Hi, I’m Lesley Finn, an artist working at the intersection of collage, writing, and research. I began Collage Mind in 2021 in the midst of returning to my visual art practice after a many year hiatus. At the time, I was also teaching writing, working as a freelance writer, and developing several writing projects. I still do all of these things. Collage Mind revels in the joyful overlap of these pursuits, with a focus on the creative process that energizes them.
I see collage everywhere. It is fundamental to all that I do in visual and written forms—poetic erasure, mixed-media collage, artist books, essays and fiction, and immersive installation. It is the transformative energy, the rebellious ethos, the revelatory teacher that guides me. Welcome to my Collage Mind.
The newsletter is sometimes a reflective essay, sometimes a rant, sometimes an encomium, with a news section at the end listing exhibition, publication, and teaching announcements, followed by a notes section with links and further connections. I love talking about process and sharing images of what I am working on, as well as anything else that is inspiring and challenging me.
Themes of gender and the supernatural preoccupy my thinking and show up here. As does my thinking about books and other technologies of communication and cataloging. Much of my work begins with reading or researching, and much of it ends up becoming an act of subversive or reconstructive editing. I draw from my background as an academic studying medieval literature and from my experience working in book arts and creative writing. As a Gemini sun, I am multiple, and I run on ideas.
Some housekeeping: There is no subscription fee. Posts begin in January 2025, though the content goes back several years and starts at volume 4. I started Collage Mind from my website and only recently transferred the backlog to Substack. (Starting at volume 4 is another story.) From March 2025 onwards, I’ll be posting my newsletter here every three to four weeks. Thanks for joining me.
