Artist Spotlight: Beth Hoeckel

When we were first introduced to this project and the collages we would have to make, I was immediately taken back to my Pinterest feed from sophomore year, during which a very specific type of collage had grown to great popularity.

These images seemed to be made up from scraps of vintage newspapers, pieced together to form surreal scenes that were undeniably fake yet harmonious. One of the most prominent of these artists, if not the person who set this trend off in the first place, was Beth Hoeckel, who came to greater prominence after illustrating the album cover for Future Island’s 2014 album Singles. Hoeckel also illustrated pieces for Rookie Magazine, an online magazine for teens, which is how I found her. Rookie, now discontinued, was a wonderful place for teens to journal and share their creative side, and I found that a lot of the collages emulated Hoeckel’s simple yet beautiful style.

I love Hoeckel’s work because it makes me feel like I’m being transported back to the 70s while also floating in an unreal realm. Normally, when one thinks of a collage they think of a mumbo jumbo of images pasted together, sometimes forming more of a pattern than a scene. Hoeckel, in contrast, uses only a couple strategically placed parts, making the viewer feel as if the world in her illustrations is one they are a part of.