Mixed media artist Mary McIninch is drawn to the art of collage for the rich texture and patterns it offers. She works with a wide variety of materials, including pages of old books, vintage postcards, photographs, pressed leaves, sand, copper wire, to name a few. Mary also creates her own paper from scratch to include in much of her work. For Mary, the materials often dictate the work; sometimes the piece is mostly paint, and sometimes mostly paper.

“Paper is full of unique characteristics in its texture, colour, lines and wrinkles. It absorbs and repels the paint, creating variations in design and adding an element of surprise to my process. I bury images, scrape into them, deconstruct, and re-apply paint as I work.”