Mixed media is very closely related to other art forms such as assemblage and collage. Assemblage is a 3-dimensional sculptural form, in which found objects are "assembled" together in a quirky and unique way. Collage involves a rearrangement of pre-existing elements, such as cut-up paper of all sorts (newspaper clippings, gift wrap, vintage ephemera, old book pages, stamps, postcards, etc), as well as various other small items glued to the surface of the paper, canvas, or wood. In general, mixed media can certainly incorporate 3-dimensional objects and things like cut-up paper, but for the purposes of this topic, we'll focus on artwork whose main feature is usually a combination (or mix) of media, such as acrylics, oils, crayons, pencils, etc. Mixed media is fun because it can take so many forms. The sky's the limit! Below, you can see a variety of artworks that I created using mixed media. Most of these pieces include a few of the following: acrylics, watercolor, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, and /or ink. With mixed media, anything goes. However, you will need to take some ordinary precautions, such as making sure that your foundation (base layer) is sturdy enough to accept whatever you throw on top of it without buckling or bending. You may also want to do some smaller tests to examine how the media work together, to make sure you can achieve the desired effect. For instance, applying ink on top of watercolor will have a very different look than watercolor applied on top of ink. So it's best to fiddle around on a small-scale to figure out how the media interacts, before attempting a large-scale or detailed artwork! By using a combination of media in one artwork, you can utilize the best that each medium has to offer!
In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation.
In order to continue enjoying our site, we ask that you confirm your identity as a human. Thank you very much for your cooperation. Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate that consists of three-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate. It is similar to collage, a two-dimensional medium. It is part of the visual arts and it typically uses found objects, but is not limited to these materials.[1][2] The origin of the art form dates to the cubist constructions of Pablo Picasso c. 1912–1914.[3] The origin of the word (in its artistic sense) can be traced back to the early 1950s, when Jean Dubuffet created a series of collages of butterfly wings, which he titled assemblages d'empreintes. However, Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso and others had been working with found objects for many years prior to Dubuffet. Russian artist Vladimir Tatlin created his "counter-reliefs" in the mid 1910s. Alongside Tatlin, the earliest woman artist to try her hand at assemblage was Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, the Dada Baroness. In Paris in the 1920s Alexander Calder, Jose De Creeft, Picasso and others began making fully 3-dimensional works from metal scraps, found metal objects and wire. In the U.S., one of the earliest and most prolific assemblage artists was Louise Nevelson, who began creating her sculptures from found pieces of wood in the late 1930s. In the 1950s and 60s assemblage started to become more widely known and used. Artists like Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns started using scrappy materials and objects to make anti-aesthetic art sculptures, a big part of the ideas that make assemblage what it is.[4] The painter Armando Reverón is one of the first to use this technique when using disposable materials such as bamboo, wires, or kraft paper. In the thirties he made a skeleton with wings of mucilage, adopting this style years before other artists. Later, Reverón made instruments and set pieces such as a telephone, a sofa, a sewing machine, a piano and even music books with their scores. In 1961, the exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" was featured at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition showcased the work of early 20th-century European artists such as Braque, Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Picasso, and Kurt Schwitters alongside Americans Man Ray, Joseph Cornell, Robert Mallary and Robert Rauschenberg, and also included less well known American West Coast assemblage artists such as George Herms, Bruce Conner and Edward Kienholz. William C Seitz, the curator of the exhibition, described assemblages as being made up of preformed natural or manufactured materials, objects, or fragments not intended as art materials.[5][6]
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