Louisa Scissorhands
Cutting, stitching, glueing, printing, painting… This is the array of skills that Louisa Dunn, a collage artist living in Charleston, applies to the tapestry of materials, colours and shapes which have become her artform. Photographer & journalist Pauline Chatelan has had the pleasure of meeting Louisa and capture her creative universe.
Textiles were always on Louisa’s horizon. Originally from the upstate of South Carolina, she spent her early years learning from her grandmother how to sew, knit and embroider. As she devoted her time to making things by hand, whether it was jewellery for herself or clothes for her paper dolls, she started dreaming that she could one day turn her creativity into a living. This spark motivated her to refine her skills throughout her teenage years, and was ultimately rewarded by an acceptance letter from the renowned Savannah College of Art and Design.
At SCAD, Louisa delved into textile design and specialised in screen-printing for patterned fabrics and silks, a path that would eventually lead her to collage. In learning about negative space, an essential notion to screen printing, she had to reverse engineer her design process and began exploring cut-outs as an attempt to design more “efficiently”. But as it turned out, it was precisely in the negative space that Louisa’s eye found visual interest, unlocking her captivation for the shapes and silhouettes that her scissors still outline in her present artworks.
A trip to Japan, along with an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, would crystallise Louisa’s artistic vision for good. There to research indigenous textiles, from indigo dying to paper making, she discovered the work of Minigawa, founder of the brand Minä Perhonen, who created giant drawings and collages out of various materials, such as tape or stamped motifs, to translate how he wanted patterns to appear on fabric. His approach would profoundly influence Louisa and reframe the way she viewed print and design. She decided to keep a visual diary of her time in Japan, but felt inspired to break her habit of painting. Instead, she collected train tickets, ribbons, old photos, remnants of papers she had learned to dye, pressed leaves and flowers. With this new found palette of colours and textures, Louisa started glueing together compositions into a sketchbook, discovering through collage a new way to solve space and to draw using colour with an immediacy that paint had never granted her.
While experimenting with collage, it became evident that glue alone could not bind the thick layers of her compositions together. But a threaded needle could. Hand stitching added interesting lines and motifs to her art, not to mention colour. It would not only become Louisa’s signature technique, but in fact, her literal signature, with every one of her original collages carefully autographed with thread. Her latest creations include still lifes, tablescapes, as well as large scale wall hangings that require a complex patchwork of skills, ranging from machine embroidery to quilting. Using cotton rag paper as her canvas, she also creates daily iterations of flowers, two of which were recently featured in an Architectural Digest home tour in Charleston. Whilst each iteration is a framework for her to explore new colours and contours, an absolute silhouette of sorts seems to emerge from these studies, as though each new floral variant participates in shaping Louisa’s idiosyncratic flower.
She still loves to meander through flea markets and antique stores, treasure hunting papers and linens that she might one day incorporate into a floating sculpture, or use to transform a vintage piece of jewellery. She works out of her home, a brick cottage tucked away from the bustling Downtown Charleston. A vintage bamboo writing desk and her bedroom floor make up her art studio, and a sun drenched patio at the back of the house is where she sips her morning coffee while flipping through books and magazines for inspiration. Among her references, Louisa cites the Japanese Dictionary of Colour Combinations and The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair. She gravitates towards colours that are found in nature: the bright pink of a blooming flower, a royal purple extracted from murex, golden tones derived from dying with onion skins. This comes through in her artwork of course, which adorns the walls of her home, but also in her personal style, which she views as an extension of her creative expression.
On a typical day, like with her collages, Louisa loves to layer colours and textures on herself before stepping out onto the cobbled streets of Charleston. She visits the Historical Library Society, her office if you will, where she likes to read, answer emails, and sketch ideas for new artworks. On her way home, she might stop by Worthwhile, an independent clothing store that curates thoughtful designers who, like herself, value the importance of detail, care and materiality. Or she might pay a spontaneous visit to a friend. She counts herself lucky to have surrounded herself with a community of fellow creatives. Indeed, her circle includes talented painters, musicians, designers and photographers, most of them women. They often work together and collaborate, supporting each other and making Charleston a harbour for aspiring artists like Louisa.
Creating spaces for community and inspiring others to embrace their creativity have been two of Louisa’s missions since 2022, the year she launched her collage workshops. It started as a casual hangout at Bar Rollins, her favourite wine bar, where participants were invited to grab scissors, glue sticks and a glass of wine, while meditatively playing with the materials she provided to the sound of her playlist. Her outgoing and generous spirit makes her a wonderful tutor, and the energy she has poured into sharing her craft with others has truly taken her places. Beyond Charleston, she has had the opportunity to teach in Italy (as part of the Bland Badger retreat) as well as the UK, and in the last year her workshop paved the way to an exciting collaboration with New York fashion brand Loeffler Randall.
At only 26, Louisa is ambitious, humble, and still eager to learn. She is grateful to have found her voice through collage, but owes much of her creative journey to her multidisciplinary approach which she intends to keep nurturing as her career expands.
Find Louisa’s work on her website, and follow her Instagram for the latest updates on her workshop and creative ventures.
Photos & text - Pauline Chatelan @paulinechatelan
Featuring - Louisa Dunn @louisacatherined
Styling - top & skirt Loeffler Randall, jacket Loeffler Randall, dress Loeffler Randall, purse Villa