The Symbiotic Relationship Within Practices of Collecting and Making Studio Art

I am a collector and an artist. There is a direct correlation between what I collect and the artwork that I make. While some areas of my collections are very focused and complete, others are more varied, sentimental, emotional and impulsive. The difference between collecting versus making artwork is that collecting, for me, is a personal experience and although the process of creating artwork is also personal the resulting work becomes much more public as it distances itself away from the studio process. This paper outlines my experiences and observations that the act of collecting and the collected pieces themselves have a direct impact on my creative outcome. Conversely the collection will become more refined by the kind of creative directions that are developed through the artwork. Throughout my collecting and studio practices I have noticed a symbiotic relationship between what I collect and what I make and how one act seems to feed the other in a cyclical manner. Often times a collected piece prompts an exploration of a form or construction technique while at other times my making practice prompts a new but related direction for collecting. There are several key design elements in my work such as color, surface, form, technique and construction which are often subtly influenced by what I study and collect.