Collage, assemblage and montage are related approaches to creative expression that include mixing, combining and reassembling images and objects, removing them from an original context in order to explore new expressive possibilities. Surrealists used collage and assemblage to liberate the hidden meaning in everyday things. In this course students experiment with found objects, two- and three-dimensional pieces, pattern, texture, color, mixed media, appropriated imagery and other visual fragments to explore visual narrative and conceptual problem solving. Students come away with surprising and unique work that has something of its own to say even while borrowing from other many different sources for its visual language.
Artwork by Polly Becker
RISD degree students: This course offers 3 transfer credits with pre-approval from your department head using the Prior Approval for Transfer Credit Form. Submit the signed form to the Registrar’s office and then complete the online course registration.
Course #4088
Polly Becker
Schedule A
June 21–July 27, 2021 (no class July 5)
Mondays + Tuesdays, 10 am–1 pm ET
Online, Live
Tuition $2,300
3 Credits
Faculty
Polly Becker
Polly Becker’s work has appeared in countless magazines and newspapers and has been honored with numerous awards from such juried competitions as Communication Arts Illustration Annual, American Illustration, the Society of Publication Designers and the Society of Illustrators (which has also awarded her a Silver Medal). Her work has been published worldwide and exhibited in solo and group shows in the US, Europe and the Middle East. An American Illustration profile describes Becker as “an illustrator and artist known for her smart, elegant and very imaginative assemblages.” In addition to her assemblages, she also works in a pen and ink style loosely modeled on 18th-century wood engraving. A critic for RISD’s Illustration department, she has maintained a teaching practice alongside her professional work for most of her career.