Ask a visual artist what motivates them and you’re likely to hear a good number mention the therapeutic benefits of engaging in the creative process.

That certainly goes for the artists who have created the nearly 90 hand-cut collages on display at Shaler North Hills Library through Aug. 26.

Many are members of the Pittsburgh Collage Collective, founded in 2021. It’s a group of collage artists in Greater Pittsburgh established to create and share related art forms. The group has more than 160 members from around the world and they meet monthly to create collage and mixed media art.

The collages on display at the Shaler Library are part of a Postal Collage Art project coordinated with Berkeley Commonplace, a community arts organization out of Berkeley, Calif., that produces the annual Round Table Collaboration Postal Collage Project — mail art created by sending small, handmade pieces of art through the postal system. It can be anything from a simple doodle or sketch to a more elaborate collage or painting.

The pieces on display originated at the Berkeley Commonplace, were sent here and added on to by Pittsburgh Collage Collective artists. When the exhibition ends in Shaler, the collages will be boxed up and sent back to Berkeley.

“The idea behind it is to provide a creative experience for the participator’s well being and also kind of give them a chance to be autonomous and make their own decisions about their work,” Pittsburgh Collage Collective co-moderator Jen Blalock said. “Some people include social issues in their collages but it’s mainly for encouraging autonomy and well being.”

Blalock said the only guideline is to be mindful of the postage required to send the collage.

“It’s kind of like a video game that’s open worlds — you can decide where you want to go and how you want to contribute,” she said. “You have the principal author who starts the collage and then they pass it to the next person and the remainders are contributing authors. The most important aspect is the collaboration among the people who created the collages and even having a small experience in creativity is beneficial to one’s well being.”

Blalock said there are some collages that people who come to see the show can contribute to.

“We’re trying to create that collaboration and community among the participants who come to see the show and kind of get a taste of what the project is like.”

Collages in the community room of the library are ongoing and Joanne Stein, 84 of Allison Park, took the opportunity to participate.

“I think (collage art) is wonderful because I think we need something to do to save our world and I figure I’m on a journey to do good,” Stein said. “So with this collage we’re going to be sending it to different states. It might go to different countries. The message is we want to do something good for the world to make everybody happy — peace for the world.”

The Shaler North Hills Library’s manager of adult services, Beth A. Lawry, related the philosophy of Berkeley Commonplace’s founder Marty McCutcheon to explain what the project is really all about.

“In my conversation with him, what struck me was what do people do when they’re creating but they’re not given rules or boundaries,” Lawry said. “People are told what to do by their boss, they’re told what to do by their spouse, they’re told what to do by circumstances. Then you enter into this collaboration and they’re not telling you what medium to use, they’re not telling you what size to use. We’re so used to being told who to be, what to create or what to do. This is about not doing that and seeing what people do with that.”

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