48″x48″; paper, mirror, and glue collage on canvas; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
WORKSHOP AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2026
Eat Your Heart Out
EVENT WEBSITE | REGISTER
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 10-14 June 2026. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
Workshops at Kolaj Fest New Orleans offer participants the opportunity to engage with their process or materials in a new way; explore subjects or themes; or practice a new collage technique to make. Over a dozen workshops take place during the festival.
Based in Washington DC, Jul Drake is a transgender, non-binary, and intersex collage artist, herbalist, and occultist. Using their 48″x48″ collage, Eat Your Heart Out, as a stepping off point, Drake will share their practice of engaging with their Irish-American and queer identities to explore and excavate duality and shadow. Their wax “Spell Collages” “are each a magickal ritual I perform under a full moon. I harness that energy and direct it towards community protection, healing, and liberation. I do not manipulate the wax with my hands, instead using words, herbs and intention to channel each piece.” In this workshop, participants “will learn to be more vulnerable in their work which overflows into all areas of their life” and “better understand the hidden aspects that drive their art and maybe discover a new direction they hope to take.” Shadow work is about “confronting the parts of us we are ashamed of through collage and within a community space is spiritual and emotional alchemy,” wrote Drake. “It allows the energy to be transformed so we can overcome these fears and reconnect with our most authentic selves.” Through collage making and discussion, participants will explore how to excavate their own shadow through visual storytelling and consider the role of shame, personal history, lineage, and joy in that work.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Washington, DC, USA. Jul Drake (they/them/theirs) is a Trans, Non-Binary, and Intersex collage and mixed-media artist, herbalist, and occultist based in Washington, DC. They are currently in a 6-year program studying Irish Herbal Medicine in Ireland. They have been working as a part-time artist in the DC art scene since 2022, selling their work regularly at art markets and events. They were commissioned to display their work in Spark Social House, an LGBTQ+ third space in DC. They worked full time as a program coordinator for Vital Voices Global Partnership for four years, curating programs for a network of 48,000 global entrepreneurs and leaders. Learn more at www.juldrake.com and on Instagram @juliascollaging.