I started doing collage art because I have never been good at drawing or painting, no matter how hard I tried to learn! I took art classes in high school but never got the hang of it. As a child I would make lots of paintings with the little paint sets that I received at Christmas and then hang them all over my room. Then I'd make my parents and two brothers come to my bedroom for my "art show".
But it wasn't until I was in my 30s that I started making collage art. I mostly just did it for fun. I had an Etsy store where I sold my zines and cute jewelry that I used to make. So I decided to also include my collages. When I first started selling my art it was just a few collages here and there but after a few years it just started growing and growing! I now have a ridiculous amount of my art for sale on Etsy (I currently have 400+ art pieces for sale on there!) along with books, zines, t-shirts (which I design with my husband), pins, patches and other merchandise.
I feel very lucky to be able to sell my art and I'm so amazed that so many people enjoy it enough to actually buy it! I have a touch of imposter syndrome at times and feel like I'm "not a real artist" because I can't draw or paint or sculpt. Even though I have always loved collage art the most, sometimes I doubt myself because my style is so much different than most of the collages I see other artists doing.
The thing I am most proud of is that fact that my art and zines were used in the Netflix movie "Moxie". It's based on the book "Moxie" by Jennifer Mathieu. The movie was directed by Amy Poehler and it's about zines and riot grrrl which is something very near and dear to my heart! I have been listening to riot grrrl music and publishing my own zines since the 1990s! So to be a (very) small part of that movie was a (very) big deal to me!
I still make zines and I am even putting together an art zine right now called "Sugar and Spite" and I am looking for artists to be in it! You can email me for more information or just send your art to me if you are interested in being in the zine: MrsNoggle@Yahoo.Com
You can see almost all of the art that I have ever made on Pinterest! https://www.pinterest.com/jolieruin
You can buy my art and other things on Etsy!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheEscapistArtist
And you can follow me on social media, I'm @JolieRuin & @TheEscapistArtist on most platforms.
Jolie Ruin
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