Sarah Ellen Masters is a collage artist, workshop facilitator, and founder of Colle — a creative business born from her own healing journey. In this deeply personal conversation, Sarah traces how dyslexia, public shame at school, and years of emotional isolation led her, unexpectedly, to the transformative power of collage. ~

What began as a master's project questioning her own bias against the medium evolved into a daily practice, a business, and a mission to bring accessible, hands-on creativity back into communities, schools, and organisations. 

Sarah shares how she turned Julia Cameron's morning pages into a visual ritual, why she sources materials from charity shops and her grandmother's belongings, and how sitting side-by-side with workshop participants — not above them — defines her entire philosophy of creative empowerment.

Key Takeaways

• Creativity can be suppressed from a very young age — for Sarah, dyslexia and an unsupportive school system created decades of shame and self-doubt before she found her creative identity in her late twenties.
• Collage has a uniquely low barrier to entry because, unlike drawing or painting, it was never formally graded at school — meaning most people carry no negative conditioning around it.
• Sarah developed a daily practice of writing diary entries, distilling each into three words, then translating those words into imagery — a powerful visual alternative to traditional journalling.
• Being present over perfect is the core principle behind her workshops. The process matters far more than the finished image, making it genuinely accessible to everyone.
• The labels we carry — "shy", "stupid", "black sheep" — are rarely accurate. Sarah unpacks how misdiagnosed shyness was actually years of learned isolation, and how collage helped her reclaim her organic self.
• Sources and materials matter philosophically: charity shops, inherited pieces from her grandmother, and printing offcuts all tie into her values of renewal, recycling, and honouring the past.
• People are physically starving for analog connection. The moment participants put their phones down and work with their hands, real human connection — not just connectivity — takes over.
• Starting with people she knew and slowly widening her audience has helped Sarah build confidence through accumulated reps, not overnight transformation.
• Her collage practice has trained her to respond to life's situations rather than be absorbed by them — a profound shift in emotional resilience.
• What Sarah offers her workshop participants is the exact safe, supported environment she desperately needed but never had growing up.

Daring Creativity. Podcast with Radim Malinic

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