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For most of my adult life, I’ve been a writer—of memoir, personal essay, feature stories and radio commentary. While taking an art course several years ago, I discovered collage, and I was hooked.

In collage I found a creative outlet that allows me to say things I can’t put into words, either because the vocabulary doesn’t exist or the impulse to communicate comes from a place that precedes language.

To learn more about this art form that enchanted and challenged me, I sought guidance from excellent teachers such as internationally recognized collage artist Jonathan Talbot, with whom I studied in 2002. A year later, I studied with British painter Francis Pratt at his art school in Montmiral, France. I returned to the painting school in the summer of 2005, drawn by the beauty of the French countryside and the inspiration of fellow artists.

I work by starting with an idea, feeling or image that compels me. I have no specific outcome in mind when I begin a collage, and the end result is sometimes a surprise to me. The finished piece is a composition more spontaneous than writing and one that evolves as I’m creating it. Sometimes I don’t like the result and I’ll revise the collage one or more times. Just like writing, some collages come together fairly quickly and others require several more drafts.

For materials, I use acrylic paint, found objects, paper and my own photographs. I use found objects from nature—such as lichen, feathers, dried flowers or bark—and also from discarded man-made materials such as a piece of rusted metal, a small glass tile or a button. These objects are at once both familiar and mysterious.

My work has been shown in four juried shows:

The Women's Center Show in Chapel Hill, February 2003

The Durham Art Guild Show, November & December 2003

The Durham Art Guild Show, November & December 2005

The Women's Center Show in Chapel Hill, February 2006

The Durham Art Guild Show, November & December 2006

One of my collages, Memory of Eden, was the cover for the March 2005 issue of the English Journal

I hope you enjoy looking at the collages on this site. If you feel so inclined, send me your comments at mkossoff@mirindak.com. My work is also for sale, and I can send cost and dimensions if you're interested.