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FROM THE ARTIST DIRECTORY
Long Forgotten Memories
London, United Kingdom. Gabriela Szulman finds her inspiration in the memories that dwell within a growing archive of ephemera collected in second-hand bookstores, junk shops, market stalls, and attics full of long-forgotten boxes. Szulman’s creations emerge from a fusion of painting, printmaking and found imagery and are often humorous and whimsical, with splashes of vibrant colour. MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Shear Madness
at the Northville Art Center in Northville, Michigan, USA through 6 February 2021. "Shear Madness" presents 62 collages by 60 artists from the United States, Canada and Switzerland. Juror Edee Joppich writes, "The collage medium often involves a dialectic between concealing and revealing. This process can create drama and authenticity to a work. The artists in this exhibition have demonstrated the endless possibilities of collage, many of whom have created works I have never dreamed of during my five decades of sharing, teaching, and jurying art." MORE
FROM KOLAJ 31
Just for the Record
The idea for Patricia Leeds' “Just for the Record” series came to the artist a number of years ago when she got a copy of the Taschen book, Mid-Century Ads by Jim Heimann and Steven Heller. “At first, I found these ads to be hilarious: doctors recommending cigarettes, DDT in babies’ cribs, and a wife’s intimate neglect and what it leads to,” said Leeds. “Looking more closely, I realized the impacts and influences these ads had on our society, not just then but also today." An article in Kolaj #31 details how Patricia Leeds uses collage to deconstruct whiteness and patriarchy. MORE
COLLAGE COMMUNITIES
Cut & Glue
Moscow, Russia. In 2015, Olga Kirsanova decided to find like-minded people passionate about collage. Initially, it was planned to just gather in Moscow and glue collages over a cup of tea with bagels. Over time, modest gatherings turned into large-scale collage events and projects with a big number of participants from all over the country, educational programs, publication of zines and even a festival of collage. MORE
*Featured in The International Directory of Collage Communities by Kolaj Institute. LEARN MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
A Place of Intuition
Collages by Valerie Arntzen and Seema Shah at Outsiders and Others in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 3-31 January 2021. The works Arntzen presents consist of the artist’s own photographs on heavy watercolour paper. Inspiration for her work comes from her travels and interest in religious icons and architecture. Self-taught artist and writer Seema Shah says about her process, "When creating, I always start from a place of intuition, with no set idea in mind. If I am able to let my subconscious be my guide, the process unfolds in a way that can feel almost magical. I search for images, colours, and words that speak to me in the moment, even if it’s not yet clear to me why." MORE
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Everything Leaks
at The Polygon in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada through 7 February 2021. "Everything Leaks" is an experimental collaboration by artists Marisa Kriangwiwat Holmes and Maya Beaudry. The artists embed images within images, using collage, stickers, watercolour, and other mediums to respond to our era of visual information overload. Reacting to an increasingly digital and dematerialised culture, their works unfold across tactile surfaces, such as fabrics, sculpture, and printed photographs. MORE
CALL TO ARTISTS
World Collage Day 2021
Deadline January 31, 2021. The next World Collage Day is May 8th, 2021. For those interested in joining in the spirit of World Collage Day, we offer a number of opportunities to join in the celebration. Each year, Kolaj Magazine works with a collage artist to make a poster and other marketing collateral for the annual event. This year, we want to hear from artists who are interested in being considered. In honor of World Collage Day, Kolaj Magazine will issue a Special Edition of the magazine that features Cut-Out Pages and articles about the collage community. Visit the website for specific details. MORE
KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE
Celebrating Women Past and Present
On Saturday, January 16th, 2PM EST, Jann Hawoth and Liberty Blake will join Ric Kasini Kadour for the Kolaj LIVE Online event, "Celebrating Women Past and Present." Kadour will interview Haworth & Blake about The Work in Progress mural; collage's role in the British Pop Art scene of the 1960s; making art as a mother-daughter team; and how art can teach us and help us remember our history. MORE
COLLAGE NEWS
Kolaj Magazine Editor Awarded Curatorial Fellowship
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded Kolaj Magazine Editor Ric Kasini Kadour a Curatorial Research Fellowship in partnership with the Southern Vermont Arts Center. Kadour’s research will investigate how artists can use historic sites, collections, and archives to make work that contributes to civic discourse as he prepares a show at SVAC’s Wilson Museum to open in 2022. MORE
Recent Publications
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. We not only hope you enjoy the articles and images in Kolaj #31, we hope it leads you to asking great questions.
CURRENT ISSUE
Kolaj #31
If Kolaj #31 has an overarching theme, it would be about how artists are pulling from the past to speak to the now. We swim in a stream of ideas, some of which come at us so quick and hard that we rarely have a chance to consider where they come from…or where they are going. What ever happened to those stolen collages? Why do we think these things about some people but not others? Why can’t we name five scientists who are women? What is my place in the art world? How do I speak to my community? These are deep, critical questions that artists are trying to make sense of for themselves and for the people around them. It is exciting to tell their stories. Learning about them, what they did, how they work makes us better artists, writers, and, hopefully, better people. Collage is powerful magic. MORE
COLLAGE BOOK
Unfamiliar Vegetables: Variations in Collage
Unfamiliar Vegetables is a collection of collage where each of the fifty artists interpreted, in their own way, Carlotta Bonnecaze’s 1892 Carnival float design Familiar Vegetables. Project organizer Christopher Kurts observed, “Unfamiliar Vegetables is an experiment in controlled chaos….tiny variations within each artist’s creative sphere accumulate until the outcomes are as unique as the people creating them.” MORE
COLLAGE COMMUNITIES
The International Directory of Collage Communities
The 104-page book is a survey of collage networks, guilds, communities, and projects as well as online efforts and groups focused on collage research. For each community, the directory presents their key activities, mission, how to join, and a bit of their history. Copious images illustrate the book. MORE
BOOK
Radical Reimaginings
The curators of the 96-page book invited artists who use collage in their practice to put forward a work of art that offers a visual narrative that speaks to the unprecedented change unfolding in 2020. An essay by Ric Kasini Kadour reflects upon collage's unique ability to imagine new realities. Forty artists from nine countries and multiple Indigenous peoples—Salish-Kootenai/Métis-Cree/Sho-Ban, Tlingit/Nisga’a, Oglala/Lakota, and Seneca Nation—offer a variety of perspectives. The voices of Black, Latinx, Native, and white Americans mingle with those from Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Canada, France, and Germany. Artwork is accompanied by a statement in which the artists describe how they want to reimagine the world. MORE
BOOK
Collage Magic
by Emma Anna
Part autobiography, part fantasy, Emma Anna’s vision of The New Old World (aka The NOW) fuses vintage ephemera with modern imaging technologies. Emma shapes this strange world by using the pen tool from Adobe Photoshop as her magic wand, in the process declaring herself to be a “collage magician”. Part artist book, part document of art making, Collage Magic, from La Casa Verde Editions, is Emma Anna’s journey through magic and art. MORE
BOOK
Revolutionary Paths
When the collage is presented in exhibition, it is often done so without the critical framework granted other mediums. In "Revolutionary Paths: Critical Issues in Collage", exhibition curator Ric Kasini Kadour presents examples of collage that represent various aspects and takes on the medium. Each work in the exhibition represents the potential for deeper inquiry and further curatorial exploration of the medium. MORE
BOOK
Cultural Decontructions
Collage is unique as a medium in that it uses as its material artifacts from the world itself. To harvest those fragments, the artist must first deconstruct culture; they must select, cut, and remove the elements they do not wish to use and then reconstruct work that tells a new story. In "Cultural Deconstructions: Critical Issues in Collage", exhibition curator Ric Kasini Kadour presents examples of collage artists who are deconstructing identity as a way to critique culture. MORE
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.
