9.75″ diameter; plastic clock and analog collage; 2024. Courtesy of the artist.
MAKING WORKSHOPS AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2026
Making Workshops
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. Here is a selection:
WORKSHOP
Collaging Over Time Workshop
Originally from Los Angeles, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based “transdisciplinary artivist” Missy Arellano uses analog collage & photography to “explore themes of motherhood, being queer, and surviving trauma.” Her artwork asks, “Why does culture place such weight on bodies? What narratives can we rewrite by reimagining these constructs? How does time play a role in healing?” She wrote, “Through arts-based research exercises, I prompt participants to reflect on the role time plays in their lives and on how we move through life in all its forms….I believe that art has an intrinsic power to heal, especially visual art accompanied by music. Over the last year, I have engaged in analog artmaking with communities, bringing my collage supplies and record player to foster safe spaces where people can create freely and work to unravel wicked policy problems.”
“Collaging Over Time” is part of a larger project during which Arellano works with communities to make and exhibit collaged clocks as a way of encouraging conversations about the role time plays in communities and healing. In this art-based research workshop, participants will join Arellano in a conversation around the importance and value of time. They will begin their journey by getting to know one another, what goals and dreams they have, and then talk about what time means to one another. Participants will be given a 9.75” circle to collage their interpretations, memories, or dreams for the past, present, and or future which will then be placed inside a plastic clock. “By thinking carefully about the conversations we have with time, we can possibly unlock answers or ideas for growth, especially within our community.” “Collaging Over Time” is an opportunity to “to tune out of the digital world and focus on all things analog, learn and grow in community, and find a glimpse of inner peace or even love” as participants listen to vinyl records and collage an analog clock face.”
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. A native of Los Angeles, Missy Arellano holds a BA in Art History and French from California State University, Long Beach, an MPA from the University of Southern California, and an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has exhibited work and facilitated arts workshops in California, Massachusetts, and Louisiana. In 2025, she was part of a team that designed and recommended children’s programming for the Dadu Children’s Museum at Qatar Museum, and, in 2026, she assisted in developing an arts-based wellbeing program for the Harvard community. She has received numerous artist grants and scholarships throughout her career. With Kolaj Institute, Arellano was part of the Joy & Grief Virtual Residency and Exhibition, presented a workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025, and is enrolled in the Artist Development Program. Learn more at www.missyarellano.com and on Instagram @miss_collage_mom.
3.5″x2″; tin box, paper; 2025. Courtesy of the artist.
WORKSHOP
Small-Scale Storytelling
San Diego, California artist Robin Sanford Roberts is “drawn to the beauty of what has been left behind,” She wrote, “Old books, objects, and fragments of ephemera captivate me, not only for their textures and histories, but for the stories they hold.” In the workshop, Small-Scale Storytelling, she invites participants to “step into the world of storytelling as we transform simple tin boxes into intimate works of art.” Participants will create a collage or assemblage inside a small tin container using a variety of vintage and contemporary papers and small found objects. Participants will learn about composition, layering, and the art of creating meaning within a small space. Roberts will invite participants to consider the container–whether working on the interior, the exterior, or both–and speak about strategies for making compositions in a limited but dimensional format .
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
San Diego, California, USA. Robin Sanford Roberts is an artist and theatrical scenic designer working in three dimensional sculpture, models and mixed media. She has designed scenery for multiple theatres including the Old Globe Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Portland Center Stage and Broadway. She holds a degree in Architecture from Louisiana State University and a MFA in Scenic Design from the University of California, San Diego. She also studied at the École des Beaux-Arts at Fontainebleau and at the Sir John Cass School of Art (London Polytechnic). Roberts teaches and designs scenery for the Department of Theatre at the University of San Diego and has a studio practice at Art on 30th in San Diego. In 2024, she was a recipient of the Denis Diderot A-i-R grant for an International Artists & Writers Residency at Chateau d’Orquevaux in France. Learn more at the Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory, www.robinsanfordrobertsart.com, and on Instagram @mizrobin.
WORKSHOP
New Orleans Wooden Postcards
New Orleans is offbeat, unusual, vibrant, and alive–all part of the gumbo that has simmered for 300 years in Spanish, French, Caribbean, African, Cajun and Southern ingredients to form a five-star, cultural repast. Ellis Marsalis, jazz pianist, once said, “In New Orleans, culture doesn’t come down from on high, it bubbles up from the streets.” It is a most colorful city: from the architecture to the historic cemeteries to the unforgettable food to the street musicians, performers, and visual artists. Each sunrise and sunset creates an unforgettable moment. Even the trash is ephemera for the creative collagist. Author Chris Rose wrote in 1 Dead in Attic (2007), “It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance, and spirit of South Louisiana in words and to try is to roll down a road of clichés, bouncing over beignets and beads and brass bands and it is just what it is.” Lead by collagist Carol M. Lynch, participants in this workshop will create an original 4”x6” wooden postcard, suitable for mailing, that explores their relationship between the New Orleans spaces and their emotions, using analog collage techniques to evoke a sense of connection and reflection on their time spent at Kolaj Fest New Orleans. After a brief introduction and demonstration of technique, participants will be provided with printed pictures of New Orleans and New Orleans-based literature that contain pictures, symbols and words. Once complete, the postcards will be sealed. Participants may also wish to bring their own pictures or other paper memoirs to the workshop, such as ticket stubs, a small piece of a found paper object, or a picture they took which they printed out.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Metairie, Louisiana, USA. In her sixties, Carol M. Lynch realizes that her life of crafting is art. She began creating collages on canvas in 2021. She is most known for her torn-paper collages of mosaic-like representational images. Since 1998, she has been heavily involved with the Mardi Gras culture of New Orleans, designing and creating costumes, headpieces, queens’ collars and trains, sequined appliques, graphic arts, centerpieces and shadow boxes to commemorate events. She served on the cast of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival for 15 years as the Garb Mistress, creating and designing garb and improvising the character of Lady Blarney. She wrote Opening Gate shows, created a tailor shoppe, and taught improvisation to the Cast. Currently she serves as a Board Member for the Joan of Arc Project. She teaches collage and Improv/Brain Games at the New Orleans People Program, a grant-based program for active seniors. She has been included in multiple exhibitions in New Orleans and has won numerous awards for her collages. She took part in the Collage Artist Residency Scotland: Folklore, Place, and Collage in September 2023 and Carnival as Folklore in January 2026. Learn more at the Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory and www.carolmlynchartist.com.