium schweinfurthii (Mpafu tree); the bark of the tree (on
the stem) when opened and left for some time it will produce a
white citron scented gum.
Other types of craft glue can be purchased. These may include;
sticker glue, wallpaper paste, glue stick, royal icing, glitter glue,
tacky glue, white glue, powdered glue and wood glue.
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