"Aurora" Latest Collage

My latest collage entitled "Aurora". It's 11" x 14" and I created it using magazines and imagination. :)

Little Houses on Praries-Collage series

 

Pink House on a Hill

5" x 7" Original on acid free cardstock

$80 (free shipping)

Paypal info flyingmermaid77@aol.com

 

 

 

"Blue sky and Houses"

5" x 7"

Original collage on acid free cardstock

$80 (free shipping)

Paypal flyingmermaid77@aol.com

 

 

 

 

Cycling Through the Universe

This collage is entitled "Cycling through the Universe". It's 8 1/2 by 11 inches. I created it using all types of magazines.

 

Prints available! http://www.etsy.com/listing/151947799/cycling-through-the-universe-collage?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=cycling++through+the+universe&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=all

Bird Magic

A heavy thunk at our living room window startled my daughter and I. It was like someone had thrown a rock at it!  At first I saw nothing strange that could have caused the sound, but then I saw a grey-brown bird laying in our recycling bin, it had hit our window and it was not moving! My heart sank. It was so sad. When I turned around my daughter was looking at me with anticipation and I broke the news to her. She was upset about the bird.

About ten minutes later I peeked in the bin and the bird was sitting up! Oh my goodness I was so relieved! So hopeful! My daughter shrieked with joy when I told her. The bird just sat there for a bit, not moving it's head or anything. We left it alone and then checked it again a few minutes later and it was on it's feet standing really still.        
And then she was moving her head, blinking, listening to the sounds of our neighborhood. And then she was walking around the bin!

Soon after the bird was standing on the bin's edge holding tight with her feet. It titled forward and lifted a wing as if to fly and remained holding on, it tested it's wings many times and then it finally it flew off!!

"Toes Touching Sky"
 Loooove the freedom of flying on a swing!!!

 

This collage is 5 inches x 7 inches.

It's for sale! Check it out on my etsy page!  http://www.etsy.com/listing/152749886/toes-touching-a-cloud-original-collage?ref=ss_listing

20th Anniversary issue of African Voices!

The new African Voices is here!!! The 20th Anniversary issue is full of amazingly talented writers and artists.

I am so excited and humbled that my collage is on the cover AND there are more of my pieces inside the mag!! There's also poetry by Tony Medina, Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Willie Perdomo, Tara Bets and Tai Allen.
There's fiction by Kiini Ibura Salaam. And art by Ocean Morisset(backcover) and I!!
Ekere Tallie is the new poetry editor.
The issue is available at stores all over the country and you can also read it on your phone or tablet.

 Here is a link to subscribe. http://www.africanvoices.com/avsubscription.html

This collage is entitled "Bridge to Infinite Sky"
I imagine this is an oasis and folks come here to get water. Somewhere close by there is a market where folks sell and trade goods.

 

Prints available on my etsy page! Check it out!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/152378241/bridge-to-infinite-sky-print-11-x14?ref=shop_home_active

"Leaving the Castle"

 

 

Collage  "Leaving the Castle"

2013

 

I Love mermaids. Back in the day I used to use "The Flying Mermaid" as my logo. It was a mermaid with wings holding a ball of light! This is my first mermaid collage and it was really fun! I think I will visit this theme again!

In Haiti we call her La Sirene. She is usually depicted with a trumpet that she uses to summon the Spirits.

Collage Challenge 2

Hat and Clouds 7 1/2 by 9 1/2 Collage

Quickie collage. Two magazines and about an hour.

Collage Challenge

"King and Queen of the Roadside" 8 1/2 by 11 Collage

Though I love making large collage pieces and taking months to create a piece, as a busy mom of two kids I sometimes find it difficult to get to work on such a scale. Soooo recently I challenged myself with one hour and just one or two magazines to see what I could do.

African Voices has chosen my collage, "Autumn in the City" to be the cover of their 20th Anniversary issue!

This issue will be coming out in Spring 2013.

I was recently part of a ground breaking art show that African Voices put together at THE Schomburg Center for Black Research in Harlem. The show was to celebrate and commemorate AV's Anniversery. Danny Simmons was the curator and chose some covers from the last 20 years! The covers are all pieces of art. The show was entitled, "Cover to Cover 20 years of African Voices."

Carolyn Butts and her staff at AV have created a content rich, interesting and funky literary magazine that has lasted the digital invasion . Here's a link to African Voices website. http://www.africanvoices.com/
 
The artists who participated in the art show were Sheila Prevost, Danny Simmons, Dirk Joseph, Otto Neals, Franks Francois Deceus, Jacob Lawrence and Faith Ringgold, James Top, Elizabeth Catlett and Verna Hart.
 
Carolyn Butts took this picture of our "Cover to Cover" show featured in the New York Daily News!!

 

That's my hometown paper for real! I grew up reading this paper. So it was thrilling to see my name spelled right, really nice things written about me AND to see my collage in the middle there between two amazing artists who I respect very much. What a wonderful article this was!

 

 

The "Cover to Cover" art opening was fabulous! The crowd was warm and energetic and a lot of folks came out to see the show. I met so many cool people. I got to talk to folks about what I love to do. It was great. I got really amazing feedback.
 
I went to this art show without my kids, I usually will take one or both of them. This trip was solo! I was really able to chill and focus on just being there and taking it all in. I saw a lot of great folks I hadn't seen in years.
 
It meant a lot to me to be showing my art at the Schomburg because when I was in college and even independently I used to go to the Schomburg to do research on Black history. They have old newspapers, all types of books, periodicals, artifacts that you cannot find anywhere else. They have art, art shows and all kinds of cultural events. There is so much culture and knowledge and history there.

At the "Cover to Cover" art show it was so awesome and humbling to have my art work across from Jacob Lawrence's art.

Here is a link to the online Daily News article.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/uptown/lifting-voices-20th-ann-exhibit-article-1.1231884
 

On Our Way To Ballet Class. 

Collage, watercolor on canvas. 

11 x14 

Print available http://www.etsy.com/listing/108466512/on-our-way-to-ballet-class-collage-print

I've been working on this one awhile. I had the background color and the buildings on the canvas for a while, at least four months. And then recently I started adding more and more.The mom's dress is paper I painted and so is the little girls top. 

The mom is beyond cool, her belt and the design on her purse are xmas lights. Space colored tights on the girl. One of the talking women has flowers as rollers in her hair. 

This collage reminds me of my childhood in Queens, we lived next door to the elevated number 7 train, that rumbled by every few minutes. There were women who watched over the neighborhood. Most of the buildings were six stories tall and the trees were old. It also reminds me of where I live now, it's citified but there is nature bursting everywhere!

Sisters with Books and Flowers
5 x 5 collage on recycled cardboard

This is my latest collage. I found a perfect weighty piece of cardboard from some packaging and decided to make it beautiful.
At first it was just the mountains and the sky. I am experimenting with these fun sky treatments. I felt like something was missing. So I added one girl and she had a different dress at first and then it seemed like she needed company so I gave her a sister.

The girl in the blue dress, her head wrap is a microchip and so is her belt. The dress is made out of one of my favorite papers that I've saved for years!


http://www.etsy.com/listing/108288957/sisters-carrying-books-and-flower   Buy it on etsy!
  

Carriers of the Hearth-Newest Collage

This is my latest collage. It's entitled "Carriers of the Hearth". It is part of my ongoing collage series called Basket Women. The basket women art is inspired by women who carry their livelihoods on their heads to market. Who sometimes have to work the impossible to feed their families.

The background is watercolor. I painted this on 8 1/2 by 11 paper. I was going to use that cool green background for another project, but I didn't want to cut it up. I used a lot of my favorite elements: space and stars, flowers, cowrie shells, butterflies and fire too!

The hem on the bottom of their skirts was a photo of a mosaic that I really love and I'm glad I finally got to use it.

My Latest Collage-"We are all made of Stardust"

This is my latest collage entitled-"We Are All made out of Stardust."

It is 20 inches by 16 inches on canvas. I used watercolor for the background and silver and gold glitter for the sparkle.

Here is another view of it. The folks are made up of space and planets, nebulae and other natural phenomenon. I worked on this piece for five months. I worked on it many late nights and there were times I just stared at it trying to figure out who these beings were. And I dug through magazines, books and thousands of pieces of paper looking for the perfect piece of space.

CITY FOLK-COLLAGE

Happy Spring!

City Folk Collage by Mirlande Jean-Gilles
28 inches by 20 inches

This large collage took a lot of concentrated, focused energy which means I had to work LATE at night. I have two kids who take my attention during the day. Most times I will still try to work on my visual art and writing, but this piece required me to spread all my shit out all over the living room and dining room floor!

This collage went into my first art show where I had more than one piece hung up! It was a great show up for Black History Month at this law school! There were about five other artists in the show, their photography, abstract art, collage and paintings were up for the entire month.

I finished this piece the morning it was to be hung up. I was still cutting and gluing this one, while packing up the other pieces that were to be in the show! Sweat was pouring down my face as I ran like crazy trying to get everything ready because I had no more time. I waited till the last minute to do so much. By the time I was done I had modge podge on my glasses, paint in my hair and all over my clothes. The house was wrecked! But I got it done!

Close up

Tent City Neighborhoods-2 years later-Hope

Close Ups

When two galaxies collide!

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