Inside what was once was an old medical centre on Brunswick’s busy Sydney Road is a warm, inviting space lined with shelves of books and magazines. It’s not a library, though. In fact, one look at these books would likely make a librarian faint. Because these printed works aren’t for reading – they’re here to be snipped, sliced and torn up to be turned into artworks as part of Melbourne’s first studio dedicated to collage.
That Paper Joint is a purpose-built and sustainable studio all about paper collage, running workshops to get people cutting and pasting together their own masterpieces. The venue is run by Maximillian Malone and Zoe Crook, who have made a hybrid space that’s part art studio and part creative workshop. “'Joining people through paper’ is the motto here,” says Malone. “Collage can be quite an introverted, diary-like and sentimental process, but we really want to create a super fun, exciting place for people to sit alongside one another creating in small, intimate groups.”
Malone comes from a background in art design and like many, used his time in Melbourne’s lockdowns to reconsider what he wanted to do in life. “I've always felt creative [but] not necessarily had the natural talents to paint or draw,” he says. “What I've always found fascinating about collage is that you can create something amazing in a matter of minutes. Or you can spend a lot of time and hunt for interesting materials and build something over a number of weeks.”
The threshold for engaging with collage as an artistic medium is also fairly accessible; you don’t need to stock up on expensive canvases and paints, as most people already have all the materials needed in their houses as they read this. Malone is also really adamant that you don’t need to think of yourself as a “creative person” to enjoy collage or make a beautiful work. “Some of the most interesting collages and outcomes have been created by people who would say that they're not artistic at all,” he says.
Since properly opening in early November 2021, That Paper Joint’s cut and paste collage workshops have attracted everyone from families to couples on dates and solo individuals just looking for a creative outlet. The workshops run every weekend (Friday to Sunday) and sometimes midweek, during which Crook and Malone guide participants through image-making techniques. Participants create one or more artworks, which can be digitally scanned to share online. Unlike 'paint and sip' classes that have become popular in recent years, That Paper Joint’s workshops are far more open-ended – you aren’t trying to recreate a predetermined work. “The nature of collages [is] you're always responding to the materials in front of you,” Malone says. “It's very much a personal thing.”
All materials are supplied – Malone has been collecting paper ephemera for roughly the last ten years, and the studio now houses “an insane” array of paper and printed material for students to use to make collages. “It's been quite a cathartic process to set up a space where I can kind of share all these amazing materials that I found over the years,” he says. People also donate collage materials to the venue, which helps the team live up to their sustainable ethos. “Pretty much everything that's within the room has either been begged, borrowed or salvaged,” says Malone. “We're not so much interested in hosting workshops with new materials. It's about reinventing, reusing and reimagining with what already exists.”
That Paper Joint also hosts exhibitions, working with local artists to give them boutique, pop-up spaces to display their work. In the meantime, you can head over to the venue’s website to sign up for a collage workshop.