I fell in love with collage-making when I took a workshop with Ken Kewley in the fall of 2022. This two-week collage workshop took place at the Mount Gretna School of Art. Guest instructors were the artists Rotem Amizur and Maria Michurina. In the years since that workshop, I have been making collages all the time: I love it! Not only is it fun, but I can tell that making collages has a positive influence on my paintings and drawings. It forces you to simplify down to the essential, and make stronger compositions.
Recently I decided it would be fun to lead a collage workshop of my own in my studio, teaching others what I learned from Ken Kewley. Since Ken’s house and studio is only a few blocks from mine, I invited him to collaborate with me. So together, we planned a day-long event. Of course I couldn’t really fit in everything I learned in two weeks into one day, but I envisioned it as a good introduction.
The workshop took place on Sunday February 23rd, 2025. At 11 am, our four students met us at Ken’s house and studio for a wonderful studio tour and power-point presentation which Ken had prepared.
During the slideshow, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of veggies, hummus, falafel wraps, etc. from the local Lebanese restaurant Daddy’s Place.
Here are some photos of our tour of Ken’s house and studio:
Paintings and a collage by Ken, over a hallway bookshelf.
Other artists’ paintings on the wall above Ken’s sofa in the living room. Some of the artists whose work is displayed here include Rotem Amizur, Bill Hudders, and Stuart Shils.
Some of Ken Kewley’s paintings on the wall of his studio.
After lunch, we relocated to my studio a few blocks away. Here I led a 3-hour collage workshop from 1-4 pm. We started with painting paper. As Ken showed me in 2022, we used acrylic paint on sheets of 8.5x11” printing paper. For a few of these, we did two layers of color, which is something I had learned from the artist Rotem Amizur.
Students in my studio, painting paper.
Painted pieces of paper to use for collage.
While our paper was drying, I gave the students some paper I had previously prepared for them. I also gave them a page with a grid of nine squares, each square 2x2 inches. We spent 5-15 minutes on each square, responding to different prompts. Some of the prompts:
two colors back and forth
three colors, then add some black and white shapes
make an “imaginary landscape” with two colors
etc…
Collage grid by Berry Steiner.
Collage grid by Michele Davis.
Collage grid by Amanda Close.
Collage grid by Kate Brandes.
Student work.
During the last 45 minutes, I gave each student a print-out of this Matisse painting, and they worked on doing a collage transcription 4 x 3 inches, using a limited palette of 4-5 colors. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, but I think everyone would have loved a little more time. If I run this workshop again, I will add at least one extra hour. Nevertheless, I really love these little collages responding to Matisse!
Henri Matisse. Figure with Bouquet, August 1939, Oil on canvas. The Barnes Foundation, BF980. © 2025 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
“After Matisse” painted paper collage by Amanda Close, 4 × 3 inches
“After Matisse” painted paper collage by Berry Steiner, 4 × 3 inches
“After Matisse” painted paper collage by Michele Davis, 4 × 3 inches
“After Matisse” painted paper collage by Kate Brandes, 4 × 3 inches
For me it was a truly wonderful day. As always, I enjoyed Ken’s slideshow about his collage process, and I was inspired by seeing all the artwork in his studio. I also really enjoyed watching the students play around with a new technique. It’s always fun to share something you love with others, especially if they catch on to your excitement.
My goal for doing this workshop was to inspire, motivate, and encourage the students to add more collage-making into their lives. So you can imagine how delighted I was to see one of the students, Amanda Close, post her new collage on instagram today. Artist Amanda wrote:
“Had the most incredible privilege to attend an in person collage workshop with @lauren_kindle at the end of February. We started with a tour and conversation with the amazing @kenkewley —his Easton, PA, studio is so incredible!! And then we spent several blissful hours in her cozy studio creating and playing with color and shape.
This little study of Lucas Cranach’s Judith (one of them—he painted her many times and in different outfits!) was something Lauren encouraged me to try after the workshop and I had such fun creating this! If you, like me are binging on Judith depictions, I recommend you also check out my sister’s take @art_as_magic as she has a style all her own and has created a true masterpiece!
I’m still processing everything we covered in the workshop so beware: more collage to come!”
“Judith with the head of Holofernes, after Cranach” painted paper collage by Amanda Close,
7 x 4.5 inches
Ken Kewley and I will be repeating this Collage Workshop on Saturday April 5th, this time it will be 11am to 5 pm (adding an extra hour.) 4 spots available
I will also be leading a fun “Pie-Collage Workshop” on March 16th at Kettle Creek Pottery in Snydersville, PA. This won’t be an in-depth workshop, it’s more of a fun afternoon, just two-hours of playing around with collage. We will end with eating delicious pie from local bakery Pie + Tart.