Jackie Leishman at the Sasse Museum of Art in Pomona, California, USA through 27 April 2024. Jackie Leishman sees the world as a collage, a complex layering of experiences and perspectives. Her artistic journey has led her from the confines of the photograph to the liberating expanses of collage. In “THE WAY IN,” Leishman delves into an in-between space claimed by collage, drawing from various mediums such as drawing, painting, photography, and printmaking. This exhibition is a testament to her belief that art is not just seen but felt, residing in the delicate balance between the seen and the unseen. Curated by Ahmad Shariff.

Mark Watkins at the Brewhouse Arts Centre in Burton Upon Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom through 1 June 2024. The central theme of Mark Watkins' “Jetlag” explores singular moments in time, time passing, the experience of discovery as we travel through time and the idea that time itself connects us all. This exhibition features new, larger scale collage where the process is deliberately spontaneous and intuitive, each piece of work recording a personal journey of discovery resulting in a physical record of how time has been spent.

In Kolaj #39, we review The Comfort of Crows, a new book by The New York Times contributor Margaret Renkl, illustrated by collagist Billy Renkl. "These collages offer a parallel depiction of the seasons, running alongside Margaret’s essays. In her manuscript, Margaret’s yard and neighborhood are profoundly meaningful; in my analogous path through the year, the meaning she finds in the world is underwritten by its physical beauty."

At Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2023, Lisa Wicka and David Wischer led a workshop where artists made an Exquisite Face collage using a template of a face that shows the placement of eyes, nose, and mouth. Wischer turned these letter-sized collages into a Risograph-printed zine. In Kolaj #39, we report on this publication. 

Early Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 31 March 2024. A four-week, virtual/online workshop with Kolaj Institute in April & May 2024. A working understanding of one’s practice is critical to one’s professional and artistic development. Intended as a clinic for working artists at any level, participants in the Collage in Practice Workshop will explore how they go about making art and putting it out into the world. How to make a living as an artist? How to get your work seen? How to get an exhibition? How to get reviewed? How to make a life for yourself as an artist? What does that even mean? These are some of the challenges artists face when they want to take their art practice to the next level. 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.

Early Deadline to Apply: Saturday, 30 March 2024. The Photography & Collage Artist Residency will invite photographers and collage artists to come together in dialogue, learn from one another, and make artwork for a series of exhibitions that explore the intersection of collage and photography. Unfolding in two tracks over the course of a week, we will ask, What happens when a collagist picks up the camera? What happens when a photographer collages their pictures? Presentations will explore collage in theory, artist practice, the ecosystem of art, the state of photography, and the history of photography and collage. Artists will shoot on film, explore the dark room, and make collage with the results. Artists will also shoot digital images which will be printed as collage material.

Early Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 7 April 2024. A four-week, virtual/online residency with Kolaj Institute. In January 2022, Kolaj Institute issued a call to artists for a Poetry & Collage Residency and received so many excellent responses that we organized a series of three residencies. And at the end of it, they sent us more page spreads than could fit into a single book. Impressed and moved by the volume and quality of cultural output and a deep belief that this practice, however you want to describe it, at the intersection of collage and poetry deserves a platform, we decided to create a new journal dedicated to it. After releasing several volumes of the journal and opening an ongoing call for submissions, we are returning to this residency program as a way to help artists develop their ideas, explore the intersection of collage and poetry, collaborate and form community, and prepare submissions for the journal. This project-driven residency is open to artists and poets.

Early Deadline to Apply: 31 March 2024. A week-long, in-person residency that coincides with Kolaj Fest New Orleans (12-16 June 2024), during which artists will explore the city, learn about the history and materials of street art, and make artwork for public display that Kolaj Fest attendees and New Orleanians will be able to view. This residency is an extension of the ongoing Kolaj Street Krewe project. Kolaj Street Krewe, an informal group of artists interested in this subject, explores the role of collage in street art as a practice and phenomenon.

Deadline to Submit: Sunday, 21 April 2024. World Collage Day is 11 May 2024. We invite artists, art centres, museums, galleries, schools, and communities to celebrate World Collage Day by hosting events and projects that bring communities together. Ideas include collage making meet-ups, docent-led tours of collage in a museum or gallery, activities for kids, slideshows or talks that appreciate collage’s role in contemporary art and art history, exhibitions of collage, and more. Tell us about the events and projects you are planning.

9 March-14 April 2024. As part of the grand opening celebration for Kolaj Institute’s new home, Kolaj Institute is mounting an exhibition of artwork that is part of Kolaj Institute’s collection. This includes New Orleans artists such as Michael Pajón, Bianca Walker, and Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour. Members of the Mystic Krewe of Scissors and Glue will exhibit a collection of collaborative artworks. Artwork from Kolaj Institute’s past projects will also be on view, including from Artists in the Archives, Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream, Folklore & Collage, and Politics in Collage. Also on view will be Standard Processes in Dressmaking, a collaged altered book by nine members of the International Collage Community. Other artwork from Kolaj Institute’s collection in the exhibition is being curated by participants in the Curating Collage Workshop. The exhibition tells the story of Kolaj Institute and how the organization works with the International Collage Community to champion this fascinating medium.