Vintage Pastiche (Collage) Art
The woman who raised me—not my mother, but my father’s girlfriend of thirty years–had some interests that confounded me, especially when I was a young girl. For example, one of her favorite things to do was to visit cemetaries and read the old gravestones. She found the environment and the ornate, old, carved stones beautiful, and the environment calming. My father enjoyed it, too.
Old, Ornate Gravestone
They would muse about the names of the dead, wonder what kind of people they were, how they died. They would be saddened by the children’s graves and talk about why they were taken so young, yet the experience was mostly a peaceful and fascinating one for them. The years of silence would wash over them like a warm cloud; it was easy to imagine they were walking around in a different time, as there is something about a graveyard that defies time. Graveyards laugh at time, it has no effect on them. They will be there long after we all are gone, with their quiet stillness and overgrown trees and calm shade and fresh dirt.
Her love of things old didn’t stop there. She would drag my father to antique stores and old house auctions and flea markets, looking for very old photographs in beautiful frames, pictures of strangers to hang on her wall. As a child, I couldn’t understand why she’d want strangers on her wall. These unsmiling, solemn faces, the strange clothing, the unfamiliar features, the dark sepia tones, the tears, rips, fades and stains– what did she want with them? What did she want with some stern, unsmiling woman with an out-of-date hairstyle and buttoned-up dress, staring grimly at some forgotten, invisible photographer?
Ahhh, but now I understand, Joanie. I love those same photos, and I, too, now collect and cherish them.
One of my favorite things to do with such photos is to bring them to life again by creating a fantasy environment for them to live in. It may be a painting mixed with other paintings or my photography, or bits and pieces of art scraps and patterns that I have made. I call them Vintage Pastiches because they are a huge conglomeration of many different elements, and they require many layers. Each layer may be blended differently with varying opacities, curves, channels and hues; I may take my photography and patterns or other art pieces I’ve made–and even old works by the masters– and mix them all together in varying ways. Some people call this “altered art”, or “ATC’s” but for my technique, I’d rather call them pastiches because that is more accurate. A pastiche can take anywhere from five to forty hours to create.
I started to collect vintage and fine art years ago, taking them from old, yellowed books and magazines that are falling apart. I retouch, restore and enlarge them before I incorporate them into a pastiche. In fact, I have many of these images available online for other artists to use for their own artwork.
Some artists do this by hand with scissors and glue; others do it digitally, like with an art program such as Photoshop. I am a digital artist, but I can definitely see the purity of working with paper and inhaling the wonderful, nostalgic smell of glue.
Here are some of my more popular pastiches, all available on Color Bakery. If you have any questions about them or would like to try making them yourself, and would like to ask questions, log in and post. I’d love to see your vintage art, too! As with all Color Bakery art, these pieces are available on all our products. They make fabulous, funky tote bags, glass clocks, porcelain jewelry and decorative tiles. The pastiches with children are especially fun for children’s rooms, too.
