Nashville Collage Collective

The Nashville Collage Collective was formed in the Summer of 2010 and now celebrates a membership of 40+ local collagists. We invite artists in the Nashville area to join the collective:  explore materials and ideas; contribute to online posts and gallery exhibits; and share the art of collage during monthly gatherings at Nashville’s Turnip Green Creative Reuse and local art studios.   You can follow us on fb at:  https://www.facebook.com/NashvilleCollageCollective

Centennial Art Center’s inaugural exhibit of the year Hindsight is 2020 is on display from February 7-May 30.  Artists from the Nashville Collage Collective have created thought-provokingwork which revolves around the theme of Hindsight, exploring clarity of the past and uncertainty about the future as 2020 ushers in a new decade. This exhibit includes mixed-media work by 26 artists using a stunning range of materials, methods and expression. 

 

The individual narratives that are woven through artwork of Hindsight is 2020 vary as much in materials as in style. In What We Didn’t Learn from Genetics, Lisa Haddad juxtaposes numbers and symbols on paper with almost monochromatic abstract painting in her exploration. The Cape by Arlene Wilson combines fabrics and texture with soft fabrics and texture with soft colors to create an impressionistic seascape.

“What We Didn’t Learn From Genetics” by Lisa Haddad

Artists are transforming old, recycled or reused objects into intriguing pieces of art. In works like Self Siting, Anne Zuberer turns contemplation inward using paper, wood, metal and resin along with collage to create an intriguing sculpture.

“Self Siting” by Anne Zuberer

While Lindsy Davis creates a compelling yet desolate image with canvas, gesso, charcoal and thread in Power Through.  To complete this quick survey of the exhibit is Doris Wasserman’s surrealistic mixed-media art piece with photographic collage, paint and found objects, which captures a youth contemplating The World and expresses hope our the future.

“The World” by Doris Wasserman

Exhibit at Turnip Green Creative Reuse – June 1st-July 26th, 2019   “…the magpie nature of collage-making makes this month’s exhibition a perfect fit for the space and its mission of turning trash into art. “What Goes Around… the Fifth Annual Exhibit of the Nashville Collage Collective” is a big title for a big show of works by more than 30 mixed-media artists. This exhibition includes everything from works on paper to 3D sculpture, with many of their found components sourced on site at Turnip Green’s digs at 407 Houston St. I’m always a mark for the just-right juxtapositions and chromatic collisions that can be summoned by collage. The random-seeming aesthetics that define the form make for beautiful accidents — requiring artists to enthusiastically embrace creative risk-taking.” – Joe Nolan, The Nashville Scene

 

World Collage Day, May 11, 2019  – On May 11th, Nashville’s collective group of experimental collagists is celebrating its 8-year partnership with Turnip Green Creative Reuse by gathering in their unique donate-what-you-wish shop and art-making in their Open Studio. The Nashville Collage Collective meets every 1-2 months to share and add to their accrued stash of materials, work on individual and collaborative pieces and investigate new techniques. Their group exhibit opens with a lively reception June 1st in the Green Gallery of TGCR as part of the Arts & Music at Wedgewood-Houston and features 2-D and 3-D works that incorporate an array of repurposed stuff… some of which was found in the shelves and bins of the shop (to date, Turnip Green has kept 165 tons out of the landfill!)  On World Collage Day we’ll meet from 2-6, tour the new location, hear a talk on waste reduction, view the gallery exhibit, then sit down to work …and as always, any local or visiting artists are welcome to join us!

Feb. 2019 gathering – we’ve been meeting every month or so in the studio of Lisa Haddad but plan to celebrate World Collage Day at the new Turnip Green Creative Reuse in the Wedgewood-Houston neighborhood.

April 14th, 2018 in honor of World Art Day Zeitgeist Gallery invited us to work in their space and share what we do with the public:

Making painted papers and repurposing artwork

       

The Four Corners Retrospective & Auction:                                                                             43 artworks by collaborative group The Four Corners, founding members of the Nashville Collage Collective, are on exhibit till Oct. 10th, at The Green Gallery of Nashville’s vibrant Turnip Green Creative Reuse Center.  To view these mixed media pieces, each a product of four artists – robert bruce scott, Eva Sochorova, Randy Purcell and Lisa Haddad – go to:  https://www.facebook.com/TurnipGreenCreativeReuse/?fref=mentions&pnref=story

Read about The Four Corners, a collaborative group of the Nashville Collage Collective, in this month’s feature in Nashville Arts Magazine:  http://nashvillearts.com/2017/08/four-corners-nashville-collage-collective/

Opening Sept. 9th, 2017 – a Monthlong Silent Auction of Works by The Four Corners with art spanning the past 7 yrs. of their collaboration.  At the Green Gallery, Nashville from 7-10pm,in conjunction with the East Side Art Stumble.  Look for a featured article onThe Four Corners in the August issue of Nashville Arts Magazine.

The Four Corners, founding members of The Nashville Collage Collective – Lisa Haddad, Randy L. Purcell, Eva Sochorova and robert bruce scott – exchange materials and works-in-progress to explore a range of collage techniques.   This hands-on collaboration, all four artists working on the same pieces, has defined our process ever since.

progression of “House of the Rising Moon” showing stages of work by Eva Sochorova, Lisa Haddad, Randy L Purcell and robert bruce scott

“Inside Story” – Lisa Haddad              collage on library book cover using materials found at NCC gathering, Turnip Green Creative Reuse

Opening July 8th, 2017 – “Three’s a Crowd” – The 3rd Annual Group Exhibit of The Nashville Collage Collective 7-10pm, The Green Gallery, Nashville, in conjunction with the East Side Art Stumble

Kayla Brooke Burnett               “Craigslist Missed Connections”             18″x18″

Opening May 19th, 2016 – “Return of the Nashville Collage Collective” – The 2nd Annual Exhibition of the Nashville Collage Collective                                                                                   6-9 at the Green Gallery of the Turnip Green Creative Reuse, Nashville

“A Man Ain’t Nothin’ But  A Man” by Gwil Owen III 30″x18″

 

Opening May 21st, 2015 – “Sow We Grow” – The 1st Annual Exhibition of the Nashville Collage Collective

The Nashville Collage Collective celebrates its first year of community-wide involvement with an array of works by 27 local artists. The exhibit opens at the Green Gallery of the Turnip Green Creative Reuse (353 4th Ave So, Nashville) on Thurs. May 21st, from 6-9 pm and will display the wide experimental range and playful nature of collagists.  The mixed media pieces, both 2-D and 3-D, include a great diversity of materials, including treasures found in the marvelous bins and shelves of the donation center.

“Applying The Shoehorn” by Nathan Spoon

  

 Gatherings at Turnip Green Creative Reuse on 4th Ave. So. in downtown Nashville, where we set up in the gallery to work and share materials every second Saturday of the month.

 

 

Collaborations by robert bruce scott, Eva Sochorova, Randy L Purcell and Lisa Haddad – “The Four Corners”

(More Collaborations…)

Our House – In our more recent, larger-scale collaborations the theme “house” emerged.  The four of us, having come from divergent backgrounds and communities have unique ideas about house or home, but we’ve found a way to merge and blend them into what we hope are cohesive images.

A collaboration for our series, Our House, 24X25

Another collaboration for the series, Our House 30X41

As with all our collaborations collages are passed back and forth until at least one artist calls them “done” – these in particular include torn elements from older pieces.

 

Summer Surreals 2010 – early collaborations by Randy L. Purcell, Robert Bruce Scott and Lisa Haddad

First Nashville Collage Party – On Sunday Nov. 14 we hosted a community studio day open to area artists and friends.

by Karen “Karensky” Miller

by Eva Sochorova

by John Hadley

to be continued…