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.

Time is on their side

The Grand Tour: After Much Tinkering, Rosa, Viola, and Cora 
Traveled to a Place that H.G. Wells Had Yet To Imagine: The Future
mixed-media collage: antique hand-painted fashion plate (Peterson's, Feb. 1887);
vintage diagram (Switching Locomotives Operating Manual, General Motors)
and illustrations (Audel's Plumbers and Steam Fitters Guide #1 and #4, 1925;
Architectural Forum, July 1960); recycled book proof; marker, ink, watercolor
and acrylic sealant. 9.5" x 12" on acid free mat board. (2012)

This collage - the last of the new ones for Saturday's Art Affaire - began with the architectural illustration. When I spotted it, I knew the Grand Tour women would travel to the future - and so they have. But it took some mechanical ingenuity.

I've always been a woman with a tool box. One of my first purchases when I left home was an electric drill. After all, I already had my mother's Sunbeam mixer. So, tools have become a recurring theme in my collages and greeting cards. In the collages, I tend to pair oversized tools with 1950s-era women as a symbol of role reversal and empowerment. They function in much the same way here.

A few words about Mr. Wells: his novella, The Time Machine, was published in 1895. Since this fashion plate is dated 1887, my women are far ahead of him and have made time travel a reality. I like to think their trip inspired him.

Nellie and Abby's Amazing Shrunken Men!!!

The Grand Tour: Nellie and Abby's "Amazing Shrunken Men" 
 Packed 'em In at Opera Houses from London to St. Petersburg
$225Mixed-media collage: antique, hand-painted fashion plate (Peterson's magazine),
vintage illustrations (Architectural Forum, June 1960; Harter's Picture Archive, 1974),
watercolor, marker, ink, UV sealant. 8" x 11.5" on acid free mat board.
Framed with museum glass. (SOLD)

The Grand Tour continues with two fashionable Peterson's women - I've named them Nellie and Abby - taking their novelty act, Amazing Shrunken Men, on tour. In my mind, they sneak away from their chaperones to perform when everyone else is tucked away in bed for the night. And they're packing the house, as you can see.

The house, in this case, is from the June 1960 issue of Architectural Forum. Thanks to Carla Morales, the graphic designer for Cincinnati's Brazee Street Studios, I received stacks of vintage architecture magazines from her architect sister. While I wrote down the date of the issue, I forgot to note the building. I think it's Philly's Academy of Music, because the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts' wildly eclectic building is on the flip side.

This is another piece for next week's Art Affaire in Milford. Cannot wait to see how they look in the dining room - that's my designated space - of the Promont House.