>>PREVIEW
THE IKG COLLAGE PARTY: PAUL BUTLER AND ARTISTS
Runs until October 21
Illingworth Kerr Gallery (Alberta College of Art and Design)
Winnipeg artist and Alberta College of Art and Design alumnus Paul Butler will be hosting a new session of his notorious Collage Party at the Illingworth Kerr Gallery from September 7th to 21st.
Having started nine years ago, the Collage Parties have evolved and grown over the years, changing format but remaining true to their aim of creating an open and experimental space for art-making. Butler has now hosted over 25 parties in galleries and schools around the world, most recently at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto. As he explains on his website (www.theotherpaulbutler.com), the Collage Party "is basically an excuse to get together with friends and make art. It creates an informal environment where artists can freely connect, exchange ideas and make work."
In the past, Collage Parties have mainly been open to the public – collage-making events with rows of tables and stacks of magazines ready to be sifted through and reconfigured into artworks. Parties ranged from quick evening sessions to days-long campouts in the gallery, from quiet work bees to full-blown rowdy shindigs.
Since then, the Parties have evolved into more of an open workshop format, with Butler and a crew of invited artists taking over gallery space to use as a studio, and using any number of techniques, not just collage. Butler explains that with the earlier format, he would often end up playing host, running around looking after participants and making sure they had enough glue, instead of actually participating himself. While the Collage Party at the IKG may still include a day for the public to join in, its main run will see a group of invited Calgary artists using the gallery space for their own projects.
Similar to past Parties, the specific combination of invited artists will shape the kind of interactions and work produced. In this sense, while the Parties may no longer focus strictly on traditional scissors-and-paper collage, they now use the idea of collage as a metaphor: a recombination of diverse artistic practices and processes, brought together to create new intersections and inspirations.
As anyone who has ever shared a studio or a workspace knows, there is a certain energy that comes out of working alongside other people. The strength of the earlier Parties was in the collective energy they generated and interaction they encouraged, and this is still a key component of the new format. Even if the work is not intentionally collaborative, ideas are inevitably shared, and cross-pollinations thrive in these situations.
Butler goes into each Party and does little to structure or coordinate the direction of the artists or their work during their time in the gallery. He explains that this letting go of control means the Parties have the potential to act as a mirror, reflecting what the participants are feeling and allowing the work to grow out of that.
Using the gallery as a way to perform or publicize the artistic process, the Collage Party places creative power into the hands of the artists: the gallery is there to serve their needs, to support their messy and unpolished production, removing the typical emphasis on a finished displayable product. While this represents something of a risk – having no idea what the outcome will be – this freedom demonstrates a respect for and understanding of artist-driven projects by the gallery institution.
Showcasing this process and putting it on display over the course of several days means the public can gain a unique insight into the work of the featured artists, while the artists themselves have an open and shared space to create and exchange ideas. |
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