Playing through ...

© Foreplay

mixed-media collage by Sara Pearce

vintage print, map (U.S. Geological Survey), illustrations (Woman's World, 1922; Architectural Forum, 1960); ink, watercolor, marker; archival mat board.

Framed with conservation glass for UV protection. 17.5" x 8.75"

Yes, another sporting woman collage for the RolePlay show, which opens at Cincinnati's 1305 Gallery next Friday (3.29). Gulp! She's much more modern - from the cover of a 1922 issue of Woman's World magazine, to be exact - than the women in the other pieces.

I wanted to make a golf collage and had a half dozen or so Victorian golfers, but the women were too tiny. I knew she was around and wrestled with her size. But I love the image - so full of vim and vigor. Lord knows where that ball went!?

In a nod to the lean '20s aesthetic, the collage is less cluttered than the others in the series. But like all the others, it includes a map and layering. The numbers were a last-minute addition. I wanted to add numbers in some way. Maybe as a bib on her (like a marathon contestant)? Or a measurement of the green (there is more to the collage, by the way; I couldn't scan the entire image).

Then, I found the numbers in a 1960 issue of Architectural Forum. They were on a series of tissue-thin pages introducing new sections in a special feature on American architecture. On each page, a different number was darkened. Luckily, this one was still around. I had to cut each out and position them, before deciding. Somehow, I don't have the ability to visualize an element in a collage unless the entire thing is cut out, and placed.

Well, still one more to wrap up. Women balloonists out for a ride that turns into a rescue mission.