by Diane Widler Wenzel: Resolution of PAPERS Collage

 
When I first began gluing paper to canvas, I was confident that I would think of a purpose for the collage. If some of the pieces of paper were not compatible, I could remove them or paste over them.
            From my father's example I learned we did not have to throw away old worn things and always buy the newest and latest. Every part of this work is recycled except the acrylic medium used for glue. My father's values of saving what others toss became my direction.  Papers are precious and beautiful and should be lovingly preserved.  Even the weak papers I had hand made have character. Of course my theme grows out of other influences than my father like awareness of our growing waste management problems and seeing the work of other artists.
         Maybe photographs of my father with me would be appropriate?  Couldn't find a good one of our 1934 Chevrolet Coup with the trunk lid up and covered with a tent of a Mongolian Wool Horse Blanket sewn together with Ritz died rust and chartreuse colored canvas tarps.  We must have looked like gypsies camped in Yosemite National Park in 1952.  The trunk was a bed for my parents and I slept in the cab.  The picture of a car he drove until 1986 and the coup rigged as a want to be RV would demonstrate the human inventiveness as opposed to wastefulness.
          The loss of the photo was not a problem. Putting a picture of things or people would draw attention away from the beauty of old and weathered papers. I want attention on the beauty of nature's imperfections - the beauty of nature after weathering and aging. The beauty of not throwing away broken things but making them more beautiful by mending them is the value handed down to me from my father.
          I was done. The restoration of the discarded canvas, and the recycled paper made into art paper tells my father's values, I thought for a short while it was enough.
          Then I realized in a small area the linear directions of colorful cut paper was a pivotal directional force within the collage. These papers could say more about the value of preserving papers. Preserving paper preserves nature which was another value passed down to me. To better communicate my values, I found paper made from garden clippings with a little shell and moss covered twig.  I wound around it another cotton cord to signify nature as being as much a part of my father's identity as the cord wound  #8 envelope containing proof of his legal citizenship.
           Two references to my father begged for a third. Being sentimental I have a difficult time throwing away my father's things. One was a Pink Pearl eraser, which was used up until it was as round as a wheel. But nine years after his death, last year it went into the trash. I looked for more envelopes but last year all the ones like the # 8 envelope went into the trash. There was a portfolio. Placed on my large collage, I noticed  his artistry in mending and how well it worked with the repetition of rectangles.
          For awhile the collage was complete giving me the feeling of precious beauty like a well crafted book.
          PAPERS was a journey and the resolution is imperfect. I wish that the acrylic medium did not make papers with a natural shine more characteristic of gross plastic as is the case with father's #8 envelope. Soon I will replace the original envelope with another envelope and natural cotton cord like father used. Father's name is a further distraction and will not be copied.  Let the viewer see the importance of paper and not confuse the story the viewer can make for themselves with a story of  my father. 
          The journey of making this collage was well worth these little disappointments. The little disappointments point me towards learning more in another journey with making a collage.