Kolaj 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 above the Peach Cobbler Factory. The Gallery is open Thursday-Saturday, Noon-6PM or by appointment.
Join us on Second Saturday
for the Bywater Art Walk from 6-8PM.
Kolaj Institute also manifests in other locations and art institutions around New Orleans with the intent to activate community centered around collage. Collage artists interested in professional development, artist residencies, and artist labs should consult the Calls to Artists page for open opportunities.
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers play a critical role at Kolaj Institute Gallery. We are looking for people who can help install exhibitions, staff the gallery during open hours, help with archiving, and lend a hand with opening receptions. If you’re interested or have questions send an email to gallery@kolajinstitute.org.
If you’d like to support Kolaj Institute and help keep our community events low-cost, Make a Donation.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
OPENING 13 December 2025, 6-8PM
Pictures at the Intersection of Photography & Collage
10 December 2025-24 January 2026.
Throughout 2024 and 2025, Kolaj Institute hosted virtual residencies during which artists made work at the intersection of photography and collage. The intersection of collage and photography is not like a simple crossroads where two streets meet,” wrote exhibition curator and Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour, “It’s more like a round-about where many paths come together before shooting off in different directions. The deeper one gets into this inquiry, the more road metaphors fail. It may be more helpful to think of the intersection of collage and photography as neuropathways or mycelium.” In the exhibition, artists use collage to disrupt the photograph in order to tell a more complex and layered story.
UPCOMING EVENTS
EVENT
Collage the Tarot
Wednesday, 14 January 2026, 7-9PM
Cost: $20 per workshop
On the Second Wednesday of the months of through 2026, Kolaj Institute invites you to Collage the Tarot, with visual artist Bethanie Mangigian. Participants will explore the rich imagery of the tarot through intuitive collage-making. Each session invites participants to pull a card (bring a deck or use one of ours), reflect on its meaning, and set a personal intention. From there, participants will create an original collage inspired by the symbols, themes, and messages that arise. This is a space to slow down, connect with inner wisdom, play, and express creativity. No experience with tarot or collage is needed, and participants are invited to bring a notebook if they’d like to journal as part of this practice All materials are provided, and gentle guidance is offered throughout. Participants will leave with a piece of art that reflects their journey.
Participants are invited to BYOB. No one would be turned away for lack of funds. If the fee poses a barrier to participation, send an email to Bethanie Mangigian at missmangigian@gmail.com to request a waiver.
Want to learn more, watch Bethanie Mangigian speak about this project on Fox8Live. HERE
WORKSHOP
New Mutations: Carnival
Friday, 16 January 2026 from 4PM to 7PM
Kolaj Institute Gallery, Free
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA artist and Kolaj Institute Solo Artist in Residence Emily Denlinger invites members of the New Orleans community to bring throws and other Carnival ephemera to Kolaj Institute Gallery on Friday, 16 January from 4PM to 7PM and help build a miniature landscape that will be used in a locative collage reflecting on the New Orleans Carnival celebrations. The goal is to incorporate materials left over or left behind after the celebrations. Denlinger will give ideas on how to transform found elements to construct a dream-like landscape. The landscape will be used in locative collage photographs created during her residency. Analog collaged figures made of fragments from fashion and vintage National Geographic magazines will be photographed in the ethereal, amorphous, other-worldly landscape. LEARN MORE about the project.
EVENT
Collage Artist Meet-Up
Tuesday, 27 January 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 24 February 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 31 March 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 28 April 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 26 May 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 30 June 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 28 July 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 25 August 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 29 September 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 27 October 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 24 November 2026, 6-7:30PM
Tuesday, 29 December 2026, 6-7:30PM
Cost: Free
At 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. If you’re not a working artist, but utilize art as a healing modality, you are welcome. If you have curiosities about collage generally or want to include it in what you are passionate about, you are welcome. Find out who’s looking for folks to exhibit, meet other working artists, and share skills and techniques in intentional space. The event is hosted by LaVonna Varnado Brown at Kolaj Institute Gallery.
The entrance to the gallery space where the workshop is held is stairs-only access.
This event is in-person only and will neither be recorded nor live-streamed.
Questions? Send an EMAIL.
PAST EVENTS
