Artist Makes Portraits of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, and More from Old Cassette Tapes

Tina Benitez-Eves

August 7, 2023 2:39 pm

It all started 10 years ago when photographer Amy Corson found an old box of cassette tapes. With no way to play them again, she pulled the tape out of a Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks cassette. Unwound, the strip resembled Dylan’s curly hair, so Corson spent the entire weekend making his portraiture using the pulled-out tape.

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Since then, the artist has created cassette tape images of John Lennon, George Harrison, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Jerry Garcia, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, Elton John, and many more.

“There’s definitely something very nostalgic about it,” Corson tells American Songwriter of her series of pieces. “It takes me right back to being a kid and waiting for my favorite song to come on the radio so I could record it to a blank cassette and play it over and over. It’s also just something unique, being able to create something beautiful out of an everyday object that you found stashed in your closet.”

Growing up, Corson, who is based in New Jersey, started making art out of whatever she found around her house, from origami paper flowers glued onto branches, which she would then place in a vase. Cassettes were also something that was part of her early childhood, and she still considers Juice Newton’s 1981 release Juice, featuring the hit “Angel of the Morning,” one of the most influential tapes during her younger years.

“It was the only cassette tape that my grandfather owned and I listened to it incessantly in my walkman for hours a day,” shares Corson of Juice. “I remember thinking that she just looked so cool on the cover and wanting to be like her while singing along to ‘Angel of the Morning.’”

Capturing each artist’s likeness down to their signature coifs — Bob Marley and Willie Nelson’s braids — and outfits like Elton John‘s feather boa, depending on the size and detail, a cassette portrait can take up to a week or a month for Corson to finish. Typically, each piece measures 8.5″ x 11,” but Corson has created smaller portraits using micro cassettes as well.

The artist says she has only touched the surface of the artists she wants to work with. She continues working with local artists and was recently commissioned by a “popular contemporary band,” to do a piece. She is even thinking of exploring portraits of famous actors and directors using tape from old 8mm film reels.

Some living artists featured in Corson’s series have also seen her portraits of them, and the feedback has been positive.

“I remember James Mercer from The Shins saying, ‘Whoa! That’s rad. I never look that handsome,’” says Corson. “So, that was pretty neat.”

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Check out more of Corson’s cassette masterpieces below:

Bob Dylan