Why All the Layers?

I recently had someone comment on one of my YouTube videos wondering why I would cover up a previous layer. They didn’t say it quite so nicely, but I knew what they meant. Why would I do that and what is it with mixed media? I am preparing for a podcast on Mixed Media with Kelly at Learn to Paint and it got me thinking about more than just the materials we use in mixed media. Why do we do this and why is it so enticing both to create and to look at? There are as many reasons why someone is attracted to mixed media as there are artists making the art. I have taught a workshop called Creating History and Mystery in locations around the globe. This is what mixed media is about for me: incorporating a sense of place, story and self and creating mysterious layers to entice the viewer to look closer. This holds true for both the viewer and the artist.

Decades ago, I needed to explain to the judges of a show why my art was considered mixed media. My art was not like the dimensional pieces made with found objects, wire and metal. The art world has changed over the past 20 years. At least the art world where we orbit. There are still the big boy fancy pants artists at Sotheby’s but that’s another tale for another time. My students have evolved over these past two decades as well. I have seen them go from scrapbooking to painting, sculpture and mixed media. My art heroes back in art school in the previous century (wow that sounds old) were mixed media artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Vassily Kandinsky. Rauschenberg approached his art with the spirit of invention and the use of new material and technology. He built on the idea of combining ready made materials with the fluidity of mark-making. He loved juxtapositions and I am attracted to mixed media because I identify with bringing together different materials. I grew up with both artists and scientists and I made my first abstract painting after looking into my dad’s microscope at the age of five. I loved Kandinsky because of his synesthesia and how he used music as color in his work. I later discovered Louise Nevelson, who predated Rauschenberg and other female artists that were early explorers of mixed media.

The craft market developed materials to cater to their evolving crafting/artist clients. Mixed media incorporates gels and pastes which are acrylic, and you can add fibers and glass and all types of materials to them. They are the glue for the foundation. I love to begin with collage and build upon the foundation. Creating a peek into the underlying layers lets you view into the mind of the artist. Why did she use that paper (history) and why cover it up (mystery)? I add some colorful and wild acrylic paint on top of my collage making sure that it is a transparent paint, and the writing may still be seen through the paint. When it is dry, I cover it with a light-colored paint and drop alcohol onto the wet paint. The alcohol makes the wet paint move away from the drops and reveals a peek into the previous layer. This is what the person was referring to in my video. I used the paint to partially veil the bright background and it set a tone and created what I called implied texture. I now have three layers and a very interesting background. I may add more collage on top and use paint markers, pencils, pens, stencils and stamps, or even a 3-D element.

Building layers, yet letting the history show through like truth windows is what I call history and mystery. I have added cut pieces of wood, plant materials, stitched onto the canvas and even torn it up and woven it together in a new combination. The reasons why I do this are as varied as the ways I do it. One of my favorite books that I wrote was Alternative Art surfaces and not only did I explore various surfaces like metal, clay, wood, fabric and paper, but I delved into ways to layer the various elements into combines. One of my favorites involved making a sculpture from wire, nylon, wood and patinas. Why do I need to stick with the traditional oil and canvas? Nothing else in my life is traditional and my curiosity would be so bored. That is probably the best reason I can say that I love mixed media is because I love to experiment and explore. The people who gravitate to my work and teaching are like minded souls.

Why do you love mixed media, or why does it not appeal to you?

I originally began combining my oil-based etchings and collagraphs with inks, pencil, wires and plant materials. Later I began tearing up the prints and adding them to my paintings and now I layer cast acrylic with resin and wires and paper.

What are your favorite things to combine?

I use my photographs to make transfers and now with the apps in my phone I can alter the photos to look like art in themselves. I am working on sound and technology to influence my paintings and my next step is to reverse the synesthesia process to make music from the colors in my paintings.

Like Rauschenberg, do you like to combine technology, unusual materials and scale to tell your story?

I have shared a bit of my journey with you. I encourage you to look at your own journey and to uncover your backstory. We don’t know the backstory until we are far down the road. You may be living in your transformation today, but you can look back in the rearview mirror and see where you came from.

What other artists influenced you to try mixed media? What events, interests or other things have influenced your art and why.

Let me know either on the blog or in the Creative Awakening Community.

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