Fragments of Paper and Prose
October 4–27, 2024
AIR STUDIO GALLERY
19 Railroad Ave. Westerly, RI
Hours: Thursday to Sunday, 1–6pm and by appointment
airstudiogallery.net
@airstudiogallery
This exhibit features 100 works from Sarah Z. Short’s collage-a-day project along with 24 larger works inspired by them.
I’ve always told stories.
In the beginning, my stories were made of words alone.
But as my art evolved, I discovered a new form of storytelling—one that is visual, tactile, and layered.
It begins with a fragment of text from a vintage book. This snippet becomes the seed of an abstract collage, each layer adding depth as I chase the unfolding story, crafting a path through the composition.
I use a proof press and worn wooden type to print onto found pages, abstracting the letters as I print, and then again as I cut into them. The original letters transform, reimagined as part of a new narrative.
Yet, the process doesn’t end with the final piece. I weave my memories and a touch of imagination into a written story that accompanies the artwork. This act of writing allows me to honor the words hidden within the collage and pay tribute to the books I’ve deconstructed.
“It began with a collage. Well, 100 collages. I challenged myself to make 100 collages using only vintage magazines and a glue stick, often from advertisements in Time, Life, or The Post. Each one was created from a single page of the magazine,” explained Sarah.
We are thrilled to display all 100 collages, and to offer a selection of nine from this project as archival giclée prints.
The halls were crowded and an accidental shove sent her textbooks to the floor. As she bent down to gather them, her hand brushed against a library book. Lifting it, a delicate, yellowed envelope slipped out. Across the front, in elegant script, were the words “For You.” The seal remained unbroken. Should she open it?
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage
36 x 48 in $1850
Looking out the window, she sees her garden flowering in all the same colors. Purple, white, blue...where was the variety? Had they been out of all the other colors when she picked out the plants? Still, it was beautiful.
— Sarah Z. Short
Flowers
Found papers and acrylic collage 16 x 16 in $670
The wooden sign outside the general store advertised food and sundries. She liked that word a lot, and hoped she’d find magic wands, fancy hats, and spun sugar clouds when she went inside. (She wasn’t disappointed).
— Sarah Z. Short
Miscellaneous
Found papers and acrylic collage
30 x 40 in $1540
It was three in the morning and she couldn’t sleep. She had a math test tomorrow and didn’t feel prepared. Why was it so hard to multiply by 9? In her head, she started multiplying by three. She’d go as far as she needed to until she fell asleep. (It took a very long time.)
— Sarah Z. Short
Odd Number
Found papers and acrylic collage
20 x 16 in $755
Sharon loved children and they loved her right back. On sunny days, when everyone wanted to be in the playground, she’d tell them stories about riding her motorcycle across the county. When the recess bell finally rang, they wouldn’t leave until she told them one last story.
— Sarah Z. Short
Sharon’s Playground
Found papers and acrylic collage 10 x 9 in
$440
Years later, she found the letter in the back of her bureau drawer. Sitting on her bed, hand over her heart, she read the words she’d forgotten he’d written. Her life would have been so different without these words, written in green ink on thin paper.
— Sarah Z. Short
Your Explanation
Found papers and acrylic collage 36 x 36 in $1590
She’d seen the blueprints for the theater. They’d even given her a tour during construction and she’d stood in the space that would someday be the stage. That hadn’t prepared her for this moment, waiting behind the curtains, ready for the opening song.
— Sarah Z. Short
Stage Floor
Found papers and acrylic collage
30 x 40 in $1540
She opened the barn doors and wheeled out her bike. In her backpack, she had snacks, a blanket, and a book. The inn’s owner had told her of a path through the woods that would bring her to a waterfall where she could spend her day and probably not see another person. Perfect.
— Sarah Z. Short
In Place
Found papers and acrylic collage
30 x 40 in $1540
She dropped her ballot into the box as the first woman in her town to vote for president. All eyes were on her as she walked away, nodding at the other women who stood in line. This was a day to remember.
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage 16 x 20 in $790
Finding the right ingredients for the potion was proving troublesome. The grapes had turned sour, the holly berries weren’t ripe, and there was no way she was using frog feet. With a flick of her wand, she summoned her spellbook and began researching alternatives. She would not lose her apples to rot this winter.
— Sarah Z. Short
Not that Simple
Found papers and acrylic collage 20 x 16 in $790
Would anyone answer if she called? Would it be Jenny?
— Sarah Z. Short
Two Tone
Found papers and acrylic collage
20 x 16 in
$700
In her grandmother’s bureau, she found a little blue box. The ring was small and, folded inside the box, was the canceled check that had paid for the ring. How strange, she thought. She’d never seen her grandmother wear the ring and didn’t recognize the name signed on the check. This was a mystery she’d never be able to solve.
— Sarah Z. Short
That Blue Box
Found papers and acrylic collage
20 x 16 in
$700
It was a mile walk into town, but not so bad on a day as beautiful as this one. She felt sure that the walk back would be even better because the newest edition of Harper’s Magazine should be at the post office today. There wasn’t much reading material at home and she looked forward to the one magazine they got that wasn’t a seed catalog.
— Sarah Z. Short
Harper’s Story
Found papers and acrylic collage
20 x 16 in
$700
The path was smooth under her feet, sandy and free of rocks, and she moved quickly towards the cabin. When she got close, she saw someone had made a garden of jagged stones and imagined they’d been collected over years of following the same path that had led her here.
— Sarah Z. Short
Jagged
Found papers and acrylic collage 11 x 14 in $480
This time, she was determined to learn the language. By next year’s visit, she’d be able to read the books on the shelves of the apartment. Okay, maybe just the picture books, but that would be an improvement.
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage 20 x 16 in $790
He pointed out the window, distracted from his toys. I looked too and saw the sky flaming with the colors of the sunset.
— Sarah Z. Short
Sunset
Found papers and acrylic collage
20 x 16 in $790
She flipped through the records until she found the one she needed. The needle jumped over a scratch before finding its path and the jazz filled the room with magic.
— Sarah Z. Short
Smooth
Found papers and acrylic collage 12 x 12 in $520
No matter how often she told him not to touch the car windows, the little fingerprints were always there. (She didn’t mind that much.)
— Sarah Z. Short
Fingerprints
Found papers and acrylic collage 12 x 12 in $520
She thanked the librarian when he gave her a bookmark with the reminder, “Don’t fold the pages.” That was the rule for library books. Her books, well, they had notes in the margins, broken spines from leaving them open on tables, and multiple folded pages.
— Sarah Z. Short
Don’t Fold the Pages
Found papers and acrylic collage
12 x 12 in
$520
She’d saved the plums for breakfast. They were in the icebox, and the chill of the fruit would be a perfect start to this steamy summer morning. Opening the door, she found an apology note from her husband on the empty plate. So sweet and so cold. (Thank you, William Carlos Williams)
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage
10 x 8 in
$350
Violets are her favorite flowers. When she was little, she’d pick them, careful not to bruise the stems, and put them into small glass bottles with a bit of water. They’d go into her doll house and she pretended there was a wedding and the bride had filled her parlor with her favorite flowers.
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage 12 x 9 in $440
The weekly newspaper was a treasure. Take today’s front page story, which began with, “There was that recent complaint that prize pigs...” Before she’d read the rest, she’d found her husband in the barn, and as he mucked out the pig pen, she’d read him the article. They certainly didn’t want anyone complaining about their prize pigs.
— Sarah Z. Short
Found papers and acrylic collage 16 x 16 in $670
One day she was a teacher, handing out workbooks of excerpts from novels to her students because that’s what she was told to do. Now, she rips up old books and turns them into art and makes sure that her son reads whatever he wants.
— Sarah Z. Short
Evolution
Found papers and acrylic collage
12 x 9 in $400
Street names tend not to live up to the promised expectation. Fox Lane– no foxes. Pine Street– no trees to speak of. When she arrived at Pleasant Street her first thought was, “This is quite nice.” Such a relief.
— Sarah Z. Short
Pleasant Street
Found papers and acrylic collage
12 x 16 in
$540
Sarah Z. Short is a collage artist and printmaker from the woods of Rhode Island. Her background as an English teacher explains her love of books, which she also enjoys using as the primary material for her collages.
Sarah works with found paper and ephemera, utilizing the stories of the past in her contemporary art. She begins many of her pieces by printing with wooden type on pages rescued from discarded books. The prints are then abstracted in her collage compositions to make the original letter forms unrecognizable. Her interest is in the shapes and white space she can make with the typography.
Sarah Z. Short
AiR Studio Gallery, Westerly, RI
October 4–27, 2024
Opening reception Friday October 4, 5–8pm
WESTERLY – The worn pages that hold stories, whisps of memories, and words scrawled in cursive letters capture abstract collage artist Sarah Z. Short’s imagination – right before she cuts them apart.
But deconstruction of vintage materials – book pages, handwritten letters, maps, forgotten piano rolls –combined with wooden type block prints is how Short, a mixed-media abstract collage artist and Charlestown, RI native, begins creating new narratives with her work.
“It begins with a fragment of text from a vintage book. This snippet becomes the seed of an abstract collage, each layer adding depth as I chase the unfolding story, crafting a path through the composition,” Short said.
The words and stories exist not only within Short’s artwork, but also in the accompanying pieces of microfiction she writes.
“I weave my memories and a touch of imagination into a written story that accompanies the artwork. This act of writing allows me to honor the words hidden within the collage and pay tribute to the books I’ve deconstructed,” Short said.
And on Oct. 4, from 5-8pm, during Westerly’s First Friday Arts Crawl, an exhibition of Short’s work, Stories Told – Fragments of Paper and Prose, opens at AiR Studio Gallery.
The exhibit features 100 works from Short’s collage-a-day project – a challenge she set for herself to create quick daily collages using vintage magazines – and is open through Oct. 27.
In addition to Short’s collage-a-day project pieces, the exhibition also features work inspired by them.
Short’s love for words and books first took her into the classroom as a middle and high school English teacher where collage always found its way into student projects. During her years as a classroom teacher, she also earned an MFA in creative writing.
But it was during COVID lockdown when Short delved into her practice as an artist taking online classes, absorbing all the learning she could to bring into her work and find her own unique voice.
“I’ve always told stories. In the beginning, my stories were made of words alone. But as my art evolved, I discovered a new form of storytelling – one that is visual, tactile, and layered,” she said.
It’s no surprise then, that Short is combining her vocations as artist and teacher to offer a one-day workshop in conjunction with her exhibition. During the workshop on Oct. 19, 9:30–4:30 pm at AiR Studio, participants will have the opportunity to explore abstract collage and composition using vintage materials.
“In an era that urges mindfulness about consumption, Sarah’s creative practice could be considered truly of its time as she reduces, reuses, and recycles what would be discarded,” said Annie Wildey, AiR Studio Gallery coowner.
“With these materials she explores texture, color and the shapes and negative space of original letter forms. The results are both contemporary and timeless graphic compositions,” Wildey said.
Short’s collages and prints can be found in galleries and as licensed prints. She has been published in print and online magazines and teaches online and in-person.
Workshop Information: Collage with Vintage Materials Saturday, October 19, 9:30am–4:30pm
info: sarahzshort.com/inpersonworkshop
For additional information and images email Annie Wildey: hello@anniewildey.com or view website exhibition preview:
https://www.airstudiogallery.net
Annie Wildey and Michael Fanelli opened AIR as a studio and gallery in December 2022, in Westerly RI. At AiR we create & curate contemporary art for the home and other spaces. Bringing something fresh to the arts community, AIR blurs the line between gallery, studio, and project space. Visitors will find exhibitions that showcase artwork in inventive ways. We work with individuals, designers and art consultants.
19 Railroad Ave. Westerly, RI airstudiogallery.net @airstudiogallery