Art Workshop
Patricia Mahan, Dan Matarazzo & Joan Hall
Tue–Wed, Mar 24–25
Galería/Atelier
Fábrica La Aurora

Collage and assemblage—past and present

The history of reusing the old to make something new is perhaps as old as humankind. It speaks to the inner recycler in all of us and at the same time stimulates a creative impulse so basic that surely, during the early days of mankind, it was the backbone of survival.

The present-day application of this innate talent still never ceases to amaze, from Dali’s combination of baguettes and doll parts to the current show at Galeria/Atelier with San Miguel artists Patricia Mahan and Dan Matarazzo, and New York City artist Joan Hall’s highly narrative sculptures and assemblage work; something new is always being made with the old in which the viewer can revel.

Mahan’s fascinating imagination has delighted art admirers at Galería/Atelier since 2007. As Mahan has incorporated more work and input by her husband, Dan Matarazzo, their combined efforts have experienced an evolution. More soldering has allowed their assemblages to grow to greater heights of the imagination. Hunting and gathering objects for their artwork is an adventure that takes them to places that they would never have been drawn to otherwise. Found-art assemblage encompasses their love of paint, metal, wood, 3-D items and fabric, using anything and everything old and new. Matarazzo has knowledge of carpentry, the love of working with his hands (he is a Rolfer and body therapist by trade) and sculpture allows him new and different ways to manipulate things and work three-dimensionally.

Some of the assemblages come together quickly and easily. Other times weeks and months go by before the right piece make its way to their studio. What they both love is finding something and looking at new ways to use it, giving it a new life and purpose with a new meaning.

Transforming the object demands a playful imagination and the constant challenge of opening the mind to see it in a new and different way. When a sculpture begins to develop a presence, a kind of totemic power all its own, is when they know it’s close to being completed.

Joan Hall started her art training at an early age, as her mother was a painter and her father a photographer. She attended Pratt Institute and then Juilliard School of Music as a dance major, but after learning stagecraft and set design, returned to her art roots. She has exhibited her collages and assemblages worldwide in galleries and museums, including the Centre George Pompidou and the Museo Rufino Tamayo.

Hall has been commissioned by the USIS to show her art and conduct workshops and lectures on collage at American Cultural Centers in France, India and Brazil. In 2001, the US State Department awarded her a grant to go to Mexico to train teachers to teach ecology and recycling to children by creating art out of found objects and scrap images. Her art has appeared frequently in The New York Times, Time magazine and The New Yorker. She teaches collage at the School of Visual Arts and she lives and works in her Greenwich Village studio in Manhattan.

Hall and Mahan will conduct workshops in their respective media Tuesday and Wednesday, March 24–25 at the gallery. Hall also will conduct a slide show on the history of collage at the Biblioteca Pública on Friday, April 10 at 5pm. Contact the gallery at 044 (415) 151-8665 or email info@galeriaatelier.com  for more information or to schedule a private viewing.