American Chronicle on New Creative Collage Techniques

American Chronicle | Leland takes another giant leap for ´Artkind´

Thursday, December 8, 7 p.m. at Books & Co.

Art-to-Art Palette features my book signing! I'm going to demo an Egyptian theme collage and I hope to see you there. Thanks to AAP publisher Ben Rayman for this article.

Virginia Lee Williams

A talented artist, loyal friend, and vibrant woman, Virginia died yesterday at 86 following a stroke. Her fellow artists,friends and students will remember her for her genuine interest in other people and her delightful sense of humor. She was a dear friend to many artists and beloved by all. Virginia was an amazing woman and will be sorely missed.

Here is a link to the article in the newspaper:
http://www.legacy.com/dayton/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=144753497

Virginia was a self-taught artist. I first knew of her as a sumi-e painter, but typical of Virginia, she didn't just paint small black-ink images on paper. She painted colorful Oriental designs on large screens, among other things. Our paths crossed occasionally in the 1970s and 1980s in watercolor workshops. I'm not sure of the year, but Virginia went to England with several artist friends and fell in love with Cornwall. There she met artist Roy Ray, who was doing experimental work by layering torn papers, gessoing the surface, and painting with fluid acrylics. She took workshops with Ray and experimented in her own studio, developing a distinctive style of abstract collage painting.

In 1998 I was working on my book, The Creative Artist,and couldn't find abstract collage art to illustrate the chapters on design and abstraction. I'd seen a few of Virginia's pieces, so I called and asked to see her work. I was so taken with it that I used several in the book. After it was published, I spoke to the Tri Art Club one morning and Virginia suggested we collaborate on a collage book. I could hardly believe what I heard--I'd been thinking about that myself and had planned to approach her after my creativity book was launched. We worked for more than two years on
Creative Collage Techniques. Our book has been a bestseller in art instruction, continuing in print for more than 16 years.

I can't begin to describe how much fun we had learning and playing with collage as we developed the book. She encouraged me to join the Society of Layerists and Multi Media (SLMM), which greatly expanded my understanding of the spiritual nature of the medium. Over the next few years we traveled to SLMM gatherings in San Antonio, Texas; Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos, New Mexico; and to various shows in Ohio. Virginia was also a member of the National Collage Society, the Tri Arts Club of Dayton, and the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors. She also taught workshops throughout the United States.

Virginia closed her art studio several years ago. Her paintings were quite large and the physical effort of moving them and doing the work became difficult. She still had a lot of energy, however, and when she and her husband, Ken, moved into a condo, Virginia served on the condo association board and continued to make new friends there.

Wherever she is now, I know she has already made many new friends and has been warmly greeted by all who knew her in this life.

Fresh start, thank goodness

I've been out of circulation for about a month, nothing life threatening. Insanity a possibility, though, coming to terms with the frustration of working on a frustratingly slow 8-year-old computer, deciding on what to buy, setting it up and installing programs. The worst is over, and not all that bad. I'm happy with the new HP (fassssssst)and Windows 7, so far. Seems like much easier access to everything, especially to my files stored on an external 1.5 terabyte hard drive, which my husband calls my Teradactyl. So, what's next?

Too much to tell in one blog. Big news is I'm doing a complete revision of
Creative Collage Techniques. I'm pleased to have my editor, Stefanie Laufersweiler, for our third book together for North Light. We met here in my studio yesterday (she lives near Cincinnati, I'm in Dayton)and went over my plans for the book. When we weren't exchanging photos of kids and grandkids or lamenting the woes of moving house (her) and setting up new computers (me).

But, about the book. Creative Collage Techniques has been in print for more than 16 years and is still a popular book, but I intend to update materials, techniques, and art. Virginia won't be able to work with me, but everything I do will remind me of the good times we had doing the first one. I'll be completely rewriting and adding a lot of new art--plus it will be expanded 16 pages over the original. I'm psyched!

First, though, I have to clean the house. The two of us don't clutter, but I still haven't figured out how to keep dust off the furniture. Had better get to work.