Pieced together: The art of collage on display at Medium Art Gallery in Ukiah

By Chris Pugh, for the Ukiah Daily Journal

A new exhibit featuring collage art opened at Medium Art Gallery in Ukiah last week during the February First Friday Art Walk. Titled Cut & Paste, the exhibition features over 60 pieces from a style of art that doesn’t usually take center stage.

Collage is an art form made up of overlapping pieces of material, such as photographs, fabric, colored and textured paper, and other types of mixed media. The process focuses on cutting and tearing elements from disparate pieces to create a new form, tell a new story, or communicate a new message before arranging them and pasting them onto the chosen surface.

Unlike other art forms that may rely on proficient technical skills which may require more time to master, such as painting and sculpture, the artistic expertise of collage lies in choosing, arranging, and affixing. The term “collage” comes from the French term coller, meaning “to glue.”

“This show is my favorite one that we have curated yet,” says Lillian Rubie, the board president of the Deep Valley Arts Collective, the nonprofit that operates the gallery.

“There is something wonderfully complex and simple about collage. It’s a simple medium but can be as detailed and intricate as you like.” says Rubie, adding, “The variety of styles and subject matter is wonderful. There is such cohesion between all the work presented.”

The exhibit comprises mostly local artists to the Mendocino County area. It includes a handful of pieces by artists from Grass Valley, Los Angeles, and as far away as Dallas, Texas.

The gallery chose collage as a theme because it’s a style of art that the board members all personally enjoy, and they wanted to shake things up a bit. Part of the goal behind the gallery is to showcase artwork that is not traditionally seen in the area.

Rubie says that “while we appreciate the plentiful landscapes and animals that our beautiful surroundings often inspire, we also appreciate edgy, gritty and explorative works such as those in this show.”

A surprise the gallery faced was the number of sculptures they received which forced them to find creative solutions during installation of the exhibition. There are two guitars and a skateboard hanging from the ceiling. There’s an old one-hand rusty saw screwed to the wall, and there’s even an old French door — all collaged and transformed into pieces of art.

During February’s First Friday Art Walk, the gallery partnered with the Pear Tree Center to offer a fun Valentine’s Day card-making station. “The Pear Tree Center generously offered to donate toward the supplies to help make a fun art event for the community,” said Rubie. A table was set up in the middle of the gallery filled with supplies for visitors to make cards with. There were two kits available, says Rubie. One kit was a “Jar of Hearts,” which came with stickers and other supplies for younger kids to use. The other kit was a Tin Box filled with supplies to make an accordion-style card that was more suited to those with a little more patience and skill.

“Some wonderful Valentines were created.” said Rubie. “And the best part was that families who came to the opening all seemed to enjoy themselves.” The kits were a good distraction for the parents who brought kids to the opening, she said. Parents were free to walk around to view the show while their kids made cards. Rubie says that there are still kits available at the door and to come to get them this weekend in time for Valentine’s Day.

For this exhibition, the gallery has also created space for a community art project in the form of a shared collaging experience. “Part of our mission is to make a space for the community to create art, not just view it,” says Rubie, adding, “We knew we were incredibly inspired by this show and felt that others would feel the same way.”

A large canvas was covered with local maps and tissue paper and placed in one corner of the room. Next to it is a table filled with supplies: old magazines, books, scissors, glue, stickers with some of the items being contributed by artists featured in the collage exhibition.

Rubie says, “It was fun seeing people have to tear themselves away after spending time carefully cutting and gluing their additions. I hope they went home and continued creating.”

The community collage will be available for the duration of the show.

The ongoing pandemic has played a significant role in how the gallery hosts community events. Still, Rubie says they will continue to create more opportunities for people to view and make art, saying, “This is only the beginning of a much larger vision.”

The exhibit will run through Sunday, March 20, and per Mendocino County’s ordinance, all visitors to the gallery are asked to wear masks. Medium Art Gallery is located inside the Pear Tree Center at 522 E. Perkins St. in the former Radio Shack store. The gallery is open Fridays from noon to 8 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, call 707-234-8667 or visit www.deepvalleyarts.org.