Artist's Bio
Flax has a BA in English from Heidelberg College and an MA in Speech & Theater from the University of Michigan. She has worked in theater, film, and, for the past 20 years, in marketing and communications.

When she moved to Cape Cod in 2013, Flax revived a technique of representational collage that she originally developed in her twenties. She calls her work “Cut Paper Mosaics” as she uses entirely cut reclaimed (mostly magazine) paper, applied in brush-stroke-like patterns, which reference the natural shapes and movement in the landscapes or objects they depict. She uses her art-making as a lens through which to view her beautiful surroundings, in varying degrees of representation and abstraction.

A sample of recent national and regional juried exhibitions and shows include:

Audubon Artists, Inc., Salmagundi Club, NYC

Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA

Marblehead Art Association, Marblehead, MA

South Shore Arts Center, Cohasset, MA

Loading Dock Gallery, Lowell, MA

Cortile Gallery, Provincetown, MA

Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA

Galatea Fine Arts Gallery, (SOWA) Boston, MA

The Davis Gallery, Worcester, MA

The Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA

Artist’s Statement
I use entirely reclaimed paper, which I apply in what could be called a “painterly” technique. I cut each piece of paper and then layer or place it using archival glue. While the outcome of these cut paper "mosaics" may look a bit like "painting with paper," the process of creating these representational collages presents a consistent set of unique challenges that are not at all like painting. Unlike painting, I can’t just create enough of the color that I need. I have to find it. Creating texture, light, detail and dimension, using only paper means looking at the details of magazine pages in a different way. Often times, I see a way to deconstruct an image and use it to make something entirely different. I love these challenges -- the initial "treasure hunt" for the paper color palette, and then the specific cutting of various shapes to achieve the final result. Up close, the work may appear quite abstract or impressionistic, but will quickly reveal a greater degree of its two-dimensionality as the viewer steps back.