The Art of Collage at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California, USA through 15 September 2024. “Cut Paste Create: The Art of Collage” seeks to uncover the methods and narratives of artists working in collage today. Derived from the French verb coller, meaning to glue/stick, the technique has evolved into a popular and powerful medium that transcends traditional artistic boundaries. This is the annual juried show put on by Bedford Gallery, a program of the City of Walnut Creek, showing the work of modern and contemporary artists. The exhibition features nearly 90 local, national, and international artists working within the four main categories of collage: papier collé (paper collage), découpage, montage/photomontage, and assemblage.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Stephanie Barber is a writer and artist who has created a poetic, conceptual and philosophical body of work in a variety of media, often literary/visual hybrids that dissolve boundaries between narrative, essay and dialectic works. Her work considers the basic philosophical questions of human and non-human existence (its morbidity, profundity and banality) with play and humor.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA. Emily Denlinger’s collage images capture her psychological interpretation of reality. As someone with an active dream life, she works to find the connections between her awake and asleep lives. Denlinger is particularly interested in exploring themes surrounding the military-industrial complex and its impact on regular citizens' day-to-day lives along with issues of identity, survival, truth, and power. She is interested in the way these topics surface consciously and subconsciously while she is creating. Her 2D images and time-based works incorporate mass produced media, vintage 8mm home movies, hand drawn and digitally manipulated calligraphy, dyed paper, and photography.

In Collage Your Life, artist and teacher Melanie Mowinski teaches a variety of core techniques including lettering, stamping, stenciling, transfers, and adhesive methods, and provides dozens of prompts to jumpstart the creative process and encourage crafters to explore the versatility of collage, such as: make a self-portrait; disrupt your routine instincts; incorporate text; assemble mementos from a trip; process anger or anxiety; collage with others; or try creating block-out poetry with pages from a magazine.

Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 18 August 2024. A week-long, in-person residency in which artists will explore how to adapt their collage practice to game design or incorporate games and play as a theme in their artwork. Play is a critical part of being human. Play is how we try new things, discover new skills, and incorporate new ways of being. Play can also reinforce social bonds and bring us into community with others. Games are an incredible tool for storytelling, worldbuilding, and social engagement. In this residency, we will explore the history of collage and games, gaming and play as a theme for artwork, and brainstorm and workshop our ideas together. We will have dedicated time for playtesting them with each other as well as with gamers who are not artists in order to get feedback from varied sources. We will talk about collage as art assets and illustrations for games, games that use collage as a mechanic, and game diffusion models. Artists will leave the residency with a plan for finishing and distributing their games or artwork. At Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025 residency artists will be invited to debut their games.

Early Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 18 August 2024. As part of a year-long investigation of castles as buildings, metaphors, and systems of power, Kolaj Institute will host a week-long artist residency in New Orleans focused on Plantations from 13-17 October 2024. During this residency, collage artists come to New Orleans and explore the history of Plantations and learn how to adapt their artist practice to pick up the unfinished work of history and make art that contributes to the civic discourse. Through interactive sessions, visits to plantations, and collaborative collage making, artists will explore their process and practice; present a slideshow of their work; receive supportive, critical, curatorial feedback about their ideas; and discuss contemporary issues. After the Residency, artists will be invited to propose artwork for inclusion in Kolaj Institute’s Castle Project, an exhibition, book, and related programs in 2025-2026 that invite viewers to consider how the history of castles, colonies, plantations, and corporations relate to one another and shape the world we live in today.

Next Deadline: 29 September 2024 (for Spring 2025 dates). Residents stay in Kolaj Institute’s space in the New Orleans Healing Center, where they will have their own bedroom, and access to a shared kitchen and bathroom with shower. Residents work in Kolaj Institute’s Gallery that includes access to collage making supplies and a printer. The Gallery and Resident space is located on the second floor of a building in the Marigny neighborhood. The wrap-around balcony overlooks St. Roch Market. Residents work independently to complete their plan. At the end of the residency, we meet with the artist to review their progress with them and discuss next steps. Submissions are reviewed on an ongoing basis.