We were lucky to catch up with Kellette Elliott recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kellette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I have ever worked on was my Vulnerability Series using analog collage. For the last six years, I have dealt with chronic pain in my back. I have undergone numerous surgeries trying to figure out the cause with little success. But collage has been a way for me to escape the pain and frustration. I love to sit at my round table, xacto knife in hand, and cut out vintage images that represent how I am feeling at the moment. I seek out images of the backs of women, then depending on how I am feeling that day- birds, wings, flowers, or many other imagery can be connected with the image of the back.

Creating collages is also a way to communicate to the viewer what I am going through. Many people that follow my work know this is a daily battle for me, so they can see my collages and know if it’s a tough or a low pain day due to my work. It’s a form communication without having to say it in words.

As an art educator, I also find it important and valuable to make work personal. Most times, it brings out the best in an artist. You are invested, you are passionate, and people can relate to it. I have had people from around the world connect with my work because of their own chronic pain or illness.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a lifelong, passionate artist that earned a BFA in Drawing and Design, a MS in Secondary Art Education, and has worked professionally in photography, graphic design, animation and most recently collage. In high school I painted murals and did many art projects around the school and community. In college I was President of the Student Art League and organized projects from art shows to creating art for those serving in war. During college, I had the opportunity to intern in the animation department at Walt Disney World which was a dream come true for me. My last year of college, I got a job as a Production Assistant for a company called Decipher, Inc. which made Lord of the Rings, Matrix, Star Wars trading card games. I truly loved those jobs, but it’s when I moved to Los Angeles and worked in animation creating Barbie commercials that I learned maybe corporate, computer art wasn’t for me. Once my freelancing gig was over after 5 commercials, I applied for a job managing an art studio in Northridge, CA. I was responsible for teaching ages 3-99 how to draw, paint, cartoon and I loved it! I felt a sense of purpose and felt so rewarded for that job on a daily basis. That’s when I decided to return to school and earn my Masters in Education.

I have been teaching secondary art education for 17 years now. At about year 7, my students asked me to teach them collage. That was the ONE medium I was not comfortable with. I liked clean composition, minimalistic design. But I never like to say no to when my kids ask me to teach them something new. So I read books, watched videos and practiced collage and taught them. I then moved to Oregon and taught ceramics, photography and computer art and was very happy doing so. But then again, the students got me back into collage! I was teaching AP Art (prep for college art), and I told them I wanted them creating on a daily basis. I wanted them to practice their skills like an athlete would. But I said I would do it with them the whole school year. I would start an Instagram account just for them (8 students) so they could hold me accountable. I would create alongside of them and at home all school year. I wanted to ‘practice what I preach’.

In all of these years, 38 to be exact, I loved creating art–but I never truly found my voice. I made art because it looked cool, or it was an assignment. But on Day 146 of daily art making, I started collaging and found my voice!! I had this vision of a minimalist approach to collage. Utilizing my skills as a designer, appreciating positive and negative space, I started creating collages that only incorporated 2-3 images, but still told a story.

After Day 146, my Instagram started growing in followers. People started asking for prints of my work. Asking me to do markets and sell my work. I started building confidence in an art form that I had none in before! Then I was asked to design an album cover for a band in Texas, do an editorial spread in Playboy Magazine, and the cover of The New Statesman Magazine based in the UK! Since then, I have done numerous album covers, book covers, private commissions, gallery shows, museum exhibitions, solo shows and more.

I started the Pacific Northwest Collage Collective here in Oregon, serving Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Idaho and Alaska with a friend of mine. We were finding more and more hidden collage artists in the area and we wanted to build a community–particularly while facing COVID. So we started the collective in January 2021. We started with an outdoor fence exhibit so it was COVID-friendly. Masked collage meet-ups at local studios. Then as the pandemic was settling down, we have done multiple exhibitions and meet-ups, online community events open to anyone and everyone in the region!

One of the things that I think makes me stand out as a collage artist is my unique approach. It’s minimal, it’s clean, strong negative space which I might break into with my main subject with a technique I call “breaking the frame”. I experiment with new techniques like tape transfer where I make a transparent version of an image that layer on top of other imagery to tell my story, Magazines, musicians, writers and other creatives will get a unique take on collage to illustrate their product. I tell a story with my work and many other creative appreciate that because I have the ability to tell their story as well.

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

The most rewarding part of being an artist is that it doesn’t have to be an independent activity. Finding or making your own community with other artists like you can be so inspiring! Coming together and sharing what tools you use, your techniques and strategies in an art form, and sharing opportunities like open calls and commissions with one another is so fulfilling. I do feel I made my best work alone in my studio, but I know I make my best work because of the collage community locally and worldwide.

How did you build your audience on social media?

At this point I have 58K+ followers on Instagram. As many know, the algorithm has changed a lot over the years, but many people ask me how I got so many followers. Hashtags were really important, and still can be today. I have gotten numerous opportunities from commissions to museum shows because someone searched a certain hashtag I used. Engaging with others is important. Do not just take and expect to grow. You need to make comments, share others in your stories, direct message with your fans. There are multiple benefits to engaging with your audience: they feel important that you have engaged with them and are more likely to re-share. The algorithm likes when you interact. You are more likely to appear in their feed if you interact with them often. Plus it feels good! Support your fellow artists! Lastly, I would say be authentic. Stay true to yourself. People know that I make art for me first and foremost. I make it because I am telling my story, using it as therapy, and I am being genuine. If you try to make what your favorite artist is making or don’t evolve, you will lose followers because they can see right through it. Really, all of these tips are not only good for social media, but for life too!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.kelletteworks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelletteworks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellette-elliott-79b07713/
• Other: pnwcc.weebly.com is the Pacific Northwest Collage Collective website
  https://www.instagram.com/pnwcollagecollective/ is the PNWCC Instagram page

Image Credits

Portrait of me by Templeton Elliott