As an outdoorsy girl living in a city, I’ve been looking for more ways to bring the outdoors indoors. No, I don’t want to take home a pet grizzly bear or set up a tent in my living room. I’m starting with decorating my home, but I was trying to figure out how to combine both mountains and hiking with city vibes. It all clicked when a local Jersey friend shared that she was hosting a workshop on creating mixed-media collages. Here’s how I brought my outdoorsy vibe indoors during collage night with Girls Got Chops in Jersey City, NJ.
Girls Got Chops
I met my lovely friend, Via Rutkowski, shortly after I moved to Jersey City. We were both writers for a local media brand and connected over our creativity. We constantly talk about new content ideas, music, fashion, and all our local Jersey City favorites.
Via has a background in fashion and always looks like a piece of art with all the cool pieces of clothing she collects. It only makes sense that her collages reflect her amazing sense of style. She’s the creator behind Girls Got Chops; her collages are made up of crazy, cool, and trendy pieces of recycled magazines and photography.
When Via shared that she was holding the Collage Atelier Night in Jersey City, I was so excited to learn from the master. Her collection of collages is so cool, and I wanted to try to create something half as cool as the pieces she’s crafted.
There was a bit of a personal motivation behind attending this art event. My grandmother was an artist, focusing on oil paints and pastels. While I don’t pick up the paintbrush as much as she did, I still love getting creative with my photography and video editing (and writing, duh). Now my piece of art can hang next to my grandma’s art in my home!
Collage Night Creations
The analog craft night was held at Youssoufiani Leather Craftsmanship, a custom handbag and purse studio in downtown Jersey City. It was a cute space that had all of our tools laid out for us when we arrived. That included a little glass of champagne, perfect for celebrating connecting with our creative sides.
After some direction from Via and short introductions around the room, I started flipping through magazines to start collecting clips for my piece of art. While I didn’t have a set plan in mind, I knew I wanted visuals of the outdoors to make up my collage.
A lot of the magazines were more fashion- and art-focused. Luckily, I found a travel magazine that was full of scenic pictures and imagery.
I felt like I was on the right path when I found a quote in a magazine ad that read, “Keep one foot in the city and one in the wild.” Cue Chandler Bing saying, “Could it be any more Erin Goes Everywhere??”
That quote became the focal point of my collage. I collected some pictures of national parks, sunsets, and a little bit of mountains. I also found a classic car, a highland cow, and some stylish cowboy boots. I liked the vintage cowboy vibe it gave the piece.
If you have been following me for a while, you know I love my pints of Guinness, too. While I couldn’t find a pint in all of the foodie magazines, I found a cute little beer that I added to my collage for the vibe. I wanted the piece to feel very ME, so when I see it on my apartment walls, it feels right at home.
I glued all my little clippings down, matted my collage, signed my very own piece of art, and sealed it up in the frame. I loved how it came out and how cute the quote looks with all my random clippings around it.
My collage is my new favorite piece of art in my home. It feels almost like a vision board, manifesting more trips to the mountains in the near future. Not only was it a great way to get in touch with my creative side, but it was also great to support a local small business. Supporting small businesses has become a hobby of mine, whether my bank account supports it or not.
CHECK OUT: Greetings From Jersey City, NJ
I loved being able to get creative and meet new people during the Girls Got Chops collage night. I would recommend this crafty event to anyone local to Jersey City looking to create a personal piece of art for their home or even a gift for a friend.
Getting outside can mean so many things. In this case, it looked like going to support my friend’s event and getting out of the house for the night. Next time, it’ll be a cute little hike in Northern New Jersey. (Did I just tease my next post? Guess you’ll have to subscribe to find out…)
This is just… 🥲🩷!! Love you so much, friend. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Your collage is so YOU.
You’re the best!! Love you!!