Originals

SANTA'S FLOCK original paper collage


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Size & Details

Size & Details

The annual tradition continues with our 2019 original St. Nicholas paper collage. This year's holiday artwork features Santa in a woodland scene with a flock of birds including owl and turkey. Finished with wood frame and Museum Plexi. Scroll right for the companion short story

  • Medium: vintage papers on wood
  • Size: 34.5" H x 28.5" W (framed)
  • Frame: wood frame with Museum Plexi
  • Hardware: ready to hang with wire on back
Story

Story

Around him, a chorus of birds would erupt, dancing from limb to limb to finally alight on his shoulder, his cane, his hat, his arms. - Dolan Geiman

The birds knew what day it was. They even knew the very hour when he would come. We would hide in the snow-cloaked conifers, bundled in our wool cloaks, and watch them...and wait. Then, through the pines he would come, gliding along, his leather boots announcing his approach with a crunch crunch crunch, and his patchwork coat leaving a snowy wake. Around him a chorus of birds would erupt, dancing from limb to limb to finally alight on his shoulder, his cane, his hat, his arms. He’d whistle sweet wintry choruses to them while gently tossing out handfuls of seeds, grains, berries. He was my favorite Santa, for he too understood the beauty of these winged miracle -- tiny fragile feathers whipping in the windy pines and sharing their voices year round, keeping the woods alive even on the snowiest days.

Story of Santa's Flock, Dolan Geiman 2019

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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.