By Reader Staff
For Sandpoint photographer Woods Wheatcroft, art is just an excuse to find something you love and make it a career. A prolific seeker of anything that blows back his hair, Wheatcroft will hold an art show highlighting his collage work 5:30 p.m. on Friday, March 29 at Idaho Pour Authority (203 Cedar St.), with live music by Blird starting at 6:30 p.m.
Collage is an art style developed in France and characterized by the assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. Wheatcroft said his love for collage work began after his hard drives crashed a decade ago.
A collage piece by Woods Wheatcroft which will be displayed at his show Friday, March 29 at Idaho Pour Authority.
“I did a show after that called Reconfigure, because I lost two or three years of work,” he said. “I went on sort of a digital ‘fuck you’ and started cutting up all my photos I already had. That jump-started me back in collage.”
Wheatcroft holds collage nights about once a month at his studio on Second Avenue, where patrons can attend for a few bucks and assemble collages of their own with provided materials. Pieces from this show come from past collage nights, as well as independent time in his studio.
When asked why collage appeals to him so much, Wheatcroft told the Reader it’s a way for him to take charge of what is often a chaotic life.
“I can’t say I’ve ever been the most organized guy,” he said. “It kinda feels like a chance for me to create some sort of order with all the disorder and chaos. It helps me. The garbage I’ve collected is more organized than my actual garage. Collage is the same way. Somehow, when I’m able to spread everything out and make an arrangement that I’m happy with, it’s appealing.”
Collage is a way to “embrace the process instead of the conclusion” of art, he added.
Wheatcroft will fill Idaho Pour Authority with art, with some focusing on the theme “Zoom In, Zoom Out,” in which he takes a closer look at a small piece and expands it to a huge size.
“The original pieces might be four-by-five inches, but the finished pieces might be three-by-four feet,” he said.
There is no charge to attend the show, but there will be a collage table set up in the back where participants can pay $5 to use materials on hand to create their own single collage, or $20 for unlimited collages.
The art show is slated to begin at 5:30 p.m., and live music will start at 6:30 p.m. featuring Blird, the side project of Ben Olson, Cadie Archer and Josh Vitalie of local band Harold’s IGA (disclosure: Olson is the publisher of this newspaper). Instead of their usual indie rock style with Harold’s IGA, Blird plays shoegaze, alternative electronic style of music accentuated by a bass with synthesizer pad, drums and an electric guitar plugged into effects pedals.
To see more of Wheatcroft’s work or find out when his next collage nights are scheduled, visit woodswheatcroft.com.
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