As a mixed media artist I’ve always collected collage material. I have stickers, old postage, postcards and hotel stickers I bought when I was 14 that were vintage even when I bought them. About 20 years ago an APS librarian was retiring and someone contacted me to give me her entire collection of papers, book covers, posters, portfolios and photos she had been adding to her archives for forty years. I put the stuff in boxes, stored it in my garage, and forgot about it. About ten years ago I decided to go through it all and decide what I could use and what I should throw out/give away. What I liked best were the oversized folders that were handmade by folding large pieces of manila paper in half with plastic tabs stapled on the side for labels. I tore the folders in half and used them for figure drawings. There were many portfolios with old book covers and other young adult library materials pre-internet used for research and reports. There was also a lot of Western and Southwestern materials which I hung onto.
I had been collecting western collage material actually most of my life but more specifically and directly when I moved to New Mexico in 1994. Much of it I purchased at the yearly giant library sales: I have a record of Yul Brynner dressed as a cowboy, LP soundtracks to Oklahoma, books for teens about the history of the west as well as the classic Time/Life series books on the West. As part of my visual journaling repertoire of workshops I had a Westward Journal class that utilized a lot of these collected books and collage materials. And between a handful of good friends, we did a journal round robin using those old Time/Life series books. I had a western Murder Mystery party for a birthday one year and all my friends played dressed up. My partner at the time was a bluegrass singer and we had a lot of fun in those days traveling around doing shows and dressing the part. A good friend made great cds for me of old time western music to play in my Western themed workshops. A few years ago my sister joined me on a birthday ride in Acacia. We got a video of me riding down the Rio Grande shooting my toy pistol, waving my hat and yelling, yee ha! A lifetime of collage, books, costumes and music I held onto not knowing why. So when the idea for this series came to me, to a certain extent, I was prepared.