description

Remember those ads in the back of comic books for X-ray glasses. I was always fascinated by these; I never owned a pair (mostly because my parents told me that it would be a waste of money and they wouldn’t work), but I really wanted to see what it would be like to have the powers of Superman. What I think was intriguing wasn’t the ability to see through something, but rather the ability to experience a variety of visual layers simultaneously. What an amazing experience that would be.

So here’s a class for you if you have had similar thoughts or ambitions. In this class we will be exploring the art of layered imagery using transparencies as well as a combination of painting, collage, and assemblage. Using mostly paint and glue, I’ll show you some nifty little tricks involving those see through images that will create some ghostly effects. Students will create a strange layered world that combines the visible and the semi-invisible….way better than those X-ray glasses.

P.S. I wanted to title this class “I Can See Clearly Now” with the Johnny Nash song playing in the background. “Boom ba, ba boom ba boom ba”. After all you’ll see all obstacles in your way, AND I have no doubt that “it will be a bright, bright sunshiny day”.

Transparency Collage-ssemblage

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bio

class photo 1

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class photo 4

kit fee: $0        supply list

• Paint: (acrylic, preferably Golden brand)
• Titanium White
• Mars Black
• Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold
• Quinacridone Crimson
• Dioxazine Purple
• Pthalo Green (blue shade)
• Anything else your heart desires
  
  
• Brushes:
• Cheap 1 inch-ish
• Good quality detail brushes
  
  
• Glues:
• 1.E6000 or Liquid Nails Clear
• 2.DAP KWIK SEAL PLUS Premium Kitchen & Bath Adhesive Caulk
  
  
• Cutting tools:
• Scissors or an exacto knife
  
  
• Transparencies- You can print these on a inkjet printer or a laser printer (the laser will be less likely to run). You can also take your images to Kinkos and have transparent photocopies made. Bring a plethora of images…more is better. You’ll never know what will come in handy.
• Ephemera and non-transparent collage items. Could be anything from paper to fabric, to mesh to whatever.
• A variety of small doodads….and when I say variety, I mean variety. Anything that has an interesting shape, pattern or color would be good.
• A small box, frame, cigar box, or block of wood. This will be the base of your piece. I would say
• nothing over 5” x 7” ( but really that is up to you)
  
  
• Optional tools (don’t worry if you don’t have this stuff…I’ll have some):
• Soldering iron or a miniature butane torch.
• Heat gun

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Michael deMeng is an assemblage artist whose work is heavily influenced by Latin American art forms such as retablos, ex votos, and milagros. Born in Southern California, he now works and resides in Missoula "the cultural Mecca of Montana". He exhibits and teaches throughout the world, promoting the alchemy of transforming trash to treasure.

Artist Statement: My work is about transformations. It is about the transformation of the common into the sacred. Discarded materials find new and unexpected uses in my work; they are reassembled and conjoined with unlikely components, a form of rebirth from the ashes into new life and new meaning. These assemblages are metaphors for the evolutions and revolutions of existence: from life to death to rebirth, from new to old to renewed, from construction to destruction to reconstruction. These forms are examinations of the world in perpetual flux, where meaning and function are ever changing.