We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alex Wetmore a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alex , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Reflecting on my art journey, I realize that creativity has always been an integral part of who I am—it’s in my DNA. From my earliest memories, I’ve been drawn to creating art. This innate passion led me to a career in advertising, where I began as a junior art director. In that role, I frequently employed a technique known as “scrap art,” tearing and scanning magazine swatches to develop new print ad concepts. This experience planted the seeds for my future in collage art. ​

Over ten years ago, I started experimenting with collages, using torn magazine pieces as my palette—a method I describe as “painting with magazines.” This approach allowed me to blend my advertising background with my artistic inclinations, transforming a professional skill into a personal passion. The unpredictability of each collage’s outcome became a source of inspiration for me.

Looking back, it’s clear that my early experiences in advertising and my lifelong love for creating art converged to lead me toward a professional artistic path. The journey has been one of continuous discovery, with each piece offering new surprises and opportunities to connect with others through my work.

Alex , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Alex Wetmore, the artist behind acwcollages.com. I create original, hand-torn paper collages using nothing more than my hands, Mod Podge, and recycled magazines. My process is a tactile one—what I call “painting with magazines”—where I use torn swatches of color and texture as my palette. The result is artwork that’s vibrant, and layered, often blending abstraction and realism in unexpected ways.

I come from a creative background as both my parents worked in creative fields. My mother was an interior designer and my father worked at various advertising agencies in NYC. I began my career as a junior art director at an ad agency, where part of my job involved building “scrap art” to mock up print ads—tearing, scanning, and assembling magazine pieces into visual concepts. While I didn’t realize it at the time, those early years were quietly shaping the aesthetic and techniques I use today. I started creating collages in 2013, over time it grew into something more than a personal practice—it became a second career.

What I offer is original artwork, limited-edition prints, and commissioned pieces often inspired by the natural world, memory, and storytelling. Every collage is entirely analog—no digital editing or printing—which gives it a raw, intimate quality. And because I use recycled magazines, each piece is rooted in sustainability and reinvention. There’s a certain alchemy in transforming mass-produced media into something one-of-a-kind.

What I’m most proud of is staying true to a hands-on process in a digital world—and that people respond to it. I want potential collectors, and followers to know that every piece I make is created with intention, emotion, and curiosity. acwcollages.com is about capturing small moments of beauty and complexity through simple materials.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In my view, supporting a thriving creative ecosystem starts with recognizing the value that artists and
creatives bring—not just through what we make, but in how we help people see, feel, and connect in new ways. Society can support that by investing in access, visibility, and sustainability for artists at all stages.

That means funding public art programs, ensuring affordable studio spaces, and including artists in conversations about community and culture. This is especially important during a time when the current administration is dismantling and defunding important art organizations and programs. Education plays a big role too. Encouraging creative thinking from an early age and teaching young people that art isn’t just a hobby—it can be a valid, vital career path—can shift the narrative.

Finally, one of the most powerful forms of support is simply engagement. Share the work you love. Talk about it. Show up to local exhibits. Buy directly from artists when you can. These small, intentional acts add up!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding part of being an artist is the connection—seeing how something I made with my hands, from torn scraps of paper, can spark emotion in someone else. There’s something really special about creating a piece that resonates with a person in a way I couldn’t have predicted. That moment when someone says, “This reminds me of…” or “This feels like home”—that’s everything!

I also love the process itself. It’s slow, tactile, and unpredictable, which keeps it exciting. There’s a kind of meditative quality in creating original artwork like this—it pulls me out of the noise and into this space of focus and flow.

And honestly, just being able to share my work that’s rooted in curiosity—and have people respond to it—that’s incredibly fulfilling. It reminds me why I do this in the first place.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.acwcollages.com/
• Instagram: @alexwetmoreart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwetmore/

Image Credits

Alex Wetmore took all these photos