What unites a collection?
Starting a new project can be a daunting task because the options seem endless. After all, you want a project that will be engaging, challenging, different, and successful. Perhaps you have a certain purpose in mind for your work before you even start creating or maybe you just dive in.
How do you know if what you’re working on is a series?
I’ve been trying to figure this out as I started working on something new. I wanted to create collages that used the fabrics I had dyed. I had materials and a color palette, but that’s it. I decided to create a lot of small works on paper (6x6 inches) that I could pin up on the design board. I could work with small pieces of the fabric, try lots of compositions, and decide what other materials complemented the fabric. If I had works that I especially loved, I could mount them to panels.
When I had about ten complete, I posted a quick Reel to Instagram showing them together and asked viewers what made a collection of work a series. The answers were so interesting that I decided to share some of them here. I’ve put the comments into my own words, but do head over to IG to read the full text of the conversation!
Trust that you, as the artist, are making choices as you work that will link them
As you start working, you’ll notice something is beginning to connect the work and you’ll start to explore that connection
Take an idea and approach in several ways. They’ll be different, but linked by that original idea
The pieces will share some elements in common. This might be how you start working or something you notice later. In the end, you’ll find ways to use that element to connect the pieces.
These comments require that artists trust themselves. We begin with an idea that we explore and stretch as far as we want. The links will develop or, as we start to notice them, we can choose to develop the ones that are coming through most strongly. This is both comforting and terrifying. It’s lovely to think our ideas will work out for us, but it’s also a little scary to put that much trust in our process.
I went back to my work with fresh eyes and started to notice which pieces didn’t fit with the overall look of the collection. For some of them, it was the colors and others felt too complicated when placed next to each other. The ones that engaged me most will help me develop more pieces that will fit together. When I have fifteen of these small studies (a totally arbitrary number), I’ll start to scale them up. That larger scale will change the series, because what works in small form doesn’t always translate, but that’s a concern for later. For now, I’ll just trust the process.
