News for Schools from the Smithsonian Institution, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Washington, D.C. 20560

January-February 1981

Pia ing Historical DetectiGreat Grandmother's Dress and Other Clues to the Life and Times of Annie Steel

with your students,oWn around one of

good idea torehttillg to a living

amalv:z:ed all the materialsIndlividml.l. have person come into

¢hildnm will be surprised at how much theyHm,'ld""\I guest" and how much more they are

By prilllal:V source materials in this studentswill learn to scrutinize, aJH:lljIZe, and ask the kinds of questions gerlcn:tllyposed by a .•. and .In the process they will master impor~

tant methods of rest~arch.

are basically two ways that you can use lesson withyour One way is to make copies-enough for eachstudent. other way is to section by section, to

class as a whole, an projectorIn either case, once you

to a

Note: Unlike the featured this part of Artto Zoo, the following history desigtled for your studentsto read all by themselves. children should study the artifacts anddocuments picturediJHhe lesson order read thecac,conl1~

panying text, and then drawWe think they'll discover inhandwritten letter, Of a J)oJrtralitclothing like yourand taken together, iii co:llc(;tiornrials) can reveal a am,oullt

The lesson centers ~m>tlnd

Steel, who was thethe Office of Ele~metltary

sonian Institution.and QlilSiigllyd;~l"leiJe~i$~r~:fc9l(/'Y,1)U/tp;

Introducing Annie SteelThis month we have a special guest we'd liketo introduce you to. Her name is Annie Steel,and she lived a very long time ago.

.A-ltheugh we've never met her face to face,we feel we've really gotten to know her per-

sonally over the past several months by doingsome detective work on a number of the thingsshe left behind. Now we want to share thesethings with you so you can get to know her too.

You can play detective just as we did. Asyou look at the things shown in this article-

both objects (artifacts) and papers (documents)-simply think of each one as a piece of evi­dence that will give you clues to what AnnieSteel was like as a person, as well as clues tothe facts surrounding her life.

3. Can you give a rough estimate as to whenthis dress was worn and made?(Hint: It should help you to know that peoplestarted using sewing machines in the 1850s, "and you can look in picture books and oldmail order catalogs to see the styles that peo-ple wore in the l850s and later.)

short and fatof medium build

Now draw your own conclusion: Based on thisevidence, I think the name of the church AnnieSteel belonged to was _

Now draw your own conclusion: Based on thisevidence, I think the name of the coulltryAnnie Steel lived in was --'-_

3. The marriage license also contains evidencethat can throw more light on Annie Steel'swealth and social standing in the community.(You'll remember that we talked about thisearlier when we looked at the dress. Now wehave more clues to go on.) Look up the words,carter (her father's trade) and wheelwright(her husband's trade) in the dictionary. Ex­actly what kinds of work did these two tradesinvolve?carterwheelwright _

Do you think these were trades at which aperson could earn a lot of money? .1 "'''___noNow, based on this evidence, would you saythat Annie Steel was:

rich poor middle-class(Please circle one to show what you think.)

continued on page 2

2. What church did she belong to? List clueshere:

was

1. Annie Steers name before marriage was______________. She

years old when, she got married in____, which means that she was born inthe year (approximately) .

2. Her father, named ,was a bytrade.

marriage.

4. The man she married, named _______, was a _by trade. The town where he lived was called___________. Besides all ofthese quite obvious facts, Annie Steel's mar­riage license also contains some hints, or clues,which may lead you to draw some conclusionsof your own about her life. For example ...

1. What country did she live in? First writedown any clues you can find that might helpyou answer this questioD.: _

3. She was living in _(name of town) at the time of her

Piece of Evidence No.2Marriage license

This paper, or document, was issued to AnnieSteel and her husband when they got married.Read it over, then fill in the blanks below inorder to discover some important facts abouther life.

Maroon velvet and cream­colored satin dress, sewnpartly by hand and partlyby machine. Waist size,18 inches; length of skirtfrom waist to floor-lengthhem, 36 inches.

Piece of Evidence No.1Dress Worn and Made by Annie Steel

1. What does this piece of evidence seem totell us about the wealth and social standing ofAnnie Steel? Judging from the material andstyle of the dress, do you think she wasrich poor middle-class.

(Please circle one of the above answers, butbefore you do, consider: Does owning a fancydress or suit automatically mean that a personhas a lot of money or belongs to high society?Do you have an outfit of fancy clothes to wearon special occasions?)

2. What does this piece of evidence tell usabout the size of Annie Steel? Please circle oneof the phrases below to indicate whether youthink she was . . .

tall and thinshort and thin

continued from page 1

Piece of Evidence No.3LeUer to Annie Sieel born Her Husband, Joseph Monday

March 25

1. When this letter was written, Annie Steelwas in the recovering froman _

2. The fact that this letter exists is an impor­tant clue in itself because it shows that JosephSteel was literate (knew how to read and write).Can you find any errors in spelling or grammarin this letter? yes no. If yes,please make a note of them here: __..,.-_

Judging from the way this letter is written,would you say that Annie Steel's husband wasa well-educated man for his time? yes__~no

3. Joseph and Annie Steel had three childrennamed , ,and (referred to as "ours"in the last paragraph of the letter).

Who seems to be staying with Joseph to helptake care of the children in Annie's absence?

Dear WifeI write these few lines as I am so very

anscious to cheer you up if I can I havebeen down to the docters to see how youwas getting on and he said you had gotthe operation over all right but you was inpain but their was no need to worry asyou would soon get over that and he saidyou behaved ~plendid so by the time youget this letter I hope the pains have leftyou and you are getting along all rightkeep your pluck up lass and the we shallsoon have you at home with us I shall geton the telefone before you get this letterto Enquire how you are getting along sogood night my only love and may godbless you and bring you back again tohealth and your loved ones at home Ishall come on thursday god willing

so no more at present from yours for­ever loving

HusbandJoseph Steel xxx

xxxWillie xxxxxxx.Ailexxxxxxx.Annie xxxxxxx.

Mother is glad to hear you have got overit and will soon get home again Arnoldprays for you Every night and I havetaught ours a little prayer for you and Ihave never missed since you went in X

Piece of Evidence No.4leiter to Joseph Siee! from Annie

1. Where was Annie Steel when this letter waswritten?

2. The fact that this letter exists is an impor-tant clue in itself. Can you say why? _

3. Compare this letter with the one written byJoseph. Which of the two letters is more skill­fully written in terms of penmanship, spelling,grammar, and punctuation? _______. Based on this evidence, whatstatement can you make about the level of

Annie Steel's education? Do you think she wasmore educated or less educated than her hus­band?

4. Taken together, what do the two letters tellus about Joseph and Annie's feelings for oneanother?

Write down some evidence to support youranswer:

Job Hindley Ward

Dear husbandi hope you are all in good helth i am

very fair considering i was glad to hearMr Warmonland had been and Mr Mor­ton had been asking it looks as if you arenot forgotten Donald came this morningand two others and house surgeon....i had fish and tatos for dinner today breadand butter the rest of the days i hopemother is going on all wright give mylove to mother.... from your loveing wifegood night and godbless to all frommother to

to willie xxxxxxto alice xxxxxxto annie xxxxxxto daddie xxxxxxto granmar xxxxxx

i hope they are all good

5. What can we leam from the letters aboutthe character of Annie,Steel? For example, doyou think that she was a brave person? _

Especially religious? _What other of her personal qualities are re-vealed in the letters? _

Write down evidence to support your answers:

}leai':/$aij ~ ct'lcm:/'

i«.·?·..·.. rfj/i / &;(" I I D''' , N j /(,(j'",/". !tim 'i!'(}41Iaetay. ~(lldl. )v/111,'1 /.

J~lci

ANNIE,1'hc beZ<n,ed Wije oj JOSEPH STERl.,

i, rpju'" ('/rp""" 111111.Sidddt. !{dti;ux, Hl(Jl!

""-'"-;.,.+._-",-;';'II')-urn IH~t fQl" Uit:, 1ll)" time·js PRFt:I i~J\led ':0'01\ \lItblle 1U"V life did last:Yet thiJik ofiiH:1 ana pit>" take,~"'ni11o..e c,ltcb other for Ul)' sake.

To we lOU all Wt;re kind nl1d trtle,\\~ilc helOt ('0 enrth 1 ."'as with VOl! 1'Then do not lUOUru; \,ou've {kaleYou ld'lHl1;: 1m'cd 1UC: to tltt:- la!llt.

"-...y..,,.•,

Piece of Evidence No.5Death Announcement

Here is our final piece of written evidenceabout Annie Steel. Back in those days, whensomebody died it was the usual practice ofthat person's family to send out a death an­nouncement.

From this document, you can find out thedate on which Annie Steel died: ,her age at time of death: , andthe name of the place where she was buried:_________. Also if you checkback to her marriage certificate, you can easilyfigure out how long she had been married atthe time of her death: years.(It is highly unlikely that Joseph Steel wrotethe poem printed on the death announcement;rather he probably chose it (to express his feel­ings about Annie) from a book of such poemsthat somebody else had written.)

continued on page 4

FOR TIRED OLD JUNK, A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

are especially grateful to TERESA

GRANA, Associate Curator, Department ofEducation, National Museum of AmericanArt, for her help with this photoessay.

6.

tion of a painting, behind blue glass, of aRenaissance girl named Bia de Medici.(Renaissance children were one of Cor­nell's favorite themes.) The drawer at thebottom of the box and the stacked imagesin the side compartments suggest a pennyarcade slot machine. For more aboutCornell and his work, plus instructions formaking your own box art, see the nextissue of Art to Zoo.

7. "Still Life #4," Tom Wesselmann,1962. Hirshhorn Museum and SculptureGarden.This collage of magazine photographs,advertising poster, painted fabric, andenamel on fiberboard is one of the thirtyworks featured in the SITES exhibitionCollages: Selections from the HirshhornMuseum and Sculpture Garden, describedon page 4 of this issue of Art to Zoo.

7.

BibliographyBorja, Corinne and Robert. Making Collages.

Chicago: Albert Whitman, 1972.Brigadier, Anne. Collage: A Complete Guide

for Artists. New York: Watson-Guptill,1970.

D'Amico, Victor. Assemblage. New York:New York Graphics, 1972.

Janis, Harriet; and Blesh, Rudi. Collage: Per­sonalities, Concepts, Techniques. Philadel­phia: Chilton, 1967.

Meilach, Dona; and Ten Hoor, Elvie. Col­lage and Assemblage: Trends and Tech­niques. New York: Crown, 1973.

"Picasso and the Art of Collage," Art andMal! 9:5 (March 1979).

2. "Reservoir," Robert Rauschenberg,1961. National Museum of American Art.Robert Rauschenberg is an artist who hasexperimented over the years with a num­ber of different ways of incorporatingfound objects into his work. For example,in the 1950s he coined the term, "com­bine painting," for compositions whichmixed painted imagery with real objectsin a way that bridged the gap betweenpainting and sculpture.

In this particular combine painting,Rauschenberg uses clocks, a rag, .wheels,and tin cans to evoke the notion of humanlife and human use. Different people reactto this painting in different ways. Somepeople take it as a serious comment onmodern life, while others think that Raus­chenberg is simply having fun playing

.with line, color, texture, and shape. Whatdo you think? What does "Reservoir" sayto you?3. "Throne of the Third Heaven of theNations' Millennium General Assembly,"James Hampton, 1964. National Museumof American Art.From light bulbs, jelly glasses, old furni­ture, and a variety of other things mostpeople would consider "junk," JamesHampton created the glittering work ofreligious art shown here. It took him four­teen years. After collecting and reassem­bling the objects, he covered each piecewith gold and silver foil. God, he be­lieved, was guiding him as he worked, andhe considered the composition still unfin­ished when he died in 1964. Now onpermanent exhibit in the National Mu­seum of American Art, the "Throne ofthe Third Heaven" is a very good exampleof how one man's junk plus anotherman's genius can result in a work of art.

4. "Derby Racer," Larry Fuente, 1974.(As exhibited at the National Museum ofAmerican Art, while on loan from theartist.)Here's a car to make you stop-and look-and look again! Do you see buttons,spark plugs, glass doorknobs, feathers?What else do you see? In this work,Larry Fuente, a young artist from Men­docino, California, is making a statementabout the importance of the automobilein our society.

5. "Fantail," Joseph Chamberlin, 1961.National Museum of American Art.Joseph Chamberlin emerged as an impor­tant artist in the late 1950s and early1960s with assemblages made from thediscarded metal of wrecked automobilesand other machines. "Fantail," with itssuggestion of force and energy, is madefrom welded automobile metal and an oldwashing machine. Can you find the auto­mobile "fantail" for which the piece isnamed?

6. ''Medici Princess," Joseph Cornell,1947-57. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculp­ture Garden.The idea of an assemblage enclosed ina box was first conceived in the 1930s byan artist named Joseph Cornell. Duringhis lifetime, Cornell made hundreds ofboxes precisely arranged to create a poeticeffect. Each one of these works is a curi­ous blend of sculpture, painting, and col­lage. "Medici Princess," the box shownhere, is a part of a series entitled "MediciSlot Machine," which Cornell started inthe 1940s. The work features a reproduc-

2.

3.

5.

1. "Isis," Mark di Suvero, 1978. Hirsh­horn Museum and Sculpture Garden.Part of a ship's bow is the main elementof this thirty-five ton, white and purplesculpture, which stands two stories high inthe courtyard of the Hirshhorn Museumand Sculpture Garden. The sculpturetakes its name from an organizationknown as ISIs-the Institute of Scrap Ironand Steel-which commissioned the workand gave it to the Smithsonian in 1978.

"Bottle and Glass," 1912. Charcoal andnewspaper mixed media; early collage byPablo Picasso. Courtesy the Morton G.Neuman Family Collection and the Na­tional Gallery of Art

Soon Picasso also began making three­dimensional collages, called assemblages.One example of a Picasso assemblage (ormore precisely a bronze sculpture castfrom an assemblage), is shown here. Canyou find cake pans, a stove plate, and abroken-down stroller in this work? Whatelse do you see?

"Woman with Baby Carriage" by PabloPicasso, 1950. Hirshhorn Museum andSculpture Garden

Both collage and assemblage, as theyare practiced today, involve taking ready­made objects out of their original contextand giving them a brand new context andaesthetic meaning. Both of these art formsmean bringing into the realm of art allkinds of objects and images that weremade by people other than the artist fordifferent purposes than the artist's use. Byincorporating suchthings into his work,the artist calls attention to their form andsurface.

Through collage and assemblage, tiredold junk is given a new lease on life andso are we, for we are enabled to see every­day things afresh.

(This photoessay* features works of col­lage and assemblage recently seen in theSmithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum andSculpture Garden and National Museumof American Art.)

Teacher's Note. This photoessay-de­signed as a poster for bulletin board dis­play-is meant to be used in conjunctionwith student activities on the Pull-OutPage. For a bibliography on collage andassemblage as well as information on anew Smithsonian traveling exhibition oncollage, see page 4 of this issue ofArt to Zoo.

Scraps of newspaper, discarded automo­bile parts, bottle caps, matchbook covers,hamburger wrappers-you name it! Manymodern artists are taking the debris of ourindustrial society and turning it into worksof art.

Pablo Picasso started this trend of mak·ing art from "found objects" back in1912, when he invented the collage. Col­lage is always two-dimensional and usu­ally involves the use of paper. Picasso andanother artist named Georges Braque be­gan incorporating items like magazineadvertisements, newspaper articles, andpreprinted patterns into their paintings inan effort to bring the things of their artcloser to the things of everyday life. Theidea quickly caught on among otherartists.

continued from page 2

Sm.ithsoni::m Institution that and circulatesinstitutiOJ1S in the United States and abroad.

Snlithsonian! Join us next summersC'v'cnllv·live miies outside of Wash­

!VI (j,'nAi/H,> to reachwill focus on life in nineteentlHentury America the

Smithsonian collections and will learn how toX"'" ••••.•• paintings, and related resources such as historic

Traveling Exh tJIU\.J1

0ther SITES Materials for

Colla)?es; ~)'elflctions frOin l1irshfwrn MIJ'seumS0011. The schedule for this show is

Gainesville, FloridaFe Community

Mm'ch 7':April1 Antonio,t,nUU"l! Koogler McNay Art Institllte)

May 2··June 6, 1981 Alaska(Anc:l:lorllge Historical and Fine Arts Ml,ISellltI1

organized by the Smithsonian Institution Tnl.Vcllin,g, reflects a variety of and The

t.hrou&;h the mid-1970s covered. Howard guest curator,Pel'1l18it1eiilt collection of the Hirshhom Museum and Scull'-

therefi)re, noApplilcants will be

Washhlgto'I1, D.C. 20560

lV11.,!'£:I,fIlIS to Teach will surveycornrnumty resources as tools for tea;~hir)g

You don't have to live 111Washington tofor two courses for teachers

inf,orn1atiion, write:

National SeminarsOfIice of and Sc,;onduJrv Education

Piece of Evidence No.6Portrait Photograph

Besides being able to see what Annie Steellooked like, you may also find some clues toher character and personality in this photo­graph. But it's important to remember, in look­ing at any portrait (whether photographed orpainted), not to read too much into what youare seeing. People always got more dressed upthan usual to have formal portraits such as thisone made; and the person who did the portraitgenerally followed certain styles, or conven­tions, which may wrongly affect our ideasabout the subject. For example, you can't as­sume that Annie Steel was a solemn personjust because she isn't smiling here. In thosedays, people almost never smiled when havingtheir pictures taken; serious photographs werethe convention of the day.

What We Know ­and Can Guess ­about Annie SteelAs far as we know, Annie Steel lived her en­tire life in the countryside near Halifax in thecounty of York, England. She was born in1869, one of three daughters of Henry Cross­land Whitehead, a wheelwright by trade.

We know nothing for sure about her life upuntil the time she married Joseph Steel, exceptthat she was a "spinster" (never before mar­ried). We can assume she lived with her par­ents most of the time prior to her marriagebecause living in the family home and helpingwith the daily chores was the custom for un­married women of that time. We think herfamily was quite poor, but beyond that wereally know nothing about her parents or hersisters. We do not even know her mother'sname.

As a British subject, Annie Steel belongedto the Church of England and probably at­tended church services regularly in her localparish. She most likely had some, but notmuch, formal schooling. As you can see fromher letter, she barely knew how to read andwrite. In regard to her apearance, we knowshe was a small woman with strikingly lovelyred hair.

Annie and Joseph Steel had three childrenduring the eleven years of a marriage thatseems to have been very happy. One of thesechildren, Annie (named for her mother), isstill alive today. Another daughter, Alice, diedseveral years ago and was the grandmother ofour friend, David Estabrook, who works hereat the Smithsonian Institution in Washington,D.C. When David's grandmother died, AnnieSteel's dress, marriage certificate, letters, deathannouncement, and photograph were in herpossession. Later these things were passedalong to David.

The dress was the thing that first capturedDavid's interest. Some family members toldhim it· was Annie Steel's wedding dress, whichshe made herself-but this cannot be provenone way or the other. Whether it really is herwedding dress we probably will never knowfor sure; but one thing we do know for sure issomething you may be able to see for yourself.Look at the dress, and then look at Annie'sphotograph. That's right, this dress and theone she is wearing in the photograph are ex­actly one and the same!

And that's the story of Annie Steel . . . asfar as we know itl Thank you for being a gooddetective.

Make your own collageBased on materials by Marjorie Share and Terry Braunstein*

When bits of paper, cloth, or other material are pasted to a surface by anartist, the result is a collage, an art form that is truly more than the sum of itsparts. Look carefully at the collages by Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg,and Tom Wesselman, pictured in the photoessay on pages 2 and 3 of this issueof Art to Zoo, and notice all the different materials-from newspaper clip­pings to old tin cans-used in these works.

Modern collage artists choose their materials just as carefully as painterschoose their paints, and the items they select are often from everyday life.Things like dried leaves, magazine photographs, and fabrics from worn-outclothing take on completely different meanings as the shapes, colors, ideas,textures, and words of these materials are worked like paint or clay to makeexciting new images.

Making Your Own Collage

Making your own collage is a lot easier than you might think. No formaltraining in painting or drawing is needed, only a willingness to experimentand let your imagination play.

Also, you don't have to spend a lot of money. Besides the collage materialsthemselves (which you can most likely get free), you'll need only a stiff pieceof cardboard or other backing, plus the right kind of paste or glue. (See thesection entitled "Collage Tips: Materials & Methods" at the end of thisarticle for more about collage materials and where to find them.)

In choosing a subject, or theme, for your collage, the possibilities are prac­tically endless, as you will soon see. Here are just a few ideas to get youstarted:

Self~Portrait Collage

What better subject for your first collage than the one you know best, thatfascinating person of infinite variety: YOU?

The first step in making a self-portrait collage is to bring together in oneplace a group of materials that relate to you and your life-letters fromfriends, report cards, sheet music, news clippings, hair ribbons, trading cards,movie ticket stubs, or whatever else you can think of that especially tellsabout you.

i!

/

Now make a background for your collage by completely covering a pieceof cardboard with something important you identify with yourself: an oldT-shirt, for example, or glued-together playbills from your favorite plays.Next, standing in front of a mirror (so that you can see yourself), spread outthe collage materials before you on a table or other flat surface. Then, withoutmaking any kind of a drawing to follow, tear or cut the materials and arrangethem in the shape of yourself. You may decide to copy just your face, yourhead and shoulders, or your entire figure. As you work, allow the shapes tooverlap and the background to be part of the picture.

When you have finished, fasten down the items temporarily with thumb­tacks, and pin your collage on a bulletin board or the wall. Then stand backand take a good, long look at what you have done. What things, if any,should you do to improve your collage? For example, should you removesome of the pieces to make it less crowded and confusing . . . or should yourearrange some of the pieces to achieve a better balance?

After making these or any other changes you think necessary, glue thepieces down . . . and there you have it, a portrait of that fascinating personof infinite variety: YOU!

Color-Centered Collage

Pick a color, and on a sheet of white paper, make a list of absolutely every­thing that comes to mind when you think about the color. (The color red,for example, may remind you of fire, sunsets, lipstick, roses, tomato juice,nail polish, ink, blood, apples, meat, the Red Sea, anger, China, and cherries,among other things.) Cut out these words and save them so that later you canpaste them into your collage.- Now search through old magazines, sewing box scraps, posters, greetingcards, letters, and other such sources to find pictures and materials that relateto your color and your feelings about it. Tear out some of the images and cutout others. On a backing that is the color you have chosen, arrange the imagesand materials, along with all or some of the words you have cut out. As youwork, don't cover up the background completely, but let it be part of theover-all design. The whole idea is to express the "personality" of your coloras you see it, so do not hesitate to experiment and move things around untilyou have your collage exactly the way you want it.

Colored Tissue Paper Collage

Because of their transparent (see-through) quality, colored tissue papers canbe mixed to form new colors, which makes them a lot of fun to work with.Placing a sheet of yellow tissue paper over a sheet of red tissue paper, forexample, will give you orange . . . and green can be obtained by placingyellow over blue.

In your tissue paper collage, you may choose to represent either an abstractdesign or a scene or an object from real life. In any case, the background youchoose should always be white. (White posterboard is ideal.)

Tear different colored tissue papers into a variety of shapes and sizes. Placethese pieces on the posterboard in layers, allowing different colors to overlapto create new colors where desired. When you have your collage arrangedthe way you want it, glue the pieces down by brushing with Gel Medium(available in art supply stores) diluted with water. The Gel Medium willcause the colors to mix and bleed and will also serve as a gloss to give yourcollage a beautiful, shiny look when it is dry.

More Collage Ideas

There are many more possibilities to consider in deciding what kind of acollage you want to make. For example, you might want to try a messagecollage to express some mood, feeling, thought, or fact. Once you have de­cided on the message you want to express-which could have to do withpractically anything, from "love" to "air pollution"-your task is to collectand assemble images that will tell people that message without words.

Or, you might want to try a landscape collage (of an outdoor scene ... astill-life collage (of an arrangement of objects) ... or a portrait collage (ofan animal or a person). Another idea is to make a texture collage using anassortment of white textiles and paper, each with a different texture, pastedto a white background. Miniature collages (made on 3" x 5" notecards) andmixed-media collages, in which painting, printmaking, drawing, or some otherart form is combined with collage materials are also fun to do. A paper col­lage using only paper (of different colors and textures) is another possibility.

But don't stop here! There are lots of other collage ideas, which you maythink of on your own. Looking through art books and catalogs and visitingart museums and galleries should help to inspire you.

And now here are some practical tips on collage making for you to followonce you've been inspired.

food container labelsmapsblueprintsgreeting cardslacesand & pebblesgift tagsoutdated :filmbark

Popsicle stickscancelled stampswallpaperwrapping paperboxtopsyarngrassesfeatherstwigs

Collage Tips: Materials and Methods

Materials. Items suitable to use in a collage include anything and every­thing that can be glued to a surface. We've already mentioned a number ofsuch things, from newspaper clippings to worn-out clothing, but those areonly the beginning! Here is just a partial list of more items suitable for col­lagework:

puzzle piecesprice tagsdoiliespaper platespaper napkinsgold and aluminum

foilstringleaves

And now we come to the question of how to make the items you have chosenfor your collage stick to the cardboard backing. Wheat paste is a good gluefor practically all collage materials. This is a very common paste, which your·school probably already has. Just mix it according to package directions untilsmooth. Liquitex Gel Medium (available from art supply stores) can also beused as a general glue, although it is more expensive than wheat paste. GelMedium (and also the more generally available Elmer's Glue-all are espe­cially good for heavier objects and for tissue paper collage. In tissue papercollage, the Gel Medium (or the Elmer's Glue-all) should be diluted withwater until thin enough to be applied easily with a brush.

Methods. In making any collage, it is always important to have the itemsarranged exactly the way you want them before you start to glue. Standingback from your collage and seeing how it looks from a distance is an impor­tant step before gluing.

ER SA

When at last you are ready to glue, brush the paste on one or two of theitems at a time. Then use a weight-like a brick or a book-to hold eachitem firmly in place until the paste dries. Items made of paper should besmoothed and flattened with a damp sponge right after gluing and beforebeing weighted. A plastic bag placed between the weight and the item willkeep the item from getting dirty or scratched. Using a sponge and a weight isnot necessary, however, in making a tissue paper collage. Brushing with GelMedium or Elmer's Glue-all thinned with water and smoothing the pieces outwith your finger are all you need to do when working with tissue paper.

And now here's some final advice for becoming a successful collage artist:Don't be afraid to experiment. Study what other artists have done. And don'tbecome discouraged if your first attempts are not as good as you'd hoped.Remember that with collage as with other art forms, success comes throughpractice. Also many good books have been written on the subject of collage,and some of these are listed in the bibliography on page 4 of this issue ofArt to Zoo. Reading through these books will give you more ideas aboutmaterials and methods.

*Marjorie Share, Educational Coordinator for the Smithsonian Institution TravelingExhibition Service (SITES), and Terry Braunstein, collage artist and freelance writer, havejust finished producing a "collage kit" for young adults, which includes all of the activitiessuggested in this article-and more! For information on how to order this kit, see page 4of this issue of Art to Zoo.

Terence Burns is a Washington, D.C.,artist who has been making collagesand assemblages from found objectsfor nearly thirty years, ever since hewas a teenager. Here he is with an ex­ample of his work, a collage entitled"Teresa," which he made in 1974while living in Providence, RhodeIsland.

Maybe you would like to followTerence Burns's lead and make yourown collage from items you have foundout-of-doors in your neighborhood.Look on the streets and sidewalks, inparking lots-wherever people throwthings away. You'll be amazed at whatyou can pick up. Restrict yourself to acertain area (say one or two cityblocks) and a certain time period (say amorning or an afternoon) for findingthe objects. Then follow the instruc­tions in the article, "Make Your OwnCollage," in this edition oj the Pull-OutPage, to create an original work oj artfrom everyday things most peoplewould consider "junk."

NOTE: The title of this work is takenfrom one of the pieces it contains. Canyou find that piece in this photograph?