Helga Strauss

I've been creating art all of my life. My mom recently found a collage from when I was 6 years old (it was just tissue paper scraps and glitter)....so I guess one can say that I've been doing collage for 23 years! Of course, I've had many years of non-creating in between.

I have always been enamoured with art, even when I wasn't creating. I have a
BA degree in Art History. In University, I studied other people's works of
art because I was too afraid to create my own.
But less than a year ago, I discovered the world of swaps. I am hooked!
I've experienced an explosion in my creativity and am so happy!
I participate in Brainwaves, Capolan exchange, I-Deck, host my own monthly tag art swaps, and others that come my way.

My favourite forms of art include: assemblage, collage, oil painting, artistamps, tag art, and much more. I have a difficult time concentrating on one medium.

Let's see, how do I work? Usually, I have a theme in mind. I go through all
of my bins of stuff and pull out everything that could possibly relate
to that theme. When I have everything scattered around me, I start pulling out
things with a similar colour or items that I think complement eachother. And
then I just start painting, gluing, etc. from there. I tend to wing it. I don't do a ton of preplanning. I like to lose myself in creative process.

Some of my favourite art supplies are: water-colour crayons for giving that
"aged" look, E600 glue for assemblage, and old dictionary pages for collage.
Helga Strauss BC Canada

You may have noticed a lot of Helgas work on the pages of this zine. She is a prolific artist and a generous collaborator. Always positive, full of great ideas and works hard to accomplish them. Her swaps are inspiring and of high quality, and its a challenge to keep up with her fast pace. (gillian allen ed.)

I've been creating art all of my life. My mom recently found a collage from when I was 6 years old (it was just tissue paper scraps and glitter)....so I guess one can say that I've been doing collage for 23 years! Of course, I've had many years of non-creating in between.

I have always been enamoured with art, even when I wasn't creating. I have a BA degree in Art History. In University, I studied other people's works of art because I was too afraid to create my own. But less than a year ago, I discovered the world of swaps. I am hooked! I've experienced an explosion in my creativity and am so happy!
I participate in Brainwaves, Capolan exchange, I-Deck, host my own monthly tag art swaps, and others that come my way.

My favourite forms of art include: assemblage, collage, oil painting, artistamps, tag art, and much more. I have a difficult time concentrating on one medium.
Let's see, how do I work? Usually, I have a theme in mind. I go through all of my bins of stuff and pull out everything that could possibly relate to that theme. When I have everything scattered around me, I start pulling out things with a similar colour or items that I think complement eachother. And then I just start painting, gluing, etc. from there. I tend to wing it. I don't do a ton of preplanning. I like to lose myself in creative process.

Some of my favourite art supplies are: water-colour crayons for giving that "aged" look, E600 glue for assemblage, and old dictionary pages for collage.
Helga Strauss BC Canada