Cape Breton artist uses magazine paper to create one-of-a-kind collages

Paper artist Merrideth MacDonald puts the pieces together to create one-of-a-kind collages.

Merrideth MacDonald is a paper artist who has been creating collages out of hundreds of little pieces of magazine paper for the last ten years.

“I will go through a magazine and rip out all of those colours that I see and see if they look like they are going to be the right texture,” says MacDonald. “I started working on this type of collage when I had finished making magazine earrings, I would always have these scraps flying around.”

MacDonald says when she is ready to start a new project, she will choose a magazine and see what colours she can use and go from there.

“When I’m ready to start a project, I will often just choose one magazine to go through and I’ll look at all the different colours that I can use for that. So, let’s say I’m doing the image of a crow. Well, a crow is all black, but it’s not when you really see it in real life. There is blue tones and purple tones and even little white tones,” she says. “One feather of a bird is probably three layers of paper for each feather.”

The largest piece MacDonald says she has worked on took her about 20 hours to complete.

“One of the largest pieces I had the opportunity to do was probably about 20 inches by 30 inches and it was of a lion. Gathering that amount of paper to cover in the right colours was quite the project. That piece probably took me about 20 hours.”

MacDonald says she will also do requests and custom orders through her website Hunky Dunky Dory Paper Art.

“I do get a lot of requests for commissions often as people’s dogs. What I ask for is a really great picture of that dog and then I start looking for colours and just go from there,” she says.

“I’ve been lucky enough to work with smaller children doing this type of work and teenagers and seniors. Everybody can do it, and it really is a joy to get lost in it.”

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