Family Time 1984

Varnette Honeywood made this collage, *Family Time*, from paper and fabric. Imagine her, like, actually building this picture plane, using scissors and glue. It's not painting, but you sense the joy of colour, and the tactile quality of her materials. I imagine Honeywood searching her studio for the perfect scrap of floral wallpaper, or gingham fabric, thinking hard about how shapes fit together. She’s carefully cutting and layering these fragments to create a dynamic composition that suggests a whole narrative, not just a snapshot, but a lived experience. It's as if she is constructing her own personal world, and sharing it with us. Like Romare Bearden, she uses collage to make pictures that feel warm and familiar. You get the sense that artists are always in conversation with each other, passing on ideas through time, inspiring each other’s creativity.