CALL TO ARTISTS
Curating Collage Workshop
A four-week, virtual/online workshop with Kolaj Institute
Wednesdays, 8, 15, 22 & 29 January 2025
Early deadline to apply: Thursday, 5 December 2024
Final deadline to apply: Thursday, 19 December 2024
Curating is a vital part of art’s function: a curator creates a bridge between artwork and audience. For artists, this process can be confusing and mysterious. The goal of the Curating Collage Workshop is to equip artists with the tools to curate their own work, to work with curators, and build exhibitions that connect with diverse audiences.
The Curating Collage Workshop is a four-week program designed to train artists as curators. In four virtual meetings over four weeks and through ongoing, online discussion, we will explore the fundamentals of curating, how to create critical context for collage, and various strategies for navigating the art ecosystem and presenting collage to an audience. Topics will include art writing; gallery and museum issues; documenting artist practice; and working with art professionals. We will also show artists how to develop an exhibition prospectus.
The Curating Collage Workshop will focus on the role of the exhibition as a way to diffuse artwork and serve communities: How do we exhibit collage? What is needed from collage to function in a commercial gallery, art center, or museum? How do we build exhibitions that go beyond the “Cut and Paste” group show model that is prevalent today? What does it mean to be artist-centric, medium-centric, or viewer-centric in the presentation of collage in exhibition? And the workshop will explore ideas around Curation: What is a curator and what is their role? How do we introduce collage to viewers? How do we build an audience for collage and generate enthusiasm and a sense of value for the work? How do we take collage where it needs to go to reach the viewers it is intended to reach?
Participants will finish the workshop with a deeper understanding of the art ecosystem and role exhibitions play in their own art practice.
OUTCOME
Artists in the workshop will develop their skills by curating a collage from Kolaj Institute’s Collection and by curating artwork from one of the other participants in the workshop. Artists will leave the workshop prepared to develop an exhibition prospectus. Curatorial work developed during this workshop will be considered for inclusion in exhibitions at Kolaj Institute’s Gallery in New Orleans.
Curating Collage is part of Kolaj Institute’s Artist Development Program, a collection of three core workshops for self-motivated artists, at any stage in their career, who want to develop and expand their collage-based artist practice and work towards professional goals, particularly in the areas of exhibitions and publishing.
HOW TO APPLY
Learn more and apply at https://kolajinstitute.org/artist-development/
COST
The cost for the Curating Collage Workshop is $600 USD. A limited number of grants is available to offset the workshop fee and reduce barriers to participation in the program, particularly for those artists coming from places in the world that face historic economic disadvantages. Follow the link in the How to Apply section above to learn more.
SESSION DATES
Wednesday, 8 January 2025, 6-8PM EST
Wednesday, 15 January 2025, 6-8PM EST
Wednesday, 22 January 2025, 6-8PM EST
Wednesday, 29 January 2025, 6-8PM EST
QUESTIONS
If you have questions, send an email.
FACULTY
Ric Kasini Kadour
Ric Kasini Kadour, a 2021 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow, is a writer, artist, publisher, and cultural worker. Working with the Vermont Arts Council, Kadour curated four exhibits: “Connection: The Art of Coming Together” (2017) and Vermont Artists to Watch 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2017, he curated “The Art of Winter” at S.P.A.C.E. Gallery in Burlington, Vermont. In 2018, Kadour curated “Revolutionary Paths: Critical Issues in Collage” at Antenna Gallery in New Orleans, which bought together collage artists whose work represents the potential for deeper inquiry and further curatorial exploration of the medium; followed in 2019 by “Cultural Deconstructions: Critical Issues in Collage” at LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans, which furthered the conversation; and “Amuse Bouche”, also at LeMieux Galleries in 2023. Since 2018, he has produced Kolaj Fest New Orleans, a multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society. As Curator of Contemporary Art at Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh, Vermont in 2019 and 2020, he curated three exhibitions, “Rokeby Through the Lens” (May 19-June 16, 2019), “Structures” (August 24-October 27, 2019), and “Mending Fences: New Works by Carol MacDonald” (July 12-October 25, 2020). He also curated “Contemporary American Regionalism: Vermont Perspectives” (August 17-October 20, 2019); “Where the Sun Casts No Shadow: Postcards from the Creative Crossroads of Quito, Ecuador” (November 1-30, 2019); and “Many Americas” (August 20-November 27, 2022) in the Wilson Museum & Galleries at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. “The Money $how”, co-curated with Frank Juarez, was presented at the AIR Space Gallery at Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April 10-September 12, 2021). For Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland (August 13-20, 2021), he curated “Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream”, which traveled to the Knoxville Museum of Art in January-February 2022. At 516 ARTS in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Kadour co-curated with Alicia Inez Guzmàn two exhibitions: “Many Worlds Are Born” (February 19-May 14, 2022) and “Technologies of the Spirit” (June 11-September 3, 2022). In 2023 at the Knoxville Museum of Art, Kadour curated “Where the Sun Casts No Shadow: Postcards from the Creative Crossroads of Quito, Ecuador” (January 9-February 16, 2023) and “Mythical Landscape: Secrets of the Vale” (March 17-May 28, 2023). In September 2023, he curated “Word of Mouth: Folklore, Community and Collage” at A’ the Airts in Sanquhar, Scotland. His first short film, The Covenant of Schwitters’ Army, debuted at Collage on Screen during Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2023. His second, Joy Is Paper, debuted at Collage on Screen during Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2024.
Kadour is the editor and publisher of Kolaj Magazine. He has written for a number of galleries and his writing has appeared in Hyperallergic, OEI, Vermont Magazine, Seven Days, Seattle Weekly, Art New England (where he was the former Vermont editor) and many others. Kadour maintains an active art practice and his photography, collage, and sculpture have been exhibited in and are part of private collections in Australia, Europe and North America. In January-February 2020, he was artist-in-residence at MERZ Gallery in Sanquhar, Scotland. He holds a BA in Comparative Religion from the University of Vermont. Kadour splits his time between Montreal and New Orleans. www.rickasinikadour.com