Hello! I’m Wendy Solganik, aka @willa.wanders on Instagram. If this is your first time here on my blog, welcome! I’m pretty excited that you found me and my little corner of the art world.

I’ve done a bazillion kinds of art in my life, and the thing that intrigues me the most today is Mixed Media Collage Art.

I’m such a passionate student of this form of art and I’m obsessed with making and using collage fodder (what the heck is collage fodder?).

I really want to learn everything I can about it. I created an entire online art school called Fodder School where anyone with an interest in Mixed Media Art collage art, handmade books and journaling can come and learn this craft from a variety of incredible instructors, even if you have never made any mixed media art before! At this point, Fodder School is about to enter its fourth year with no intention of slowing down.

If you are looking for a great place to start your mixed media art journey from scratch, can I recommend this $19 course?

In this blog series, I’m going to be introducing you to the instructors that will be joining us in Fodder School as Fodder School 4 instructors. If you want to know all about what Fodder School is, go here.

As she puts it herself, Roxanne Evans Stout is an "artist and teacher, wanderer and dreamer, garden dweller, river walker, child of the forest, daughter of the sea—Always grateful, always noticing, always growing." She lives and creates in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where the mountains and the river lands that surround her home provide her with constant inspiration.

Teaching enables her to share her passion. “As an artist I am constantly learning and growing. Art is my passion, my love, my soul.” Nothing makes Roxanne more happy than helping her students through their own process of renewal. Her goal is to help you find your own magic. Through her art, Roxanne would like to convey the feeling of connection, timelessness and re-creation.

Roxanne's home and studio sits on perch above the Klamath River and on the eastern edge of the Cascade Mountains in Southern Oregon. This land is abundant with beautiful wildlife and a rich natural history. "My home, my family, my studio and gardens have been welcome and nurtured here... all together they and this land makes me who I am as an artist and gives me refuge. This is my quiet place where I can create. This is where I am always inspired."

For Roxanne's Fodder Challenge 2025 project, you'll make a few perfectly imperfect "origami" boxes, which you can decorate with a wide assortment of natural elements. While the boxes themselves are pretty simple in construction, the real value of Roxanne's Fodder Challenge videos comes from her wise insight on collecting bits and bobs. You'll get a personal tour of her studio and how she organizes her unique workflow, something which is sure to inspire you to get out and get foraging!

For Roxanne's Fodder School 5 project, she'll help you step into the exciting world of modular Installation art! If you've been keeping up with the past few teacher announcement newsletters, you might have seen that we're experimenting with quite a few of the Fodder School project months this year, and Roxanne's lessons are no exception!

You'll start off with some markmaking and drawing on paper and fabric, and continue with stick-wrapping, embroidery, and foraging. Later, Roxanne will show you a few ways to make organic cluster compositions; and this is where the real fun begins! Roxanne will show you three ways you can arrange your clusters into modular, transient Installations: art that can come down, be re-arranged, and bent to your will! Once you get a grasp on the technique, the possibilities are endless. I can't wait to see what kind of Installations everyone will end up making!

If you think that you aren't capable of creating incredible mixed media art like what you see here, you haven't been to Fodder School yet! We make it accessible. We make it effortless. We make it incredibly FUN!

check out fodder school 5