AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS
How Collage Captures Images &
Preserves Them For the Future
Collage has a unique ability to capture imagery and preserve it for the future. Many collage artists draw upon published material that is part of the popular consciousness: 20th century pop culture magazines, 19th century French encyclopedias, and so on. What happens when an artist draws on their personal and family history?
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, July 12-15, 2018. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
From Santa Barbara, California, Jana Zimmer‘s work explores issues related to exile, memory, and responsibility. Her artmaking began using family documents, altered photographs and drawings created by her sister in the Terezin Ghetto as a way of making a mark on her behalf, and honoring her parents’ experience as Holocaust survivors. (image: Report Card (6″x6″; collage on wood; 2014))
Montpelier, Vermont-based artist Jason Galligan Baldwin grew up in Louisiana. His work is based on childhood stories. He says, “Some are true, some imaginative and influenced by materials of my youth, including progress reports, childhood books, school assignments, random doodles or drawings…I am interested in how these items, however mundane, have influenced my personality.” (image: Pets Walk (24″x18″; acrylic and printed paper on panel; 2009))
The collage of New Orleans artist Jill Stoll explores issues of location and dislocation as interpreted through her lens-based and mixed-media pieces. She translates both the poetry of the familiar and power of place by intersecting new and old technologies. In her most recent series, “Woman Standing Alone”, Stoll collects abandoned photographs of women and imagines their story and legacy. (image: Woman Standing Alone, Our All-American Girl (detail and process) (24″x18″; photograph, paint chips, glue))
Each artist will make a short presentation of their artwork and lead a discussion about how source material informs how their collage is made and presented.
Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, July 12-15, 2018. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.