Kolaj Fest New Orleans was a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025.
About the Event
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is 25-29 June 2025
Kolaj Fest returned to New Orleans on 25-29 June 2025 for a gathering of collage artists and art professionals; a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society; where the focus is how we celebrate and elevate the status of collage.
Presenters led panel discussions and explored key curatorial issues. Artists exhibited artwork, and created special activities and demonstrations. We met, networked, shared community, camaraderie, and fellowship. We left armed with new ideas for our artmaking, writing, and curatorial projects, but more importantly, we left Kolaj Fest New Orleans prepared to champion this artform in the year to come.
Registration
With your registration for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025, you had access to all sessions and activities, as well as the printed program guide for the event. You also received access to collage making and workshop spaces.
Registration: $175
Where to Stay
Kolaj Fest New Orleans was a decentralized event that extended across New Orleans. There was no official host hotel. New Orleans is rich with housing options, from traditional hotels to B&Bs at a range of price points. We recommended booking in the Central Business District/Warehouse District, French Quarter, or in the Marigny/Bywater, all places well served by public transportation and ride share services. New Orleans & Co., the city’s visitor and convention bureau, offers a free hotel and B&B booking service.
What Happened at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
PUBLICATION
Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025 Program
Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025 Program Book is a document of all things related to Kolaj Fest. In these pages, you will find a schedule and descriptions of sessions, bios and website information for artists and presenters, descriptions of evening events and special workshops. A full-colour, printed book was included with your registration.
AT KOLAJ FEST
Symposium
The program at Kolaj Fest is a unique experience. We have multiple goals and are serving multiple audiences: We aim to breakdown hierarchy and foster dialogue among art professionals working in a variety of capacities. We aim to build bridges between the collage community and the larger art world; between the art world and the general public. SEE PROGRAMS
AT KOLAJ FEST
Collage Making & Workshops
Collage making took place each day of Kolaj Fest New Orleans. In addition to free time to make collage, the space hosted artists leading demonstrations and workshops. The space had scissors, X-acto knives, glue, and a collection of papers and materials.
Collage making also took place during Workshops and some Roundtable Discussions.
AT KOLAJ FEST
Daily Collage Congress
At each Daily Collage Congress, we reviewed the day’s agenda. Speakers shared ideas about the state of collage. We also heard updates about special projects that took place during the festival.
Note: Program dates, times, & locations are subject to change. The final, official schedule program schedule appears in the printed program that is included in the Registration Packet. Sign-up to receive updates.
Special Events at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
Welcome Reception
Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 3-5PM
St. Noir Cafe, 1128 St. Roch Avenue (check-in/information table)
St. Roch Tavern, 1200 St. Roch Avenue
St. Roch Market, 2381 St. Claude Avenue
Join us for a peripatetic Welcome Reception in the heart of the St. Roch neighborhood, just across St. Claude Avenue from Kolaj Institute Gallery. Your first stop should have been St. Noir Cafe to check into Kolaj Fest, pick up your registration packet, and meet the organizers and other folks attending Kolaj Fest. The venue wrote, “Our cozy café is more than just a place to grab your favorite beverages; it’s a sanctuary designed for relaxation, connection, and good vibes. At St. Noir, we believe life is best enjoyed slowly, accompanied by a warm beverage and a mellow atmosphere.” Next door to the cafe, St. Roch Tavern hosted collage making. This lively, neighborhood corner dive bar has existed, albeit under different names, since the 1890s. It is also the home of El Caimán Gordo which serves up traditional Colombian cuisine. Across the small street in St. Roch Market you found more collage making in this vibrant community hub and modern food hall.
WEDNESDAY EVENING
Where Photography Meets Collage Opening Reception
Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 6-8PM
New Orleans Photo Alliance Center, 7800 Oak Street, New Orleans
Since January 2024, Kolaj Institute investigated the intersection of photography and collage through a series of exhibitions and artist residencies in partnership with the New Orleans Photo Alliance. This research was been guided by the idea, “The mediums of collage and photography are bound together in an ongoing dialogue. The photographer makes pictures of the world. The collagist remixes those pictures to tell a story about the world we live in. What happens when the photographer begins collaging their own work? What happens when the collage artist picks up the camera?” This exhibition was the third in the project.
THURSDAY
Kolaj Fest Headed to the New Orleans Museum of Art
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 10AM-4PM
New Orleans Museum of Art
Kolaj Fest New Orleans headed to the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park for a day of activities. We officially opened Kolaj Fest New Orleans at Thursday’s Daily Collage Congress and heard from a number of artists about projects and exhibitions taking place during the festival. Andrea Lewicki from the Special Agent Collage Collective introduced the Locative Collage Project taking place during the festival. Nikola Janevski presented their collaboration with Andrea Burgay that looked to bring collage into the fashion world. Artists were invited to contribute to the Great Collage Swap taking place on Sunday. Thursday’s Congress was the primary orientation to Kolaj Fest New Orleans.
Members of the public who purchased a Museum admission may have taken part in any Kolaj Fest activities happening at the Museum.
THURSDAY EVENING
Collage on Screen
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 7-9PM
Cafe Istanbul
Collage on Screen, an eclectic evening of moving images, is part of Kolaj Institute’s Collage in Motion project, which explores collage and the moving image, a broad, loosely defined category that includes animations, film cut-ups, collage film, stop-motion, documentaries about collage artists, and other forms of media in which collage—as medium or genre—is present.
The program featured curated selection of short films by Shari Gaynes (Los Angeles, California); Arthur Lipsett (1936-1986, Montreal, Quebec, Canada); Eric Stafford (San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA); Miwa Matreyek (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada); Imagined Wing (Brooklyn, New York, USA); John Akre (Louisville, Kentucky, USA); Emily Denlinger (Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA); Max-o-matic (Barcelona, Spain); Osbert Parker & Laurie Hill (London, England, United Kingdom); and Marta Janik (Warsaw, Poland)
The program also included work made by Kolaj Institute’s Collage on Screen Artist Residents: Bella LaMontagne (Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, USA); Christine De Vuono (Guelph, Ontario, Canada); Darren Floyd (Glendale, Arizona, USA); Hillary Carlip (Los Angeles, California, USA); Leniqueca Welcome (Washington, DC, USA); Marria Khan (Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan); Rachelle Wunderink (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada); Sara C. Rolater (Houston, Texas, USA); and Tonya Dee McDaniel (Sinajana, Guam, USA).
This event was open to the public. Admission was $10. (Free for those registered for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025.)
FRIDAY EVENING
Dancing Pixel Party
Friday, 27 June 2025, 7-9PM
Cafe Istanbul
The Dancing Pixel Party was an evening of projected animated GIFs, collage making, dancing, and community. In 1989, CompuServe released a new version of its bitmap image format. Called 89a, this new format allowed images to be animated. Early GIFs gave us cheesy rolling “Under Construction” signs on AOL pages and pixelated dancing bananas announcing Peanut Butter Jelly Times. In decades since then, GIFs have matured into a sophisticated and recognized art form, some of the best of which uses collage as its technique and genre. At this event, we celebrated this medium and saw what collage artists do with it. DJ. Bar. Collage Making. Dancing.
This event was open to the public. Admission was $10. (Free for those registered for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025.)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
Collage Art & Book Market
Saturday, 28 June 2025, Noon-5PM
The Great Hall of the New Orleans Healing Center
2372 St. Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117
Part of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, the Collage Art & Book Market was an opportunity for the general public to meet artists and publishers and to take in the rich and diverse cultural production of the international collage community. The public was invited to peruse vendor displays or attend a talk or demonstration.
The Vendor Application Window is Closed.
SATURDAY EVENING
Dinosaurs on the Moon: Stories from the World of Collage
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 7PM
Cafe Istanbul
“Dinosaurs on the Moon: Stories from the World of Collage” was an evening of storytelling, poetry, performance, comedy, and collage. Portland, Oregon stand-up comedian and collage artist Jordan Cerminara worked with other Kolaj Fest attendees to present a program that was part open mic, part evening of comedy. “I love making people laugh as much as I love meticulously cutting out disparate images and rearranging them to make a visual goof,” wrote Cerminara.
SUNDAY MORNING
Great Collage Swap
Sunday, 29 June 2025, 10:30AM
LeMieux Galleries
On Sunday, we gathered one final time to say our goodbyes and to conduct The Great Collage Swap. To participate, you brought a collage to exchange to the Info Table before 10AM Sunday. In return, you were given a number. All of the collages were displayed. During the program, a collage was selected and matched with a number and the holder of that number received the collage. As the collages were matched, each artist had a chance to share their story. The Great Collage Swap took place at LeMieux Galleries on Julia Street, the site of the Amuse Bouche exhibition.
Projects at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Projects at Kolaj Fest New Orleans are activities that unfold over the course of the festival and often lead to exhibitions or publications that take place after the event. While led by an artist or group of artists, projects are often open to collaboration from Kolaj Fest Participants.
PROJECT
The Global Table, Tell Me While We Eat: Science, Art, & the Power of Collage
The E-Squared magazine’s founder and director, St. Louis, Missouri collage artist Emily A. Dustman invited participants of Kolaj Fest New Orleand to contribute fragments to a series of two foot by two foot, gessoed, wood panels. In “The Global Table: Tell Me While We Eat”, each panel represented multiple plates or place-settings, and together formed a giant metaphorical table. Dustman guided the process of connecting the stories and images to the science of the active compounds such as the key phytochemical or antioxidant or what part of the body it supports who its molecular or biological healing benefits. The collaborative artwork will be published in Kolaj Magazine alongside an article about art and science and become part of Kolaj Institute’s Collection of Collage Art. READ MORE
PROJECT
Gain of Function: New Mutations/Old Traditions
“Gain of Function: New Mutation” by Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA artist Emily Denlinger tried to digest the most dystopian aspects of contemporary life and offered the viewer a path to understanding the complex forces that shape our present day and future. The project exists as locative collage photographs, installations, short film, performance, and community engagement activities. At Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Denlinger manifested a new iteration as a collaborative project. READ MORE
PROJECT
Special Agent Collage Collective’s Mission 27: Locative Kolaj
Special Agent Collage Collective issued a mission during Kolaj Fest New Orleans: Locative Collage. “The goal is for participants to create a collage that is temporarily placed into the Kolaj Fest environment in some way, whether that’s on the street, at a venue, or other place where someone may encounter it.” READ MORE
PROJECT
“Reveries: Fragments of Identity” Collage as Fashion
In the project, “Reveries: Fragments of Identity,” Nikola Janevski & Andrea Burgay considered fashion as the place of collage. “We embarked on a project that pushes the boundaries of collage, printmaking, art, and fashion design by merging these art forms. Our project is a series of ten shirts, each with its own distinct theme, crafted using techniques including fabric collage, printmaking, object printing, hand painting, as well as innovative methods like burning, tearing, and upcycling old clothes. Each piece is crafted using techniques such as fabric collage, printmaking, object printing, hand painting, and innovative methods like burning, tearing, and upcycling old clothes.” During Thursday’s Collage Congress, Janevski (image) presented the results of their collaboration and spoke about “the diverse techniques we used and how they allowed us to experiment and push the boundaries of traditional art forms.”
Exhibitions at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Amuse Bouche
at LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA through 29 June 2025. An amuse-bouche is a small tasting of what is offered on the menu, often served as an hors d’œuvre or appetizer. With this culinary tradition in mind, this exhibition features collage work by participants of Kolaj Fest New Orleans. Twenty-six artists from across the USA offered small works for your viewing and collecting pleasure. As a whole, the exhibition was a small tasting of the International Collage Community. The exhibition was juried by Christy Wood, the director of LeMieux Galleries, and Kolaj Magazine Editor Ric Kasini Kadour and was an official exhibition of Kolaj Fest New Orleans, an annual, multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 25-29 June 2025. READ MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Collage As Art Movement
at Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 14 June-31 August 2025. Kolaj Institute has long maintained that collage is a community that operates like an art movement. In this exhibition, we offer a number of examples of how International Collage Artists come together, make art, and diffuse that art into the larger culture. The exhibition also explored how Kolaj Institute works to support that movement and the artists who participate in it. Among the work on view were panels from Special Agent Collage Collective’s exhibition, “colLABELage”; Frédéric Le ShoeShoe collages by Kolaj Institute Solo Artist in Residence Maria Turner; a collaborative scanograph made by artists from the Poetry & Collage Residency; selections from the Kolaj Institute folios, Authoritarian Regime Survival Guide and Frankenstein: 21st Century; an assemblage sculpture by Amite, Louisiana artist Julie Glass; a selection of art curated by Carol Lynch from the Collage Class at People Program NOLA, a non-profit organization that fosters lifelong learning and creativity in a vibrant community of seniors. Each of these exhibits was a starting point to explore how the International Collage Community operates as a 21st century art movement, a subject that Kolaj Institute will explore more deeply in the coming years. During Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Kolaj Institute Director led an exhibition tour, Friday, 27 June, 7PM. READ MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Cherrymilk and Post Hoc
Kirby Miles and Carrie Fonder at Good Children Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 14 June-6 July 2025. Collagists Carrie Fonder and Kirby Miles were in exhibition at Good Children Gallery, “a pioneer artist-run space in the St. Claude Arts District aimed at enhancing the cultural landscape of New Orleans. The space serves as a bellwether for artistic endeavors by exhibiting engaging work from local, national, and international artists.” Kirby Miles’ “cherrymilk” is a devotional practice made of mess. Queer, maximal, and holy in its disobedience. Each piece is a love spell for the unbeautiful, a relic of femme power too loud to be polite. Objects of worship, yes, but for saints who bleed rhinestones and oracles who speak in blush and bondage. In Carrie Fonder’s “Post Hoc” sculptures gain a second life as digital performers, animated in video sequences that extend their presence and shift their meaning. By highlighting this duplication, Fonder invited viewers to consider the mechanics—literal and metaphorical—behind what we see, how it’s made, and how meaning is assembled. During Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Fonder led a gallery tour and gave an artist talk on Friday, 27 June, 5-6PM. READ MORE
EXHIBITION
Where Photography Meets Collage
at the New Orleans Photo Alliance Center, 25 June-14 August 2025. Since January 2024, Kolaj Institute has been investigated the intersection of photography and collage through a series of exhibitions and artist residencies in partnership with the New Orleans Photo Alliance. This research has been guided by the idea, “The mediums of collage and photography are bound together in an ongoing dialogue. The photographer makes pictures of the world. The collagist remixes those pictures to tell a story about the world we live in. What happens when the photographer begins collaging their own work? What happens when the collage artist picks up the camera?” This exhibition was the third in the project. An opening reception took place on Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 6-8PM during Kolaj Fest New Orleans. READ MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
New African Masquerades
Artistic Innovations and Collaborations at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA through 10 August 2025. The first presentation of its kind, “New African Masquerades” offered a rare look into contemporary West African masquerade by contextualizing the works of individual artists within a range of social, economic, and religious practices and examining their networks of viewership and exchange. Made from materials including wood, cloth and fabrics, sequins, feathers, gourds, raffia, and cowry shells, the ensembles on view represented a wide variety of masquerade practices and societies. The exhibition focused on the work of four artists working in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Works on view by Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah, David Sanou, and Hervé Youmbi included 13 head-to-toe masquerade ensembles created for social, spiritual, entertainment, and museum contexts. During Kolaj Fest New Orleans, the exhibition was part of LaVonna Varnado-Brown’s “Sacred Mother Space Gallery Walk” on Thursday, 26 June, 11:15AM. READ MORE
CURATED SHOWING
Collage Artists at Ferrara Showman Gallery
During Kolaj Fest New Orleans, 25-29 June 2025. In Ferrara Showman’s Viewing Room during Kolaj Fest New Orleans, the gallery presented New Orleans-based artists who incorporated elements of collage in their work: Tony Dagradi explored the visual possibilities of altered books; assemblage artist Kat Flyn used vintage materials to create work that addressed American politics and history; Ann Marie Auricchio’s work examined vulnerability while giving form to uncomfortable realities we face within and in opposition to ourselves, inviting viewers to recognize their own processes of psychological navigation and embodied experience; Gina Phillips’ work was characterized by a raw, narrative quality whose most common narrative characteristic is tragicomedy. READ MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Time of the Tignon
Jemima Joél at The Front in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 14 June-6 July 2025. Jemima Joél’s “Time of the Tignon” celebrated the cultural resistance of the African Diaspora during the French colonialism period by highlighting headdressing fashion. Artwork on display included storytelling acrylic paintings, mixed media headwrapped mannequins, and headscarf arrays. Tignon Talk: Sunday, 29 June 2025, 2-3:30PM. READ MORE
Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Symposium sessions at Kolaj Fest New Orleans bring together a group of artists who speak about a central theme. Artists, writers, academics, and curators present slideshows which are followed by a Question & Answer period.
SYMPOSIUM
Symbols on a Cave Wall: Storytelling & Collage
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 1:45-2:45PM
New Orleans Museum of Art
Storytelling is a fundamental part of the human experience. Every culture does it, sometimes in wildly different ways. From painted symbols on a cave wall to role playing video games, people are telling stories but also sharing vital information, conveying ethics and morality, or building a cosmology that explains the world in which we live. During the symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Andrea Lewicki, Carolyn E. Oliver, Jordan Cerminara (image above), Kirk Read, and Erica Trabold. Each of their practices is deeply involved with storytelling and collage. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Paper, Wood, Metal, & Everything Else: Materials and Collage
Friday, 27 June 2025, 3:15-4:30PM
Cafe Istanbul
Materials matter, particularly in collage where the material is never neutral. That magazine fragment, that clipping from a book, that piece of found cardboard has a life and a history and when we use it in our artwork, when we appropriate that piece of culture, we bring into our artwork its life and history. That is part of what makes collage magic. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Julie Glass (image above), Julie Eisenberg Pitman, Robin Sanford Roberts, Flanzella, and Cindy Green; each of whom have a specific material practice about what they use, how they use it, and why it is important to them. They spoke about collecting and using paper, but also wood, metal, fabric, and other things. And then, if you wanted, we could talk about glue. READ MORE
MUSEUM TOUR
Sacred Mother Space Gallery Walk
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 11:15AM-12:15PM
New Orleans Museum of Art
LaVonna Varnado-Brown led a gallery walk of the museum that “honors the Divine Mothers through visual spellcasting.” The tour included some works in the “New African Masquerades” exhibition as well as works in the “Afropolitan: Contemporary African Arts at NOMA” exhibition, Maman Brigette by John Lister, and Mami Wata figures in the African art collection, and others. Varnado-Brown was a 2024-2025 Creative Assembly artist-in-residence. “NOMA’s Creative Assembly residency promotes community engagement by welcoming artists to collaborate throughout the year with the museum’s permanent collection, special exhibitions, and programs.” During the Sacred Mother Space Gallery Walk, Varnado-Brown shared her experience as a resident artist. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Victorian Scrapbook House for Paper Dolls
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 1-1:30PM
New Orleans Museum of Art
At Kolaj Fest at New Orleans, Englewood, Florida artist, writer, and educator Beverly Gordon presented on collages found in late Victorian scrapbook houses. She wrote, “It is time to fully recognize the inexorable fascination, the pleasure, and indeed the magic of these albums and to fully acknowledge the creativity and artistic integrity of the house makers. Paper dollhouses are works of art; they represent an underacknowledged and undervalued form of collage.” READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Where are we?: Collage Artists & A Sense of Place
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 3-4PM
New Orleans Museum of Art
Artists play a critical role in developing, expressing, and understanding a sense of place. Approaching the social, physical, and spiritual landscape is fertile terrain for artists who can draw out elements of a place in ways that they are seen and thought about in new ways. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Paula Mans, Michael Eble (image above), Laura Cannamela, and Rosanne Walsh, whose work speaks to a sense of place. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Transformation in Collage as a Vehicle for Global Interruption
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 11AM-12:15PM
Cafe Istanbul
By collecting, chronicling and reconstructing objects, we create value and perhaps beauty with worthless things. The world is currently filled with unsheltered people, as well as migrants trying to find their way in unwelcoming cities—this work feels particularly poignant. How could this transformative approach be applied to social systems, politics and the environment? How could this change our cities and perhaps our world? During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Julie Eisenberg Pitman (image above) led a panel on this topic with John Whitlock, Cheryl Chudyk, and Colleen Coleman. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Curiosity, Wonder, Joy, & Portals
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 2-3PM
Cafe Istanbul
With its roots and history in the Surreal, collage is a well-built path to exercise curiosity. What happens if I put these two things together? Collage’s ability to bridge time and geography makes it a vehicle to explore new realms. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Anthony D. Kelly (image above), Breasia Hayes, Savannah Green, and C. Joi Sanchez, each who were engaged in projects that explored wonder and joy and how life experiences take one down creative paths. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
The World’s on Fire. Whatcha Gonna Do?: Politics in Collage
Friday, 27 June 2025, 2-3PM
Cafe Istanbul
Collage as a political art form has a particular relevance to today as well as a strong historical context. From its roots in the European anti-facist and Russian revolutionary movements in the early 20th century to its expressions during the U.S. Civil Rights era to its current manifestations in the fight for social justice in South America, collage is used by artists around the world as an impetus for social and political change. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Glenyse Thompson, Jody Zellen, Lori Petchers (image above), Suzanne Gore, and Jennifer R. Myhre about how their work sought to contribute to the political discourse. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Putting It Out There: Projects & Practices of Collage Artists
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 3:15-4:30PM
Cafe Istanbul
There is something different, however, when an artist chooses to put their work out in the community. It ceases to be about personal expression and becomes part of the community’s discourse. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we heard from Jamie Hughes, Emily Denlinger, Flanzella (image above), and Grace Wilbanks each of whom put their art into the cultural ecosystem. They exhibited and published; got commissions; worked it on social media; engaged their communities; and doing the work of culture all while trying to live lives as human beings with all that that entails. They spoke about contemporary art projects and their artist practice. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Artist as Scientist, Scientist as Artist: Research, Collage, & The Pursuit of Knowledge
Friday, 27 June 2025, 11AM-Noon
Cafe Istanbul
In this session, two artists shared their experiences at the intersection of art and science: E-Squared Magazine is “an international print publication that draws from both art and science and is the embodiment of this synergy.” Its founder and director Emily A. Dustman shared her passion for art and science, spoke about the work of the magazine, and introduced a project taking place at Kolaj Fest New Orleans. Now retired after teaching forty-one years in public education, artist and researcher Debora Joy Nodelman (image above) has engaged a study of arts-based research and documented her findings in the paper, “Constructing Knowledge in Bits and Pieces: Collage Inquiry as Arts-Based Research” which she presented. READ MORE
SYMPOSIUM
Be Gay, Do Collage
Friday, 27 June 2025, 1-1:45PM
Cafe Istanbul
In this session, collagists Tiffany Dugan, Rowan Buffington (image left), and Ric Kasini Kadour considered queer collage and how artists were using collage to ask, “What does it mean to be a queer person in the 21st century?” While it is evident that collage as a medium is beginning to emerge from the shadows of more historically dominant art forms, author Jack Halberstam would caution the collagist against taking tried and true paths to success: “Being taken seriously means missing out on the chance to be frivolous, promiscuous, and irrelevant.” READ MORE
Roundtable Discussions at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Roundtable Discussions are opportunities for collage artists to come together to discuss subjects, artist practices, projects, or other topics that warrant deeper dialogue.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Writer’s Corner
Friday, 27 June 2025, 3:15-4:45PM
NOHC Suite 250
At Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Portland, Oregon author and collagist Kirk Read; Lynchburg, Virginia, USA writer and artist Erica Trabold; and Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland illustrator, writer, visual artist, and integrative psychotherapist Anthony D Kelly (image above) hosted a Writer’s Corner, an informal workshop for those with a writing practice to connect with one another. Read wrote, “We will explore how these language and visual practices inform each other, how they compete and argue and agree in our minds and hands.” READ MORE
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Grief, Loss, & Recovery
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 12:45-1:45PM
NOHC Suite 250
What is the role of art in grief, loss, and recovery? In this Roundtable Discussion, artists were invited to share projects centered around grief, loss, and recovery. Bloomington, Indiana, Mexican American collage artist Jennifer Lynn Davis; New Orleans, Louisiana artist Jamie Amdal Hughes (image above); and Belmont, Massachusetts artist Missy Arellano shared their art practice and facilitated a conversation. READ MORE
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
Collage Critique
Friday, 27 June 2025, 12:30-1:45PM
NOHC Suite 204
During this roundtable discussion at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Seattle, Washington area artists Cheryl Chudyk (image above) and Sharon Wherland led a discussion and art critique. They wrote, “By embracing the importance of self-critique and group critique within one’s practice, it will go miles toward elevating collage as a medium that can competently compete against traditionally accepted art forms.” READ MORE
Workshops at Kolaj Fest New Orleans
Workshops at Kolaj Fest New Orleans offer participants the opportunity to engage with their process or materials in a new way; explore subjects or themes; or practice a new collage technique to make. Over a dozen workshops take place during the festival.
WORKSHOP
Resilience & Welcoming in Hope: Collage, Installation, & Photography
Friday, 27 June 2025, 3:15-5:15PM
NOHC Suite 258
In this workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, participants worked together to create an analog collage figure installation that was photographed and filmed into a collage installation as part of Cape Girardeau, Missouri artist Emily Denlinger’s “Gain of Function: New Mutations/Old Traditions” project. The resulting photographs became a zine published by Kolaj Institute and a photograph was included in Kolaj Institute’s exhibition on photography and collage in December 2025. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
The Exquisite Vivarium
Friday, 27 June 2025, 1-3PM
NOHC Suite 250
Vivariums are a point of inspiration for Cincinnati, Ohio artist and writer Nandita Baxi Sheth who “considers arts-based processes as alternatives to language for philosophical thinking, that is, thinking through materials and making as an artist-philosopher.” At Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Sheth led a workshop, The Exquisite Vivarium, during which participants created collaborative spoken word poetry and collages and experienced Sheth’s unique pedagogical approach while adapting the Surrealist game of Exquisite Corpse with prompts about the environment, ecology, and making a world for future beings. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Encaustic Collage
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 1-3PM
Kolaj Institute
Participants in this popular & recurring Kolaj Fest New Orleans workshop learned how to use encaustic medium (encaustic without pigment) as an adhesive and a transfer medium. After sharing the history of encaustic, Indianapolis, Indiana artist Beth Guipe Hall demonstrated how to apply the medium, embed paper into the wax surface, fuse the surface with each application of medium, and three different transfer techniques. Working on 12×12 Masonite panels, participants made an encaustic collage they could take home with them. Note: Pre-registration was required and there was a materials fee. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
1+1+1=∞ One plus one plus one equals infinity
Friday, 27 June 2025, 1-3PM
NOHC Suite 258
“A collaborative workshop celebrating the art of juxtaposition, layering & superimposition” at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Stephen Tomasko (Akron, Ohio (image above)) and Clive Knights (Portland, Oregon) led a collaborative collage making session that resulted in a pop-up exhibition at the Saturday evening event. They wrote, “To the collagist, found images combine to form thresholds into new, unanticipated worlds opened by their combination and interaction.” READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Building Creative Communities: Arts-based Research Exercise
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 3:15-5:15PM
NOHC Suite 250
Belmont, Massachusetts artist and educator Missy Arellano works with students at Harvard University to use collage to express ideas about creative placemaking. In this workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, she led an Arts-based Research activity that invited collage artists to envision the role of art in their communities. Arellano presented her research into the value of the creative economy and invited “participants to reflect on what a creative city looks like in their own eyes.” READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Inner Bully to Inner Bestie
Friday, 27 June 2025, 2-5PM
NOHC Suite 204
In this three-hour workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, New Orleans artist and life coach Jaclyn McCabe guided participants through engaging, creative exercises that help them explore and unlock their potential; to overcome imposter syndrome and to boost their confidence and well-being, both in their personal lives and their artistic practice. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Collage in the Classroom: What Do You Want The World To Know?
Thursday, 26 June 2025, 2-5PM
NOHC Suite 258
How do we bring collage into the classroom? As part of her work in the graphic design department at Western Carolina University, artist and illustrator Jillian Ohl has been engaged in a curricular and pedagogical push to do just that. During this workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, Ohl guided participants through a workshop she uses in her teaching. After the collage making, Ohl was joined by other educators who discussed ways to adapt this activity to their own classrooms. New Orleans-area educators of any level were invited to attend this free, special event. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Intuitive Collage: Surprises & Discoveries
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 2-5PM
NOHC Suite 204
How do we build trust in the process of discovery? Englewood, Florida artist Beverly Gordon is “an inveterate collector of imagery, paper, fabric, and natural detritus—objects like bones, shells and pods—which are part of my engagement with the natural world.” Using only printed materials on paper, participants in this Kolaj Fest New Orleans workshop learned to intuitively select and position images to create interesting and meaningful collage compositions, and then discover what they wish to tell you. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Small Circles, Big Stories: A Tiny Collage Workshop
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 1-3PM
NOHC Suite 258
In this making-focused workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, San Diego, California artist Robin Sanford Roberts guided participants as they explored the art of storytelling through miniature collages. Using 2″ wooden circular discs as a base, attendees created layered compositions with vintage and contemporary papers, and text. This small-scale format encourages a focus on composition, storytelling, and detail, making each piece a unique visual narrative. READ MORE
WORKSHOP
Art of Resistance: Freedom Summer Collages
Saturday, 28 June 2025, 3:15-5:15PM
NOHC Suite 258
In this two-hour workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans , Saint Petersburg, Florida artist Glenyse Thompson guided artists as they made artwork in response to 1964 Freedom Summer, an organized, season-long action designed to promote equality in the South. Participants worked with archive materials found in the Wisconsin Historical Society as part of their Freedom Summer Digital Collection. Thompson shared the history and New Orleans’ role in the campaign. READ MORE
2026: Call for Artists, Projects, & Papers
CALL FOR ARTISTS, PROJECTS, & PAPERS
How do you want to manifest at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2026? Presenting at Kolaj Fest can mean many different things: Presenting Your Topic or Art Practice on a Panel, Leading a Discussion on a Topic Important to Collage, Hosting a session in the Collage Making Space, Leading a Workshop, Exhibiting, Conducting a Special Project during the event. Most presenters present slide shows about their practice followed by a Q&A with the audience. We also seek artists with projects that take the spirit of Kolaj Fest out into the city of New Orleans.
Responding to this Call lets us know that you would like to be a presenter at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2026. (Organizers will issue separate calls for those interested in the Collage Art & Book Market, the Collage in Motion screening, exhibitions, or other projects.)
Past Events
