page 7 of work-in-progress Reset - collage & foto by Smith

Only did two collages last night, but they’re even stranger and more intriguing than the other nine because they’re composed almost entirely out of images I cut from a 1983 psychology school book. That makes 11 collages, five days — only 43 more scrapbook pages to collage. Might be slowing down some because I’m running out of raw material, plus creative part of brain is taxed.

I didn’t do much collage / assemblage art after Lady K came into my life September 2005 because her existence and our leaving the country took up most of my time. I didn’t do much art in our 31 months of living outside the U.S. because we either had to leave what we created behind, carry it with us, or mail it home.

Lady did a lot of art in England, Poland, Croatia, France, Morocco and Mexico. Some she mailed home and the customs and postal people in the various countries broke it in passage; some we carried in our backpacks, and most she gave away. I think of her first art show as being in Pula Croatia when she displayed 6-8 pieces on the 3,000 year old arch in the city center, letting the passers-by take what they wanted. She did the same thing in Essaouira Morocco in an alcove by the sea.

I brought back one collage I made in Croatia, one from France, and one from Mexico (where I left another half dozen pieces that were among my better efforts over the last few years but were simply too three-dimensional to mail or move).

*note – since the small blue words around the head in the top collage are too small to read and are important to collage’s meaning, they say (from bottom going counter-clockwise): if and only / ought / but / should / must / if / and / only / but / ought / should / must.

page 6-7 spread + page 8 – collages & fotos by Smith