“Collage Concepts”: How We Use Them As a Welcome Mat for Young Makers

At LitKit, we don't ask young creators to make "something from nothing." We ask them to make something from something. This is the art of the collage, the magic of the remix, and it is the most natural way to explore media tools and the meaning they transmit. 

Starting with a blank page/canvas/screen is intimidating. What’s called the "blank page effect" or “choice paralysis” causes a stress spike in our brains. But reacting and interacting with the world around us through cutting and pasting, remixing and rearranging images, sounds, objects and words, not only eliminates the pressure to formulate an original thought, it presents us with multiple entry points to the creative process. 

What happens when I take this headline from the back of the newspaper and put it on the front page? Or take an audio of a person rambling and sync it with a video of my dog chewing on treats? Or bring an iconic character from art history into a new era of pop culture?

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Works featured above are works created in Never Gallery Ready workshops in Ontario classrooms

The Sandbox of the ready-made

The sandbox, a term often used in software development and other experimental environments, is a place where creative play and process are valued. A safe place where makers can mess around and find out the many possible outcomes and myriad answers to the questions posed above. 

Because collage is inherently inclusive and has no rules, a LitKit requires absolutely zero prior artistic skill or experience to use. We provide all the physical and digital building blocks for you (just like a box of Legos) so you can skip the intimidating "blank canvas" phase entirely. Whether you are cutting out paper figures or layering assets in our GIF-maker, there is no "proper" way to do it, meaning everyone can immediately start shaping completely unique stories. Our Kits give you all you need to make endless meaning.

We aren’t just helping young people make art; we are helping them build the muscles for decoding how media messages are constructed, deconstructed, and rebuilt. In an increasingly complex world mediated by technology, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. 

Cut, paste and pass it on!

🌈⭐ More to Explore:

Explore: New Media Order, online exhibit of Never Gallery Ready student work, Google Arts and Culture Institute

Watch: RIP: A Remix Manifesto, The National Film Board of Canada, a documentary on digital rights management that dissects the media landscape of the 21st century and shatters the wall between users and producers. 

Read: Collage: Contemporary Artists Hunt and Gather, Cut and Paste, Mash Up and Transform Collage, by Danielle Krysa