The Many Layers of Melora Hardin
Actress and director Melora Hardin, best known for her roles on The Office, Monk, and The Bold Type and her Emmy-nominated turn on Transparent, is also a passionate collage artist and wallpaper designer. She discusses her creative process and how it informs her work on, off, and behind the screen.
How did you get started in collage art?
As a little girl, I was always creating and drawing, and I kept getting pulled into collage. I enjoyed being messy, adding layers, and making something. I also loved that I could cover a collage up with something else if I didn’t like it. It was a fun way to express myself—it was kind of like doodling.
How did you get back into collaging?
When I started making my documentary, Hunter’s Thunder, collaging was something I could use to inform me as an editor. It’s a little like directing because they are both about putting pieces together to tell a story. It’s this ability to tell stories that attracts me most to collaging.
I also did a lot of collaging in Montreal while shooting The Bold Type since I hadn’t been to that city before and was about 3,000 miles away from my family and friends. I felt compelled to collage since I knew there would be downtime. It gave me something relaxing to do to balance the intensity of the work I had done in Los Angeles with Hunter Austin, the subject of my documentary.
What is your documentary about?
It’s both an inside look at my friendship with Hunter and a story about a meaningful chance connection, real-life serendipity and healing, and women holding women up. It’s 85 percent self-shot and is quite intimate. With a documentary, you follow real life, not a script, so I didn’t know where the story was taking me. When I started editing my footage, I did a series of collages to help me figure out what I wanted to say. My collages resonated with Hunter; it was incredible to see my art have such an effect on somebody. They gave her an imaginative escape that helped her heal and create a new vision for her life.
Does being a collage artist and an actor share any similarities?
Yes. In acting and directing, as with collaging, you sometimes need to release control and allow intuition and instinct to lead. The process requires a lot of skill because you have to know how to relax your brain to get the best results.
What is your creative process when collaging?
I begin by looking through magazines. I have piles of them—new ones, vintage National Geographic and Life magazines, and some from France. Anytime I see an interesting image on paper or cardboard, I save it. When I go to an airport, I find a newsstand and flip through each publication; if I find something intriguing, I buy it. Later, I’ll cut out what I like—I have piles of clippings to pull from when collaging. I sometimes accent the images with gold, silver, or copper leaf and usually glue everything together with Mod Podge.
Where do you create your collages?
I work on them wherever I go, but I really love to spend time on them in Montreal—that’s where I have the most space to spread out and make a mess. Rather than glue them together right away, I leave my collages out for a while. Then, when I’m happy with a collage, I take photos of it so I can take it apart, reassemble it, and glue it down. Putting my collages back together exactly as they were before is the tricky part.
I’ve filled a bedroom wall in my place in Los Angeles with my collages. When I wake up in the morning, I gaze at them and let them speak to me. On another wall in my bedroom, I’ve hung more collages using adhesive strips that allow me to easily move them around. My husband loves them; when I told him I was going to put them all over the wall, he was fine with it.
Tell us about your wallpaper collection:
It’s called Storyboards by Melora Hardin because everything in the collection tells a story—you can even infuse them with your own imaginings. My first experiment for the series was a collage I made for the bathroom wall in my Montreal condo. The collage makes the space, which has a big bathtub, feel incredibly restful. I can soak, relax, and gaze at its giant blooms, butterflies, and ancient-looking sculpture—it has an owl perched on it that appears to be looking at me. The scene in the collage can be almost anything, whether a lake or a garden—the possibilities are endless.
Do the wall coverings you designed have a unifying theme?
Much of my collection is inspired by Hunter’s Thunder and the idea of metamorphosis and healing. Some elements it features, such as butterflies and flowers, are about letting the light in since shame can only exist in the shadows. For example, my “Birds of a Feather” pattern has a bleak black-and-white background, but it also has a vibrant gold and pink foreground.
Is your decorating style as colorful as your collages and wallpaper?
Yes—I want my spaces to be warm and welcoming. I’m what you’d call eclectic and “house proud.” In my homes, I have lots of magic and whimsy and have collected many things. I love that my wallpaper can turn a room into a work of art.
For more info, visit melora.com