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COLLAGE ON VIEW
The Book of Cranes
Estelle Roberge at the Maine College of Art & Design, through 30 September 2023. Roberge writes, "Like many of us, because of the pandemic, I spent much time alone, and because I became more cautious of my social associations, I intensely missed human interaction. As an artist, it became difficult to focus on painting and I experienced various states of panic. But because I practice book binding, I had an empty textblock in my studio and began to make collage entries, a visual diary that became an essential part of my artistic practice. I found myself entering states of quietude and tranquility, even though everything around had seemed to fall to pieces: jobs, schools, hospital care and most of all the enormous loss of life. Images in the collages began to reflect my experiences of isolation, of memory and melancholy, of hope, and of nature." MORE
COLLAGE EVENT
Collage on Screen in Scotland
Kolaj Institute will host two screenings of Collage on Screen this week in Scotland. On Wednesday, 20 September, we will be at A' the Airts in Sanquhar as part of Collage Community Nights and on Friday, 22 September, we will be at The Stove in Dumfries as part of their Reel to Real Program. Collage on Screen is an eclectic evening of moving images, from 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 hour-long program presents dozens of short films by international artists. Artists are working across disciplines and using painting, puppetry, dance, sound collage, comics, clay and other forms of craft to make films. Some artists use traditional methods of stop motion animation and collage film to make music videos, documentary films, and storytelling works while others are adapting the terrain of experimental video and video installation. The program runs for approximately one hour and includes a post film discussion with screening curator Ric Kasini Kadour. Free admission. MORE
FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY
The Joy of Exploration
Verdun, Quebec, Canada. Ann Bilodeau's work comes to fruition through the joy of exploration and is supported by a continuous questioning of the human condition and the organization of the structures, thoughts and prejudices that guide us. She has always been enthralled by the expressive qualities of various materials, mediums and techniques. Her early work was anchored in surface design techniques; then progressed to painting and the construction of various large scale works on paper with a brief stint in ceramics, installation and land art. However, a certain constant has always prevailed: the need to build and assemble images and spaces using an accumulation of materials and processes, each chosen for their specific expressive qualities. In a way all these explorations were the precursors to her present work in collage. MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
How Do We Survive?
Rhonda Wall at the Martin Art Gallery in Allentown, Pennsylvania, through 6 October 2023. Rhonda Wall creates hybrids of factual and fictional subject matter in her work to transport the viewer to another place--an invented world where past, present, and future events merge into one, where everything happens at the same time. The paintings in "How do we survive?" were made immediately before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2023) and reflect the public discourse surrounding a worldwide crisis. MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Serious Play
Alexandra Ackerman at the Memorial Union Art Gallery at the University of Iowa in Ames, Iowa, USA through 29 September 2023. During the start of the pandemic, Alexandra Ackerman began cutting and gluing scraps of fabric onto wood and connecting them with painted shapes, a process she found to be calming and grounding during a time of extreme uncertainty. These explorations led to a body of work in which she uses color, pattern, and form to explore how relationships are disrupted when there’s a loss of physical connection. Visually, they are inspired by folk art, aboriginal art, patchwork quilts, the midwestern landscape, and abstract expressionism. Each of these works traces Ackerman’s journey in searching for a sense of harmony and order. MORE
FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY
Fascination with the Prairie Biome
Plattsburg, Missouri, USA. In 2018, Laurel DeFreece created a new body of work containing elements from the prairie in her handmade paper, using native grasses and fibers, sticks and other found objects. With these materials, DeFreece has made natural paper for prints, collages, 3-D pieces, structures and encaustics with natural beeswax. Her work as a whole explores her fascination with the prairie biome that surrounds her rural home. “Natural Element” shows how beautiful, as well as fragile, nature and our planet are, yet how strong even a piece of paper can be. MORE
ARTIST DIRECTORY
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FROM THE PRINT ISSUE
The Poetics of Collage
"I came to poetry by accident...Which brought me to collage," writes Kim Triedman in "The Poetics of Collage." In Kolaj 38, the Massachusetts artist and award-winning author recalls her journey and how poetry and collage mingle in her practice. MORE
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CALLS TO ARTISTS
CALL TO ARTISTS
Collage Magic Artist Residency:
New Orleans
Deadline : 24 September 2023
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CALL TO ARTISTS
Collage Publishing
Workshop
Deadline: Sunday, 15 October 2023
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PRINT MAGAZINE
Kolaj #38 is sent automatically to members of the Silver Scissors & Golden Glue Societies. These special subscribers support the work of Kolaj Institute while receiving an item from Kolaj each month. Join before 20 September 2023 to start your subscription with the issue.
CURRENT ISSUE
Kolaj #38
Lost Collages; Southern Axis; Poetic Collage; The Abbondanza of Order & Chaos; The Rare Hallucination of Reality…Defragmented; Billboards; The Secret Life of Plants...Kolaj 38 is chock full of news, ideas, thinking about collage and its place in the world. LEARN MORE
Kolaj Magazine exists to show how the world of collage is rich, layered, and thick with complexity. By remixing history and culture, collage artists forge new thinking. To understand collage is to reshape one's thinking of art history and redefine the canon of visual culture that informs the present.
KOLAJ T-SHIRTS
NEW AT ARTSHOP
"I Cut Therefore I Kolaj" T-shirt
Since we started Kolaj Magazine in 2011, people have been asking about t-shirts. Well, we finally made one. We are pleased to announce the "I Cut Therefore I Kolaj" T-shirt. We hope you like it and wear it with pride. MORE
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
NEW PUBLICATION
Collage Saves the World
The artwork in Co llage Saves the World offers viewers an opportunity to reflect on how collage can speak to issues of racism, colorism, ableism, and sexism; the war in Ukraine; climate change and the importance of permaculture; beauty standards and women’s autonomy. The title is the second book from Kolaj Institute’s Politics in Collage Project, a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions examining complex socio-political issues that contemporary society is contending with, in order to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire deeper engagement. MORE
POETRY JOURNAL
PoetryXCollage
Volume Four
PoetryXCollage 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. In this issue: Jessa Dupuis, Cobble Hill, British Columbia, Canada | John Rigney, Buffalo, New York, USA | Kait O’Brien, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA | sadé powell, Staten Island, New York, USA | Yoomee Ko, New York, New York, USA | Collaborations by Kerrie More, Jessa Dupuis, Julie Byers, Carolina Martins, and Kait O’Brien. On the cover is a detail of Body, a collaboration by Julie Byers, Kerrie More, and Carolina Martins.
COLLAGE BOOK
Folklore of the Upper Nithsdale
Stories of Witches, Ghosts, & Other Spirits from Sanquhar, Scotland
Thirty-three collage artists illustrate stories of witches, ghosts, and other spirits from Sanquhar, Scotland. Using stories collected from William Wilson’s 1904 book, artists reimagine these tales in a 21st Century context and invite us to see folklore as the imagination of the past, understood in the present. The book includes an introduction by Ric Kasini Kadour. MORE
NEW PUBLICATION
The Awakening
by Kate Chopin & illustrated by contemporary collage artists
Set in New Orleans, Chopin’s 1899 novel, 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. The Awakening, touches on 19th century feminism, identity, and societal themes. MORE
VISIT ARTSHOP!
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. Each issue of Kolaj Magazine is dedicated to reviewing and surveying contemporary collage with an international perspective. We are interested in collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century art movement.
