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Crystal Marie, Deeper · Jul 30, 2026

Textile Construction or Painted Textile Construction? What's the dif?

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Crystal Marie, Artist · Crystal Marie, Deeper

Hello friends,

I spent the day yesterday pulling previous works out and evaluating them for an upcoming show that needs to be delivered today. Though all were collage, each of the works I selected represented a bit different period of time in my creative journey.

It’s Not All Black & White; 12” x 30” x 2.5” each panel—Triptych 2011; Crystal Marie

From the triptych created around 2011 to one that remains in my collection from my 2018 representation at SOFA Chicago, to several smaller works created after the big purge of my entire collection of ephemera and found papers in 2022, to three of the newest works from my ReWilding series, I can see a shift in my way of working and thinking about the elements I brought to the table. Yet, each of these works are distinctly my own voice.

(Nothin’s Gonna Stop Me) Golden Years; 30” x 30” x 2.5” Collage Mixed Media; Crystal Marie

This morning I’ll be hanging the thirteen works I selected for an upcoming spotlight artist feature, which I’ll tell you more about in another post. But before I hit the road, I need to redo three of the tags for the most recent works.

I’ve been calling the medium used in the newest series “textile constructions” and realized after I created those tags, that it doesn’t fully encompass the process of creating them. I didn’t just gather textiles and create a collage with them. I hand dyed, stained, marked, manipulated, and painted each of those elements first. I treated each piece of cloth as a work of art on it’s own, without regard for where I would use it later.

Painted Textile Constructions 20" x 20" x 1.5-2.5" each by Crystal Marie

Clearly there are elements in each of these works that I did nothing to other than envision how it might fit with the work on my studio table. Two include bits of Japanese Obos and one includes the cloth salvaged from an old book cover. But each one is so much more than a textile construction. I’ll be updating their tags with the word “Painted” not because it encompasses everything either, but merely for the fact that it is shorter than saying “hand dyed, stained, marked, manipulated, and painted textile construction”.

I’d like to think that the work speaks on it’s own. But that isn’t always the case when someone who isn’t familiar with art practices is standing in front of your work. That one word allows the viewer a window of understanding that may not have been conveyed with my original label. Painted implies an action by the artist, combined with the word “Construction”, my hope is the process will be more clear.

Similarly, tomorrow, the early registration offers end for my Winter and Spring lineup, and you may have been wondering about the difference between the first two on the schedule—Collage on Canvas and The Book of Alchemy: Working with textiles in Mixed Media. Each one includes the use of textiles, but there is minimal overlap between the two.

Collage on canvas is exactly what the title says, we’ll be focusing on creating collage works using unstretched canvas as our substrate. You can use paper or textiles as your fodder, but each of those elements will be attached to the substrate—the canvas. We will do some simple marking and manipulating of fodder to begin with and what you decide to do with your finished work is up to you—you can attached it to a panel or hang it as a banner, frame it or tack it to the wall on it’s own merit.

The Book of Alchemy will unfold slowly over the month of February as we meet each week on Tuesdays for lessons and the optional Thursdays for coworking studio time and review of our work. This course will cover the process that I go through to hand dye, stain, mark, manipulate, and paint textiles and cloth elements. We’ll then deconstruct these creations and rearrange them into a textile book, collage or banner, with instruction on how to achieve all three.

Register today and save on each of these workshops and more. Early registration offers end tomorrow. Read on for details.

With gratitude,
Crystal Marie

Thursday January 14th, 2027
Noon-4pm CST (Chicago Standard Time)

LIVE ONLINE

Guided by artist and author of The Art of Expressive Collage, Crystal Marie, you’ll explore how paper and fabric speak to one another on cloth — an alternative substrate for collage that opens up new possibilities beyond traditional paper or stretched canvas.

Drawing from the materials you bring to the table, and those we’ll create together with simple mark-making exercises, you’ll learn techniques for adhering elements to cloth while trusting the intuitive pull of what’s in front of you, letting the materials guide you toward unexpected connections and compositions.

Rather than striving for perfection or control, we’ll learn what it means to trust our intuitive eye — allowing fragments to find their place and compositions to take shape through both chance and intention.

Details and Registration

Tuesdays: February 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd
1:00--4:00pm CST (Chicago: Central Standard Time)
OPTIONAL Open Studio and Review: Thursdays February 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th
1:00--2:30 CST (Chicago: Central Standard Time)

LIVE ONLINE

NOW WITH TWO PAYMENT OPTION!

al·che·my \ˈal-kə-mē\ noun

a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.

1. any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.

2. any seemingly magical process of transforming or combining elements into something new.

The Book of Alchemy is an exploration of transformation through fiber—where the familiar, the worn, and the overlooked are gathered and reimagined. Cloth holds memory in quiet ways: through repetition, mending, softness, and wear. In this workshop, textile becomes both material and metaphor, a place where intuition, touch, and time come together to transform the ordinary into something rooted and alive.

We’ll work with new and salvaged fabric as surface and structure, creating hand-altered textile elements through cutting, tearing painting, rust staining, stitching, layering, and mark-making. Building a personal collection of cloth fragments, participants will have the opportunity to explore how texture, transparency, weight, and edge create visual language and emotional pull. Rather than forcing meaning, we’ll allow it to emerge—listening to the materials speak to relationship, rhythm, and repair through both happenstance and intention.

This monthlong intensive allows participants to choose their own adventure, so to speak, by focusing their efforts on creating a textile book, banner, or collage. Or perhaps a combination of them all? While making a book of alchemy as a sampler and easy place to contain the elements we work on, each option will be explored so that students feel equipped to create what resonates with them the most.

Details and Registration

Thursday April 1st, 2027
Noon-4pm CDT

Live Online

Discover how the use of encaustic wax can take your collage art to the next level through an examination of layers. From those that lie under the wax, to those that create the surface design of the piece, and everything in between. Encaustic wax will give your paper collage design a depth and luminosity impossible to achieve with any other medium.

Techniques in painting with encaustic wax medium will be covered for those who are new or need a refresher to using the medium.

Details and Registration

Friday April 9th, 2027
OPTIONAL Additional Studio Day: Saturday April 10th, 2027
10am-4pm CDT*Chicago, Illinois

Join me in my Chicago studio for a small group exploration in Paper and Layers with Encaustic Wax Medium.

Opt for the additional studio day to continue working on your designs with access to the supplies and studio, with artist Crystal Marie present for guidance.

Discover how the use of encaustic wax can take your collage art to the next level through an examination of layers. From those that lie under the wax, to those that create the surface design of the piece, and everything in between. Encaustic wax will give your paper collage design a depth and luminosity impossible to achieve with any other medium.

Techniques in painting with both, encaustic wax medium will be covered for those who are new or need a refresher to using the medium.

Details and Registration

April 22nd & 29th, 2027
11am-4pm CST

*Live Online

NOW WITH TWO PAYMENT OPTION!

Join me live online for this immersive experience, crafting sculptural three-dimensional shadow box style nichos or reliquaries that serve as a personal shrine or cabinet of curiosities for your artwork and favorite collections.

We’ll create a box, Nicho, or Reliquary designed specifically around your art or objects, allowing the shape and the details of the structure to invite deeper meaning. A place to meditate, to breath, to reflect and express. A shrine to what feels right and true to you, elevated by your artwork, found objects, and hand crafted sculptural details.

Working live online, this workshop will offer hands on guidance crafting sculptural works, with feedback and questions answered in real time.

Details and Registration

  • January 4, 11, 18, 25 and February 1, 2026 — A month of Sundays: 5-week Collage series; Noon-2pm CST, online

  • April 22-27, 2026 — Visual Alchemy: making your mark in mixed media collage; Red Thread Retreat, hosted by Lesley Riley — SOLD OUT

  • May 9th, 2026 — World Collage Day: A Collage Workshop — SOLD OUT

  • June 5-7, 2026 — Alchemy Cloth; Studio Joy, Kansas, City MO hosted by Amanda Jolley

  • August 6, 2026 — Discovering Your Voice in Collage; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here

  • August 7, 2026 — Collage on Cloth; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here

  • August 8, 2026 — Paper and Layers in Encaustic; Studio 11 by Vivi Magoo; Phoenix, AZ — details here

  • October 2-4, 2026 — Material Alchemy: Developing Layers of Meaning and Magic in Mixed Media; Bellissima Art Studio, Port Orchard, WA hosted by Kathie Vezzani — details here

Read the original on crystalmarie.substack.com ↗

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