⚡️Upcoming Symposium - Words as Pictures, Collage as Text at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2026⚡️
Friday, 2-3pm (CDT), June 12th, 2026,
At: Cafe Istanbul, 2372 St Claude Ave,
Room 252, New Orleans, LA 70117,
United States.
This year I am really honored to be presenting at Kolaj Fest 2026 on the rich interplay of literary and collage techniques within my creative practice. I will speaking of how together they inform core the elements of several major projects and how we can “change creative channels” to come unstuck; driving new inspiration and discover unexpected paths of exploration. This will be my part of a symposium on “Words as Pictures, Collage as Text” alongside other amazing writers and collage artists, Kirk Read, Christine Karapetian, Astrid Bant and Trish Crapo.
Check out a note below from the organizers about the Symposium and my part in it:
”For COLLAGE::BOOKS which took place in October 2025 in Montreal, Brooklyn, New York collage artist Jennella Young wrote, “Publishing is more than documentation. It is itself a creative act that shapes how ideas are assembled and carried. It’s almost its own form of collage. Artist books and zines are not secondary to exhibitions for my art work—they are exhibitions in their own right—the kind you can carry and share and hopefully treasure.” Not simply illustration, when artists pair writing and artwork, an alchemy occurs where the words can become pictures and the collage can become text. Visual literacy and textural literacy mingle and build a new world for viewers and readers in the cosmology of the contemporary art project. During this panel, we will hear from collage artists and writers with overlapping, integrated practices.”
Writing and publishing has consistently flowed through Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland artist, writer, and integrative psychotherapist Anthony D Kelly‘s practice. At Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025, he presented the project, “Lexicon of Wonder” which will soon be published as a book. For each of the collages in his “Rare Monster Sighting Archives,” Kelly writes a fictional “Recorded Sighting” report. He collaborated on the children’s book, Fleadom Flea Circus, with Marta Janik. He has also been an active contributor to Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute’s Collage Illustration and PoetryxCollage projects. Kelly will speak about the role writing plays in his collage practice.
For more about the Symposium itself CLICK HERE.
To learn more about about the wondrous Kolaj Fest and to download the festival events program
CLICK HERE.
For more from the Kolaj Institute and Magazine CLICK HERE.