We recently connected with Melanie Curry and have shared our conversation below.

Melanie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I have experience in several mediums including watercolor, pastels, and metal clay, but when the Covid lockdowns became a reality I was eager to find something new to work with. I saw several posts by artists using paper to ‘paint’ a collage, creating realistic pieces with paper that intrigued me. I had to do all of my research online (lockdown!) however, I gleaned enough information to begin getting my fingers covered in glue just like when I was five!
What I discovered was that I was using some of the skills and tools from my graphic art days that had been stored in the back pocket of my memories and long forgotten: Xacto knives, stencils, brayers, and glue were about to come out of hiding and once again become my good friends! The skills of cut and paste that were an everyday occurrence in my pre-computer layout days were a little rusty but like intuitively choosing the correct brush, it all returned to the muscle memory in my hands. The only obstacle was knowing when to walk away from the myriad hand-made paper websites that were becoming an unexpected, but delightful, drain on my days and wallet!

Melanie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am, for the most part, a self-taught artist. Sometimes a professional and
sometimes a hobbyist, art mediums of every type have intrigued me since I was a young girl.

After earning a degree as a technical illustrator, I changed directions slightly and I built a successful business as a graphic designer. An unexpected diagnosis of Leukemia in 1994 and a subsequent Bone Marrow Transplant pulled the rug out from under my career. During the 5 years it took to fully recover and in all the time since I have tried my hand at myriad art mediums. Many pieces have found their way into galleries, some have won awards at art shows, while many others were either commissions or simply expressive play for the sake of creating art. I’ve stayed creatively occupied over the years with watercolor, colored pencils, acrylics, metal clay jewelry, fountain pens, and now paper collage.

I discovered collage during the first (and hopefully, last) COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Desperate for new, creative stimulation, I started following other paper collage artists online. I was intrigued by the idea and dove in with great enthusiasm but limited skill in the craft. I credit my background in technical illustration and graphic design for having the ingrained ability and patience to be able to work successfully with the tools and skills required.

I like to think of working with paper and glue as performing magic. It both fascinates and delights me to take found paper and the like and then mix them with seemingly disconnected hand-painted/stenciled papers to create the shapes and tonal qualities for unique works of art. When creating a new paper collage painting, I try to reach a degree of realism with a splash of fanciful color and pattern that invites the eye to linger. An added bonus in my journey – my subjects often speak to and encourage me while I’m working!

I’ve done many commissions of pets, some that have passed over the rainbow bridge, but they all seem to have something to say about what should be in their collage. I’ll be working along and suddenly I’ll sense seemingly disconnected words or phrases. Or it might be that the requested color of a ball is different from the photo example I’m working from. I’ve learned to listen and invariably, the owner will confirm the pet’s request!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I struggled to survive the leukemia diagnosis, treatment, and long, healing journey and became aware rather quickly that I could never go back to the high-pressure job of being creative on-demand which was always a given when I was working with clients in the graphics world. What I discovered was that creating art just for me and an occasional client was the most healing activity I could do for myself.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

That precision and/or perfection aren’t everything they’re cracked up to be!
I was a technical illustrator before computers were mainstream and where my compass, pens, knives, and ruler were my tools for success. In the beginning, I would painstakingly ink exploded views of machine parts for technical manuals. When I moved on to graphics and the literal cut-and-paste techniques, I created pages and pages of magazine layout spreads or promotional materials using crop marks and waxed galleys of text and graphics that were laid with such precision so that when the proof was inspected you wouldn’t see a single misaligned paragraph. A correction at the printer was a costly mistake that I only made once!
I’ve discovered the absolute pleasure in a torn edge or the excitement of discovering an unexpected blob of bright, acrylic paint that somehow added to a piece. Imperfections that never would have gotten past my critical eye 30 years ago are now effects that I strive to achieve!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paperartwarrior.com
• Other: [email protected]