Collage in the Classroom: What Do You Want the World to Know?

How do we bring collage into the classroom? As part of her work in the graphic design department at Western Carolina University, artist and illustrator Jillian Ohl has been engaged in a curricular and pedagogical push to do just that. She wrote, "Using collage has helped our students in not only breaking the false belief that graphic design only happens on a computer, but it is also an accessible method of making in Appalachia where we have limited access to resources and there is little cultural space for pretentious approaches to design. Above all, it has given students permission to use a medium they thoroughly enjoy but has been historically under-recognized and sequestered to the realm of feminine arts and crafts. Using collage in the design classroom in southern Appalachia, gives power to our marginalized students to express their creative voice."

During this workshop, Ohl will guide participants in the making of a poster that explores the type/image relationship while also thinking about expressing a personal point of view. She wrote, "Collage is a democratizing medium that frees the participant from the intimidating world of drawing. This three hour exercise is meant to prepare the student for a larger poster design project but also opens up the possibility of analog making into their design process. For the non-design student, this is an opportunity to explore typographic principles without the use of design software such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. With the broad prompt, students can choose anything from a call to action for social change, declare an interesting fact about an animal, or explore a personal anecdote." Ohl will make a short presentation beforehand providing poster examples and quickly explaining typographic voice preps the participants for using these design elements. After the collage making, Ohl will debrief with the other educators who will discuss ways to adapt this activity to their own classrooms.

New Orleans Educators are invited to attend this free event.

Also check out other Arts events in New Orleans, Workshops in New Orleans, Fine Arts events in New Orleans.