EVENTS
Cat Collage WorkshopSaturday, October 26th, 2024, 10AM to Noon | Kolaj Institute Gallery | Cost: $50 for one or $75 for two
Kolaj Institute is all about collage, collage, collage. But when Taylor Swift signed her endorsement of Kamala Harris as “Childless Cat Lady” we were reminded just how much we like cats. (I mean, we did put a cat collage by Matt McCarthy on the cover of Kolaj #37.) With Taylor Swift coming to New Orleans for three concerts, we thought it would be fun to host a Cat Collage Workshop in honor of Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button (her cats).
CURRENT ISSUE
Kolaj #40
Since 2011, Kolaj Magazine has documented, reported on, and explored the amazing artists who make up the international collage community.
Inside Kolaj #40, you will find large scale collages from Australia, an installation in Finland, a collaborative book of dog collages, activist assemblage art, reimagined fiber, a collage festival in Ukraine, an interview with Dutch collagist Anneke Stil, reviews of exhibitions in Houston, Texas & County Mayo, Ireland, collage books, news from Kolaj Institute in New Orleans, and artist portfolios.
Our goal with every issue is that Kolaj Magazine is essential reading for anyone interested in the role of contemporary collage in art, culture, and society.
EVENTS
Kolaj Institute in New OrleansKolaj Institute Gallery is an exhibition gallery, residency center, artist studio, library and archive. Located at 2374 Saint Claude Avenue, Suite 230, at the corner with St. Roch Avenue. Kolaj Institute also manifests in other locations and art institutions around New Orleans with the intent to activate community centered around collage.
CURRENT EXHIBITION
Temporal Geolocation: How Place & History Inform Identity in Collageat Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
11 October-24 November 2024
North American modern life is fundamentally diasporic in nature. So many of us are from somewhere else and yet, where we are and when we are shapes who we are at any given point in time. How do we reconcile disparate identities and nurture a whole sense of self? In the exhibition, “Temporal Geolocation,” Paula Mans, T. Owens Union, Candace Caston, and Jeanna Penn draw on history and a sense of place to make collage art that speaks to identity.
Kolaj Institute Gallery has open hours Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6PM or by appointment.
EVENTS
Crafting Costumes With RecyclablesThursday, October 24th, 2024, 6-8PM | Kolaj Institute Gallery | Cost: $30
Join The Recycle Challenge for a fun and creative in-person evening where you will learn how to turn recyclables into costumes. Participants will learn how to identify repurposable materials and to work with that material to make hats, dresses, sashes, jackets, and other costumes. This hands-on workshop will inspire you to see the beauty in materials that are often overlooked.
CALLS TO ARTISTS
Castles as Buildings, Metaphors and Systems of Power Virtual Artist Residency
Final Deadline to Apply: Monday, 4 November 2024
In this virtual residency, we will examine 20th century romantic notions of castles in popular media and theme parks. Artists will make artwork that expresses ideas that connect history and folklore to contemporary manifestations of power.
Collage Publishing Workshop
Final deadline to apply: Sunday, 27 October 2024
In this four-week workshop, artists will turn a body of work or a project into a zine, art catalog, monograph, or book. We will explore different models of publishing and types of book projects. We will walk through the steps and support one another as we create publishing projects and prepare to put them out into the world. Participants will present and receive feedback on page spreads. Presentations will speak to issues around copyright and appropriation, getting the book printed, and launching and marketing the book.
Poetry & Collage Virtual Artist Residency December 2024
Early deadline to apply: Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Final deadline to apply: Wednesday, 13 November 2024
In four virtual meetings over the course of the month and through ongoing, online discussion, artists will leave the residency with a deeper understanding of the intersection of collage and poetry. Individual participants will each be invited to create and submit 3-5 page spreads to the PoetryXCollage Journal.
Collage Retreat
Final Deadline to apply: Friday, 1 November 2024
At Kolaj Institute, we believe there is great value in artists having dedicated, focused time to work on their artwork while being in community with other artists. To that end, we are hosting a Collage Retreat for artists to come to New Orleans and spend a week working at Kolaj Institute Gallery. We invite artists to work on a series of collage artworks, explore and make art about New Orleans as a place, work on a book project, create a collection of collage poetry, prepare art for an exhibition, or use the time to review, organize, and document one’s art practice.
Curating Collage Workshop
Early deadline to apply: Thursday, 31 October 2024
Final deadline to apply: Thursday, 14 November 2024
Curating is a vital part of art’s function: a curator creates a bridge between artwork and audience. For artists, this process can be confusing and mysterious. The goal of the Curating Collage Workshop is to equip artists with the tools to curate their own work, to work with curators, and build exhibitions that connect with diverse audiences.
Collage in Practice Workshop
Early deadline to apply: Saturday, 28 November 2024
Final deadline to apply: Saturday, 8 December 2024
Intended as a clinic for working artists at any level, participants in this workshop will explore how they go about making art and putting it out into the world. Participants will finish the workshop with a deeper understanding of their practice; a strong statement of practice that can be used to communicate with curators, editors, and art professionals; a portfolio of consistent artwork (or a plan to make one); and tools for growing or developing their practice.
Artist Development at Kolaj Institute
At Kolaj Institute, our philosophy is that if we bring artists together, explore ideas and concepts, share knowledge, we can stretch and develop as artists. When we bring that knowledge and skill into our communities, we raise the standing of collage and contribute to the civic discourse. Kolaj Institute’s Artist Development Program is a collection of three core workshops for self-motivated artists, at any stage in their career, who want to develop and expand their collage-based artist practice and work towards professional goals, particularly in the areas of exhibitions and publishing.
Call for Submissions: PoetryXCollage
Submissions are reviewed on an ongoing basis
PoetryXCollage is a printed journal of artwork and writing that operates at the intersection of poetry and collage. Artists and writers interested in submitting should prepare 3-5 page spreads for consideration. Page spreads must conform to exact specifications and include a general artist narrative and a short page spread narrative.
NEW VOLUME
PoetryXCollagePoetryXCollage is a printed journal of artwork and writing which operates at the intersection of poetry and collage. We are interested in found poetry, blackout poetry, collage poems, haikus, centos, response collages, response poems, word scrambles, concrete poetry, scatter collage poems, and other poems and artwork that inhabit this world.
COLLAGE ARTIST MEETUP
Tuesday, 5 November 2024, 7-9PMAt Kolaj Institute, we reject the myth of the solitary artist and believe that artists are better in community with one another. In that spirit we invite working artists to join us for a monthly meet-up to get feedback on work, and network with one another. Find out who’s looking for folks to exhibit, meet other working artists, and get the low-down on the skinny of what’s up and up. The event is hosted by LaVonna Varnado Brown at Kolaj Institute Gallery. RSVP is helpful but not necessary. Artists are encouraged to bring artwork to share with the group. Questions? Send an email to info@kolajinstitute.org
NEW PUBLICATION
Magic in the Modern WorldTaking a broad view of magic and drawing from multiple histories, the book, Magic in the Modern World by Ric Kasini Kadour, proposes a way to think about magic in the 21st century, what it means to communities, and how it negotiates itself in systems of power. Generously illustrated, the book features the artwork of fifteen collage artists and dozens of historical images. The book asks, What role can artists play in nurturing and supporting magic traditions?
NEW PUBLICATION
Collage Saves The WorldWe are living in an explosively political time, faced with crises that are not only deepening individually, but becoming increasingly intersectional in relation to each other. There is a strong history of collage art being used to tackle complex socio-political issues during some of the most difficult eras, but how can it meet this moment and spark meaningful dialogues about our varied, contemporary issues? In November 2022, G. E. Vogt led twelve artists in a month-long virtual residency with the goal of creating work that examines complex socio-political issues that contemporary society is contending with, in order to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire deeper engagement. Each artist chose specific issues to explore through the medium of collage. Their artwork allows viewers an opportunity to reflect on various forms of racism, colorism, ableism, and sexism; the war in Ukraine; climate change and the importance of permaculture; beauty standards and women’s autonomy. Their work makes its way into the world in this book and as a traveling exhibition.
FUNDRAISER
A New Home for Kolaj InstituteIn January 2024, Kolaj Institute moved into a 1200 square foot space in the New Orleans Healing Center on the corner of St. Claude and St. Roch Avenues. The space serves as an exhibition gallery, residency center, artist studio, library and archive. We need your help to make it happen!
NEW PUBLICATION
The Awakeningby Kate Chopin, illustrated & interpreted by contemporary collage artists
The Awakening focuses on Edna Pontellier, an upper-class New Orleans woman, torn between expectations and desires. In the beginning of the novel Edna appears to live in a semi-conscious state, trapped in the mundane aspects of her life. As the story evolves, she encounters new people and experiences that create an awakening shift within her. Edna begins to view her world differently, and through this lens new relationships emerge while others become strained. In the end, Edna realizes that even if she has her own desires she is still trapped by her societal role.
The mission of Kolaj Institute is to support artists, curators, and writers who seek to study, document, & disseminate ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. We operate a number of initiatives meant to bring together community, investigate critical issues, and raise collage’s standing in the art world.
Kolaj Institute works in partnership with Kolaj Magazine to communicate, market, promote, publish, and distribute the work of the Institute. Kolaj Institute is the recipient of Kolaj Magazine‘s archives and collections.
Kolaj Institute is decentralized and works in partnership with a number of art venues and other organizations around the world to manifest its programs.
Publications from Kolaj Institute
Consider this: The book, not the gallery, may be the best place to experience collage. This sentiment has broad implications for how collage artists work and how their work is received by an art world whose orientation is decidedly fixed on the gallery wall. Can the book provide the functions that the exhibition has historically provided to artists? Unlike an exhibition where original work is on display, a book depends on reproduction for its distribution. Will the public accept a book as an experience of artwork or even as an object of art in and of itself? And if we accept the book as being on par with the exhibition, how does that affect how we think of the history of art publishing that has come before?
Kolaj Institute works with Kasini House to publish books that document and diffuse ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. Books are often the outcome of residencies, fellowships, and other projects.
What’s New In Collage
COLLAGE ON VIEW National Collage Society’s 40th Annual Juried Exhibition at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, USA8 November-15 December 2024 later it will be presented on the… [...]
COLLAGE ON VIEW Bria Sterling-Wilson: The Sterlings at Julio Fine Arts Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, USA10 October-22 November 2024 In “The Sterlings”, Bria Sterling-Wilson, the 2024-2025 Julio Fine Arts Gallery… [...]