Louise Laplante
mixed media, collage
My work mines the past using old, printed matter, recognizing its relevance to the present and its richness in image. These pages, collaged on drawing paper, serve as the background for my drawings. Whether pages from one book, a group of related letters, or a jumble of different, unrelated sheets they form the wellspring for my imagery. Each motif I stencil on those sheets relates in its own way to the words. Rubbing the pastel to fill the templates heavily into the collaged sheet creates rich deep tones with movement created by curved lines bursting from each motif. Sometimes I use several sheets butted together to create a larger surface to draw on. This further reflects the pieced together nature of both our memory and our relationship to the world. There is great beauty in the old, foxed paper, in its stains and marks, and the birds, animals, hats or other motifs on those sheets and the way they speak to each other.