collage. Courtesy of the artist.
PROJECT AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2025
The Global Table, Tell Me While We Eat: Science, Art, & the Power of Collage
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, 25-29 June 2025. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.
E-Squared is “an international print publication that draws from both art and science and is the embodiment of this synergy.” With contributions from artists, scientists, engineers, and all thinkers alike, the magazine “seeks to generate questions, creative thought, experimentation, collaboration, and innovation with the hope of sparking real social and cultural change.” The magazine’s director, St. Louis, Missouri collage artist Emily A. Dustman founded the magazine in 2016. With a background in scientific research and a passion for creative expression, Dustman’s art practice “integrates artistic methodologies—particularly collage and multimedia art—into scientific exploration, education, and community collaboration.” She wrote, “I can state with confidence that the arts and sciences do go hand in hand-– they are integral to one another, and give power and richness to each other.”
Dustman will bring her passion for art and science to Kolaj Fest New Orleans where she will lead a collaborative project. Kolaj Fest participants will be invited to contribute fragments to a series of two foot by two foot, gessoed, wood panels. In “The Global Table: Tell Me While We Eat”, each panel will represent multiple plates or place-settings, and together will form a giant metaphorical table. Working collaboratively, artists will pick a “color story” and build around it. Contributors will be encouraged to share stories around traditional or family food recipes or remedies and Dustman while guide the process of connecting the stories and images to the science of the active compounds such as the key phytochemical or antioxidant or what part of the body it supports who its molecular or biological healing benefits. The collaborative artwork will be published in Kolaj Magazine alongside an article about art and science and become part of Kolaj Institute’s Collection of Collage Art.
Dustman will introduce the project and how she helps artists and scientists “engage with complex science topics in a tangible way” and speak about how art and science can work together during Friday’s Daily Collage Congress.
ABOUT EMILY DUSTMAN
Emily Dustman is an artist, scientist, and educator who has been published in various journals for research regarding species of conservation concern. Dustman has spent the last decade teaching at various colleges fusing art and science in her own curriculum and she has served as a curriculum developer and coordinator implementing STEAM initiatives (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics) for biology departments around the nation. Dustman completed the natural science illustration program at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2015. Shortly afterwards she was commissioned to paint the Turtles of Rhode Island for the Roger Williams Park Zoo. In 2016, she founded E-Squared Magazine, which fuses her affinity for art and science. Dustman currently works in the science education field and teaches immunology, advanced molecular & cellular biology, organismal biology, and environmental science courses. She also instructs sci-art workshops at science centers, botanical gardens, and for the National Science Foundation. The artist lives and works in Saint Louis, Missouri. Learn more at www.emilydustman.com.