Hi World!

I'm Calvin

Being an artist is my third career. After 20 years as a Presbyterian pastor and 22 years teaching theatre to high school students, I retired to take up the career I imagined as a boy. Almost completely self-taught, I was inspired in the second grade by my first and best art teacher, Jan Darling, who taught a summer water color class for moms and kids. The first project we did was to cut magazines into small pieces and create a mosaic. Decades later my mosaic of two sailboats sparked the idea to use magazines to create collage art. My first ScrapsCollage was a beach scene of Carpinteria, CA, created with my children as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law. 

 I've been creating ScrapsCollage art for over 40 years for family and friends. I've made random sales on a sporadic basis, but now I share my art with a larger audience.  As a first step I opened a studio/gallery in downtown Fresno to create a dedicated space for my creative endeavors. My second step, prompted by Covid-19, was launching a website designed to showcase my art. My art studio is ScrapsCollage. I create collage art from paper, primarily recycled magazines. I've also used scrapbook paper, origami paper, tissue paper, the spines of book jackets, and paper doilies. 

 My taste is eclectic and I enjoy finding beauty in a wide range of subject matter. I find inspiration in nature, poetry, dreams, and the fruits of an active imagination. I work with repurposed scraps of color and texture. My palette is created as I rip through many magazines at a time, surrounding myself with stacks of pages that find their way into file folders. Originally I worked only with torn scraps. Eventually I allowed myself the use of scissors, especially in creating human forms. At times the scrap I think I need is impossible to find. Improvisation then becomes the name of the game. Sometimes the best effects are the result of happy accidents.   

 I enjoy incorporating recognizable images into my collages. Have fun playing “Where’s Waldo?” Enjoy the big picture, but often you need to take a closer look to discover what’s hidden.  

My art business has been designated as a "Trusted Art Seller" with The Art Storefronts Organization