What did you find in Berlin?
I collected paper materials from trash on the streets, posters, stickers, matchbooks, discarded cigarette packs. I would love to return to source historical paper ephemera and photographs from the many street markets. As I usually work on a more intimate scale, I chose to work on larger paper (40.5 x 61 cm) and because I was collecting outdated street marketing campaign and event paste ups- that are large, I was able to scale up easily. The posters came off building walls in thick layers. I was able to excavate through time peeling paper layers apart to discover hidden imagery from past events both real and elemental, including rain damage, sun causing colors to fade or how well the glues were adhered. Back in the workspace, separating the papers, it was exciting to discover textures, colors, surfaces that weren’t originally visible giving me insight into the cultural landscape of the city.
How does that show in your work?
The collages I created during the ten days of Berlinage represent the Mitte at a very specific time- May 2024. They are multi-layered and are inspired by the many building surfaces filled with paste-ups, spray paint, stickers, street art and graffiti. Seeing the gum encrusted sections of the original Berlin wall and Haus Schwarzenberg where multiple street artist’s works are overlaid and are the result of many hands and individual touches were a stunning visual experience for a collage artist. By using source material from recent Berlin events like concerts, clothing campaigns, festivals and boxing matches I hope that the Berlin street vibe comes across in my collages.
What is your favorite piece you made while here in Berlin and why?
I like many of the collages that I made during Berlinage. Bike Path, has fewer elements (the bikes, the city mapping, the rice paper support creating negative space)- these elements directly and simply relate to each other. Many of the other collages contain multiple elements. I am happy with the simplicity of this collage.
Is experiencing a city with the intention of making collages different form your „normal“ way of experiencing?
Since 1992, I have been making collages when I travel to help me process what I am experiencing. I rarely journal with words, but do journal by creating imagery collected from materials sourced from the streets. I have over thirty collages made while I spent a very hot summer in Hanoi, Vietnam and numerous small collages made during a 2014 circumnavigation of the world with Semester at Sea. The floating campus/ship was in multiple ports for extended periods in Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, China, Morocco, Ghana, Mauritius, South Africa, India, England, Hawaii USA, and Mexico. In addition, many of my daily sketchbooks contain pages of collages made while traveling throughout the US.
Born and raised in Middlebury, Vermont, USA, Monica has lived in New Hudson Valley for over three decades. She is an abstract artist working in painting, collage and printmaking. Church’s collages are in many publications – including on the cover of the summer 2023 Issue 11 of Cut Me Up magazine. This collage was also part of the 2023 exhibition Souvenir at the Albany County International Airport. Her recent collage works can be found in Cut Me Up Magazine (Issues 10 & 11); Wilder Roam 001 On The Road; 2023 The Vassar Review: Interiors & Intimacies; and in The Extra Mule, No. 2. During the 2023 Kolaj Fest in New Orleans, Louisiana, Church presented her 1992 series of collages made while living in Hanoi, Vietnam at the symposium, “Exploring & Healing Place” at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.
Church has had numerous solo shows including at Garrison Art Center, Vassar College’s Palmer Gallery, Womenswork.ART; Dutchess Community College Gallery; Chapman Friedman Gallery, Louisville, KY; University of Kentucky’s Center for Contemporary Art; LoRiver Arts Gallery and Go North, both in Beacon, NY. Blue Leaf Gallery featured her work at the Dublin Art Fair and the Edinburgh Art Fair.
Her artwork is included in both private and institutional collections including, Binney and Smith, Easton PA; Manugistics Ltd, Rockville, MD; Community Bank, Lexington KY; Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend WA; The University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington KY; Vassar College Libraries Archives and Special Collections, Southern Vermont Art Center and Women’s Studio Workshop, among others.
Church studied printmaking at Rhode Island School of Design, n.d., and has a B.A. in visual arts from Bennington College and an M.F.A. in painting from The University of Kentucky. www.monicachurch.org