Your Full Name
Richard Leach

Tell us about you.
I was born in 1953 and have always lived in the northeastern United States. I have had a couple of careers, a long one as a pastor and a shorter one in business. Presently I am a homemaker, poet and collage artist.

I took a few art classes as a boy but am basically self-taught as an artist. It’s been a hobby off and on through my life, and I’ve pursued it in a focused way for a few years now.

In your opinion, what would be the secret ingredients to become a great collage artist?
For me, the ingredients would be: A LOT of messy scrap paper. Seeing, finding, cutting out, collecting, saving scraps. Perceiving the beauty or visual charm or energy of images, words and paper that many people would consider of little or no value.

Imagining that unlike and disconnected things go together. Not doing the expected thing. A good eye for traditional artistic values of balance, scale, rhythm and form.

Where are you located?
In the United States, northeastern Pennsylvania, about two hours west of New York city.

What is the most fascinating part of being a collage artist?
The attractiveness of what is abraded, torn, stained, old – the beauty of what could easily be thrown away. And, surprising connections as I move scraps around – moments when I see that something new has been made.

Where do you get inspirations from?
From the materials themselves, images, texts, pieces of paper that catch my eye. From other collage artists. Occasionally from a theme someone has suggested.

Do you promote/ sell/ showcase your work? If so, how?
I showcase my work online. I’m not presently selling it. I’ve collaborated on one small book with another collage artist, Kathrin Diestel. Our book, Seven Sins, is available from blurb.com.

What types of assignment/ project are you attracted the most? Why so?
My art projects at the moment are self-assigned. In general, I am attracted to projects with the possibility of a certain kind of collaboration – where two artists, perhaps of different kinds, enrich each other’s work but don’t get in each other’s way. And I like projects that I know will reach an audience who will receive and respond.

Who is a collage artist that you look up to? Why so?
Fred Free of Boston is one of the collage artists I look up to. Even though I know his style, each new piece he does is arresting and fascinating. His work is dry and bubbly like good champagne.

What do you think about the Internet and how it is affecting our lifestyle?
Oh, that’s too big a question to try to answer! Different people are affected in different ways. The internet has certainly connected people who never would have interacted without it.

If you could turn back time, how would you do things differently?
I take this question with regard to art, of course. I am not sure I would do things differently. But I do perceive that I could have had a career in art or graphic design from when I was young, if I had chosen to do so. At the time, I did not have the confidence to do that. I see now that very much of what one does in life is a matter of choice and passion, one does not have to wait to be allowed or invited to do things.

How do you keep your work fresh? Do you need to consciously adapt your style or does it progress naturally?
I am an active participant in the artist’s site, deviantart.com, and look at a lot of work there every day. I seldom copy anyone else’s specific approach, but what I see keeps tugging at my own work. I also look back at my own pieces, and sometimes if there has been a long run of a particular approach I consciously do something new. But for the most part I let things go their own way, my style evolving as it will.

Name 3 of your favorite (art) books/ magazines.
I’m not keeping up now, but for years I subscribed to Print magazine and absorbed each issue quite thoroughly. Also Émigré, for several years. A couple of art books I’ve loved in the past few years are both compilations of work from artists’ sketchbooks. One is Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art of Designers, Illustrators and Creatives, edited by Richard Brereton. The other is An Illustrated Life, edited by Danny Gregory. Both are full of remarkable art and inspiration.

What is your life motto?
I don’t have one, but if I did it would be something involving kindness on the one hand and truth on the other – two things that don’t always seem compatible I suppose.

In what kind of a work environment do you do your best work?
At home, at my desk. Though I like loud music at other times, I prefer quiet when making collage.

What do you like the sound of? Why so?
For natural sounds, I like bird songs in the morning, cicadas and crickets in late summer, the ocean on the shore. I imagine most people like these. Musically I like the human voice, lots of kinds of songs, and jazz. I love how jazz can be intense and somehow relaxed at the same time.

If you have online portfolio, what is the URL?
http://tinkwig.deviantart.com/

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