Stencil Collages

Angela Voulangas

A few years ago I found myself compelled to buy a suitcase filled with hundreds of stencils. They all appeared to be from one man’s working collection, and on a single sheet was the penciled date October 28, 1912. Many of the stencils are for long-defunct import businesses in lower Manhattan. All were hand cut——blocky slab serifs, windblown scripts, often in layers to create dimensional lettering——and colored with remnants of the orange, green, graphite, and silver used to mark crates of tea, coffee, and spices. Along with the words, ornaments, and lock-ups, are scores of broken pieces. I use these to create collages, often on the inside covers of discarded books.