Originals

ASPEN REDTAIL original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

Inspired by summer hikes out west, an original collage featuring a Red-Tailed Hawk soaring through aspen trees. New direction with blue versus white background.

  • Medium: vintage papers on wood
  • Size: 46" H x 38" W (framed)
  • Frame: hand-built reclaimed metal
Process

Process

The background is the only part of the finished collage that is painted; all the other colors in the composition are the actual colors of the vintage papers. This search, selection, and sorting of papers by color is another time-intensive part of the collage making process. Learn more about the collage process.

process

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Dolan Geiman Paper Collages

Dolan's signature paper collage artwork celebrates America's West and Southwest. Color, composition, and detail come to life in hand-cut vintage materials, many salvaged in Dolan's cross-country travels.

Creating the original collage starts with a wood panel. Dolan pulls vintage sheet music from his vast collection and applies these to the wood, first with glue, then with a top layer of whitewash paint. In many prints, this background layer of sheet music peeks through.

Next, Dolan draws the outline for the original collage in graphite atop the sheet music.

Dolan returns to his extensive trove of collected papers – think magazines, antique textbooks, handwritten letters salvaged from abandoned farmsteads - and begins pulling the ideal colors for the piece. He cuts each piece of material by hand and carefully layers into the artwork. These collages are carefully crafted from thousands of small papers: no two are exactly alike.

Dolan's paper collages are finished in a handmade frame constructed from salvaged metal or a modern, minimal wood or metal frame.