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EP 25 - Finding Clarity in the Chaos | Bridgette Bramlage | Collage Artist
Published 10 months, 1 week ago
Description
Podcast Title:
Let’s Talk Passion and Purpose with Nicole Thomas
🎨 Episode Title:
Episode 25 – Finding Clarity in the Chaos | Bridgette Bramlage, Collage Artist
🎧 Host: Nicole Thomas
🎤 Guest: Bridgette Bramlage
📅 Release Date: 07/03/2025
🌐 Guest Website: www.bridgetbramlage.com
📲 Instagram: @bridget_bramlage
🖼️ Episode Summary:
In this energizing and thought-provoking episode, Nicole Thomas welcomes Bridgette Bramlage, a bold and dynamic collage artist from Chicago, who transforms vintage magazines and advertisements into powerful, humorous, and deeply feminist visual narratives. What began as a way to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic blossomed into an award-winning career, featuring gallery exhibitions, artist residencies in the U.S. and France, and a signature analog aesthetic grounded in storytelling, commentary, and craft.
Bridgette shares how chaos, curiosity, and community shaped her creative evolution. From making messes with paper at her kitchen table to curating collections like "Factory Girls" and preparing for the Chicago Other Art Fair, she details how collage has become her artistic voice and a feminist advocacy tool. This conversation explores the power of play, the importance of imperfection, and the freedom that comes with claiming your creative identity at any age.
👩🎨 About the Guest:
Bridgette Bramlage is a Chicago-based analog collage artist and vintage magazine enthusiast. Since beginning her artistic journey in 2020, she has exhibited nationally and internationally, been featured in Create Collage and Chicago Collage magazines, and participated in residencies at the Collage Institute (New Orleans) and Château Orquevaux (France). Her analog work is renowned for its vibrant layering, emotional impact, and subversive feminist themes, all created entirely by hand without digital manipulation.
🔑 Key Topics Covered:
“I’m a messy woman—and paper is the most gratifying mess I know.”
“There is no right or wrong in college. There is only you—and play.”
“College gave me a place to put all my anxiety and turn it into something that speaks.”
“Art is conversation. If I can get someone to walk closer, to ask questions, my work is done.”
“Images matter. If I can’t speak it aloud, I will say it with my scissors.”
🧩 Featured Series:
Factory Girls Inspired by her Detroit roots and vintage car advertisements, Bridgette reimagines automobiles as abstract, machine-like sculptures that challenge gendered narratives around labor, identity, and power.Upcoming Series – Undomesticated A deconstruction of mid-century ideals of femininity, housewifery, and societal expectations, reimagined through collage as commentary, rebellion, and playful disruptio
Let’s Talk Passion and Purpose with Nicole Thomas
🎨 Episode Title:
Episode 25 – Finding Clarity in the Chaos | Bridgette Bramlage, Collage Artist
🎧 Host: Nicole Thomas
🎤 Guest: Bridgette Bramlage
📅 Release Date: 07/03/2025
🌐 Guest Website: www.bridgetbramlage.com
📲 Instagram: @bridget_bramlage
🖼️ Episode Summary:
In this energizing and thought-provoking episode, Nicole Thomas welcomes Bridgette Bramlage, a bold and dynamic collage artist from Chicago, who transforms vintage magazines and advertisements into powerful, humorous, and deeply feminist visual narratives. What began as a way to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic blossomed into an award-winning career, featuring gallery exhibitions, artist residencies in the U.S. and France, and a signature analog aesthetic grounded in storytelling, commentary, and craft.
Bridgette shares how chaos, curiosity, and community shaped her creative evolution. From making messes with paper at her kitchen table to curating collections like "Factory Girls" and preparing for the Chicago Other Art Fair, she details how collage has become her artistic voice and a feminist advocacy tool. This conversation explores the power of play, the importance of imperfection, and the freedom that comes with claiming your creative identity at any age.
👩🎨 About the Guest:
Bridgette Bramlage is a Chicago-based analog collage artist and vintage magazine enthusiast. Since beginning her artistic journey in 2020, she has exhibited nationally and internationally, been featured in Create Collage and Chicago Collage magazines, and participated in residencies at the Collage Institute (New Orleans) and Château Orquevaux (France). Her analog work is renowned for its vibrant layering, emotional impact, and subversive feminist themes, all created entirely by hand without digital manipulation.
🔑 Key Topics Covered:
- Pandemic Beginnings: How college became Bridgette’s self-soothing outlet during COVID-19
- Claiming “Artist” as Identity: The pivotal moment someone told her, “You ARE an artist”
- Analog Only: Why she remains devoted to traditional cut-and-paste techniques
- Creative Process: A chaotic, intuitive flow where meaning often comes after the composition
- Feminist Commentary: Using vintage advertising to invert outdated gender roles
- The Factory Girls Series: A powerful exploration of female identity through deconstructed cars
- Artist Residency in France: How two weeks in Château Orquevaux rewired her creative brain
- Teaching and Community: Her workshops with the design and architecture communities
- The Role of Play: Why embracing mess, imperfection, and experimentation is essential
- Upcoming Work: Preparing for The Other Art Fair and One of a Kind Show in Chicago
“I’m a messy woman—and paper is the most gratifying mess I know.”
“There is no right or wrong in college. There is only you—and play.”
“College gave me a place to put all my anxiety and turn it into something that speaks.”
“Art is conversation. If I can get someone to walk closer, to ask questions, my work is done.”
“Images matter. If I can’t speak it aloud, I will say it with my scissors.”
🧩 Featured Series:
Factory Girls Inspired by her Detroit roots and vintage car advertisements, Bridgette reimagines automobiles as abstract, machine-like sculptures that challenge gendered narratives around labor, identity, and power.Upcoming Series – Undomesticated A deconstruction of mid-century ideals of femininity, housewifery, and societal expectations, reimagined through collage as commentary, rebellion, and playful disruptio