Collage techniques are as old as the invention of paper in China over 2000 years ago. Collage's venerable history stretches from its early moments in the far east to its extensive practice in some form or another throughout medieval Europe and into the 19th century. Before collage was given prominance as a fine art technique by Braque and Picasso in the early 20th century, the practice was largely a domestic matter employed in the collecting of mementos, souvenirs, and other ephemera in scrapbooks and the like. This common lineage connects the practice of collage to the everyday world, which is one of its lasting strengths. By using the stuff of daily life, particularly the discarded material of print culture, the early collage worker, scrapbook maker or artist, was not just recycling or repurposing used material, but in a sense condensing it in an effort to distill some essence; to reshape it in personal ways that transcended its original purpose as a collective source of knowledge, information, or amusement. That process of condensing and reshaping print material appropriated from various sources continues, abetted by the artist's intelligence, sensibility, and individual style, breathing new life into its images and texts, transforming the quotidian in ways that are often poetic. This transformation begins with the recognition of some extra-ordinary potential either ascribed to or inherent in the material, a quality or qualities that might be amplified through careful reflection upon both the substance and content of the material as well as its form and structure.