CUSTOM NATIVE AMERICAN PORTRAITS original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

Original paper collage commission for a Colorado home, featuring a set of Native American portraits. The talismans and emblems included are crafted from vintage papers, each image significant to this special family whose lineage dates back to the continent's very first inhabitants. The real deer hide included in the figures' clothing is an antique, contributed by the family for use in this piece of art.

  • Medium: vintage papers, hide and leather on wood
  • Size: 45.5" H x 45.5" W (framed)
  • Frame: wood frame with musuem plexi
  • Residential commmission
Process

Process

A repeat collector of Dolan’s requested he create a mixed media work using a deer skin handed down through his family to celebrate the family’s Native American heritage. Look closely, and you will see the deer hide represented in each figure’s intricate garments.



In addition to the leather hide's stitching, each artwork is constructed from hand-cut paper (including the intricate beaded detail), then mounted inside a shadowbox-style frame. The talisman elements are mounted on individual pieces of wood and suspended inside the frame.



Throughout, the papers and materials included tell stories of the family, their history and their present pastimes. This storytelling, both through theme and material, is one of Dolan's most beloved ways to celebrate a collector's family and traditions through his bespoke commission process.

process

Learn More

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.