✂️⚡️Upcoming Exhibition - Big Orange Monster: An Emergency Collage Exhibition⚡️✂️
Opening: Wednesday September 10th
Opening Reception: Second Saturday, September 13th 2025, 6-8PM (CDT)
Running until: Saturday, October 25th, 2025.
At:
The Kolaj Institute Gallery,
2372 Saint Claude Avenue, Suite 260,
New Orleans,
LA 70117,
USA.
If you follow my work then you know that I have a special interest in monsters, what they represent, how they can make us laugh, how they cause us fear, and what they can teach us about ourselves. So I am delighted to have dispatched some dastardly creatures to take part in this monstrous exhibition at the Kolaj Institute over the next two months.
Here is a little from the organizers:
“The world is run by monsters and you have to deal with them. Some of them run countries, some of them run banks, some of them run news corporations.” –Ken Livingstone
You mix fear (yellow) and anger (red) and you get a Big Orange Monster. What’s the emergency? There are a lot of Big Orange Monsters on the loose. Monsters only have power if you are afraid of them. So let’s create a space where we can slay our fear of Big Orange Monsters. Art helps us exorcise our demons. Monsters can be glorious and wonderful or horrible and evil. Let’s not cast aside the good Big Orange Monsters because some other Big Orange Monsters are well…unpleasant.
Curated by: Ric Kasini Kadour
Other Events During the Exhibition:
Collage the Tarot Workshops: September 10th & October 8th 2025 7-9 PM (CDT)
Collage Artist Meet-Up: Tuesday, September 30th , 6-8PM (CDT)
Second Saturday: 11 October 2025, 6-8PM (CDT)
For more about this exhibition, events and the work of the Kolaj Institute CLICK HERE.
If you dare to enter the hallowed Rare Monster Archives CLICK HERE .
📢✒️ Hybrid Narratives an interview with Marta Janik Published in Kolaj Magazine #42✒️📢
📢✂️Hybrid Narratives an Interview with Marta Janik published in Kolaj Magazine #42✂️📢
Earlier this year, I caught up with my dear friend and collaborator Marta Janik for an insightful interview about humanities place in nature, her sources of inspiration, and her current art practice. Marta is a Flea Circus Ringmaster, Skilled Animator and Collage Artist Extraordinaire based in Warsaw, Poland. I am delighted to say that you can read all about our conversation ‘Hybrid Narratives’ in the new issue of Kolaj Magazine.
Marta also has an upcoming exhibition
”Co robią małpiszony? / What do the cheeky monkeys do?”
Saturday, September 6th,
From: 10am- 6pm with an official opening event at 4pm CEST,
At: Muzeum Karykatury im. Eryka Lipińskiego,
Warsaw, Poland.
Kolaj Magazine Issue #42 also features:
✂️“Little Beasts: Art, Wonder and the Natural World” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
✂️In “Dance to Resist & Rebel,” they report on how the always excellent UK artist Mark Murphy took collage to Glastonbury Festival.
✂️A profile of San Diego, California-based collagist G. E. Vogt‘s collage project that takes on Project 2025, a plan by the current administration to reorganize the American government under an executive power that would enact an authoritarian, white supremacist, Christian nationalist agenda.
✂️They review the book, “Transformation: A Survey of Collage and the Development of Personal Language”, that features thirteen contemporary collage artists. The book presents a multi-year spread of the artist’s work alongside a short Question & Answer piece by each artist as a way to get a sense of the artist’s personal language and process. “Paul Loughney’s thoughtful introduction offers an insightful definition of the medium that goes beyond the typical observations about glue and fragment.”
✂️A whole host of other writings and images from international collage artists doing incredible things.
For more from Kolaj Magazine #42 and the work of the Kolaj Institute CLICK HERE.
For more of the great work of the Marta Janik CLICK HERE.
To find out more about whats happening at the Muzeum Karykatury im. Eryka Lipińskiego CLICK HERE.
Cover Image: “God” (2018) Analogue Collage by Marta Janik.
⚡️✂️KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE: Frankenstein Book Launch - Saturday, December 7, 2024, 6-9PM GMT✂️⚡️
⚡️KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE: Frankenstein Book Launch - Saturday December 7, 2024, 6-9PM GMT⚡️
A cohort of international collage artists worked together to illustrate Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic 19th century novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus with the 21st century reader in mind. Artists created illustrations that connected Shelley's text to contemporary issues. Artists explored the role of science and artificial intelligence, queerness, intersectional identities, narcissism, and modern relationships. Seventy-six illustrations appear in a new publication of the novel and in a folio of twenty-four prints available for purchase and as a traveling exhibition. In this Kolaj LIVE Online, project art director Christopher Kurts will speak about the project and interview artists who contributed to it. "Shelley's timelessness is proven by our ability to use her novel to reflect on our world today," said Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour. "Collage artists, with their unique ability to transcend scale, place, and history, are well-suited to giving us pictures that bring vintage texts into the contemporary moment."
Featured creatures include:
Claire Dannenbaum (Eugene, Oregon, USA); Emily Denlinger (Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA); Suzanne Greenberg (New York, New York, USA); David Edward Johnson (Skaneateles, New York, USA); Marta Janik (Warsaw, Poland); Anthony D Kelly (Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland); Maureen Letton (San Francisco, California, USA); Rosie Lewis (York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom); Anissa Malady (San Francisco, California, USA); Rebecca Steiner (Lyme, Connecticut, USA); Jessica TranVo (Boston, Massachusetts, USA); Anthony Naimo (Spruce Pine, North Carolina, USA); Elzbieta Zdunek (Berlin, Germany)
ABOUT KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE
Kolaj LIVE Online is a series of virtual programs in the form of forums, panels, workshops, artist talks, studio visits, and other activities that allow people to come together, learn and talk about collage, and connect in real time to the collage community. Our goal is to bring the community together in a spirit of mutual support and fellowship.Kolaj LIVE Online manifests Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute by bringing together artists, curators, and writers to share ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. Learn more at the SERIES WEBSITE.
ADMISSION TO THIS EVENT IS FREE - REGISTER HERE
To purchase a copy of this magnificent book simply Click Here.
⚡️✒️ ITS ALIVE: Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: Kolaj Edition ✒️⚡️
⚡️✂️ Featured Artist in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein: Kolaj Edition✂️⚡️
⚡️⚡️!!!!!ITS ALIVE!!!⚡️⚡️
In the Autumn of 2023, I had the real pleasure of teaming up with a whole crew of creaturely collaborators to illustrate a new version of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. It was macabre delight to work with these monsters on dissecting Mary Shelly’s seminal work of proto-sciencefiction. It was an amazing process to spend time thinking about and drawing out the colourful, magical and fearful imagery within. I had a lot of fun working on the illustrations in this version with our ghastly group, including my dear friend and regular collaborator Marta Janik.
I am delighted to announce that the book is now ready for release!
See more from the publishers below:
”This new version of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's classic 19th century novel Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus features seventy-six illustrations by International Collage Artists who delved into the novel's rich narrative and visual potential and created thought-provoking artworks that reflect the essence of Frankenstein in a 21st century context. “Frankenstein,” writes artist David Edward Johnson, “The name alone conjures a lightning storm of images. From corpses, unholy and unearthed, to gothic laboratories, alive with galvanic impulse, to personal loss, longing, and anger. Shelley’s 1818 masterwork is locked in our collective unconscious like a fever dream. Since childhood, I have been in love with its silent shudders and moss-covered 19th-century tableaus.” Artists created illustrations that connected Shelley's text to contemporary issues. Artists explored the role of science and artificial intelligence, queerness, intersectional identities, narcissism, and modern relationships. "Shelley's timelessness is proven by our ability to use her novel to reflect on our world today," said Kolaj Institute Director Ric Kasini Kadour. "Collage artists, with their unique ability to transcend scale, place, and history, are well-suited to giving us pictures that bring vintage texts into the contemporary moment."“
Participating creatures include:
Claire Dannenbaum (Eugene, Oregon, USA); Emily Denlinger (Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA); Suzanne Greenberg (New York, New York, USA); David Edward Johnson (Skaneateles, New York, USA); Marta Janik (Warsaw, Poland); Anthony D Kelly (Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland); Maureen Letton (San Francisco, California, USA); Rosie Lewis (York, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom); Anissa Malady (San Francisco, California, USA); Rebecca Steiner (Lyme, Connecticut, USA); Jessica TranVo (Boston, Massachusetts, USA); Anthony Naimo (Spruce Pine, North Carolina, USA); Elzbieta Zdunek (Berlin, Germany)
To purchase a copy of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein: Kolaj Edition simply CLICK HERE.
To find out more about this project and the overarching Collage and Illustration program CLICK HERE.
Cover Image: “Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus” (2023) - David Edward Johnson
📢✒️ Featured in Publication - Poetry X Collage Journal: Volume7 ✒️📢
📢✒️ Featured Artist in Poetry X Collage Journal: Volume 7 ✒️📢
I am thrilled to have had my artwork published in the latest Poetry X Collage Journal (Vol:7). This journal is a release of the Kolaj Institute and features the work of some of the many fantastic artists who I had the pleasure to meet during original residency back in 2022, alongside some excellent new collage poets.
For a statement by the publishers read below:
“Poetry X Collage is a printed journal of artwork and writing which operates at the intersection of poetry and collage. We are interested in found poetry, blackout poetry, collage poems, haikus, centos, response collages, response poems, word scrambles, concrete poetry, scatter collage poems, and other poems and artwork that inhabit this world.
Each issue presents six movements of work by artists and curators. Page spreads are meant to be free zones of thinking where the contributor has chosen all elements of the layout: font, image place, composition, etc.”
This journal features:
Pablo Cabrera Ferralis
Leipzig, Germany
Natalie W Schorr
Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Hanna Madej
Wroclaw, Poland
Dianalog
Palm Springs, Florida, USA
Christy Sheffield Sanford
Saint Augustine, Florida, USA
Asemic Writing:
by Anthony D Kelly,
Laura Tafe, Thomas Mayer, and Janice McDonald,
with commentary by Ric Kasini Kadour
For more about the Poetry X Collage Journals click here.
To purchase Poetry X Collage Volume 7 click here.
Cover Image Credit: Detail of BY CHANCE/LA DÉRIVE by Pablo Cabrera Ferralis
⚡️✂️Intentional Selection – A Celebration of Collage - Words in Motion: Collage Poetry and Publication: (Panel Discussion& Showcase) on Saturday the 7th of September 2024. ⚡️✂️
⚡️✂️Intentional Selection – A Celebration of Collage✂️⚡️
Words in Motion: Collage Poetry and Publication:
(Panel Discussion& Showcase) on Saturday the 7th of September 2024.
3.30pm-6pm at the Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co.Mayo, Ireland.
F23 AN24
Join us for an exciting panel discussion with Ric Kasini Kadour of the Kolaj Institute with artists Anthony D Kelly and Eve Kimmerling about the vibrant intersection between Collage, Poetry and Publication. As well as a showcase of beautiful collage and poetry books by Red Fox Press.
From 3.30pm: Achill based book makers Red Fox Press will also be in attendance the Linenhall Arts Centre, showcasing a selection from their wonderful array of limited edition handmade books. Their beautiful books have attained global renown and often explore themes of Collage and Visual Poetry.
At 5pm: Publisher, Collage Artist and Community Organiser Ric Kasini Kadour will join us live by satellite to share his insights and perspectives on the book as a place for Collage and Kolaj Magazines approach to publishing. This conversation will take place in the Linenhall theatre space with artists Anthony D Kelly and Eve Kimmerling. Anthony and Eve are both Collage Artists practicing in the west of Ireland and who use poetry and text as integral parts of their visual arts practice.
This promises to be a rich an interesting event exploring the worlds of Collage, Poetry and Publication. See you there!!!
For the live event, booking is encouraged by clicking here.
If you are at distance and don’t want to miss the Panel Discussion at 5pm (GMT) discussion then join the live stream by clicking here.
About the Contributors:
Ric Kasini Kadour:
Ric Kasini Kadour is a writer, artist, publisher, and cultural worker. He was the recipient of a 2020-2021 Curatorial Fellowship from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. His art-making crosses media and includes collage, photography, printmaking, installations, and art product making. Kadour sees ‘zine-making as an extension of his art practice.
His artwork has been exhibited in Georgia, Ireland, Louisiana, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Scotland, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin and is in private collections in Australia, Canada, France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In addition to his art practice, Kadour is the founding editor and publisher of Kolaj Magazine and has written for a number of galleries and his writing has appeared in Hyperallergic, Vermont Magazine, Seven Days, Seattle Weekly, Art New England (where he was the former Vermont editor) and many others. He has produced a number of exhibits as a gallerist and curator.
His community organizing efforts have resulted in a number of large scale art events in North America and beyond. In August 2021, Kadour curated an exhibition of international collage artists, “Empty Columns Are a Place to Dream”, as part of Birr Vintage Week & Arts Festival in Birr, Co. Offaly. The exhibition received a 2021 National Heritage Award. The exhibition moved to the Knoxville Museum of Art in Tennessee and was part of a book of the same name, published by Kolaj Institute in 2022.
Kadour holds a BA in Comparative Religious Studies from the University of Vermont. Kadour splits his time between Montreal and New Orleans.
To learn more about Ric, visit www.rickasinikadour.com; for Kolaj Magazine, visit www.kolajmagazine.com; and for Kolaj Institute, visit www.kolajinstitute.org.
Red Fox Press:
Operating from a renovated cottage in Dugort on Achill Island, Red Fox Press have received global recognition for their handmade books and have become an integral part of the cultural fabric of the west of Ireland. Artists Francis Van Maele and Antic-Ham have generated a rich and wonderful array of artistic output and a history of supportive collaborative projects with practicing artists worldwide.
For more from Red Fox Press and to peruse their beautiful books visit:
www.redfoxpress.com
Eve Kimmerling:
Eve-Marie Kimmerling is a Group Analyst in private practice based in Co. Mayo in the West of Ireland.
Deeply rooted in her rural West of Ireland context, she was ‘astounded into being’ as a collage artist in a creative response to the often turbulent, fragmented, and disembodied nature of our recent times. While she has over 20 years’ experience working as a therapist, she is relatively new to her art making practice, having started in 2022. As an artist, she sees her collage work as an extension of her group analytic practice. The groups she belongs to and their wider social contexts inform and influence the collages she creates.
Creating her colourful pieces became a way of reflecting on, processing, and expressing themes arising in her work as a group analyst.
To delve further into Eve’s work visit:
https://collage-reverie.com/
Anthony D Kelly:
Anthony D Kelly is a Visual Artist, Writer, and Integrative Psychotherapist. He works mainly with Illustration, Collage and Assemblage techniques to create hopeful, humorous, and sometimes unnerving and deeply satirical imagery. He is currently based in Castlebar, County Mayo located on Irelands West Coast. He has extensive experience as a Gallery Administrator, Curator and Project Facilitator.
He is a proactive and experienced member of the Irish Collage Community. He was chosen as the Kolaj Institute’s World Collage Day Artist 2023. He has exhibited across Ireland, Europe and in the U.S.A. and has delivered workshops and lectures at Collagistas Festivals 5 & 6 in Dublin and Brussels.
His work has featured in many publications including Maintenant: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, Creativ Paper, Murze Magazine and Kolaj Magazine.
He has studied Arts Administration, Arts Participation and Global Development, and Humanistic Psychotherapy. Anthony is greatly interested in the Arts as an effective method for engagement with Social, Political and Global Development issues; and for seeking beyond the known to formulate the new. He is also deeply interested in the creative interplay between literature and visual art, and their roles as meaning making processes and in promoting positive mental health.
🔸🔹🔸 ANNOUNCEMENT - KOLAJ MAGAZINE - COLLAGE ARTIST TRADING CARDS PACK NO: 9 🔸🔹🔸
🔸🔹🔸 KOLAJ MAGAZINE - COLLAGE ARTIST TRADING CARDS PACK NO: 9 🔸🔹🔸
I am delighted to have been asked to participate in Kolaj Magazine’s Collage Artists Trading Cards Pack No:9. Its great to see my piece “Dreaming of a Foolish April” (2020) amongst such beautiful company. I love this idea as the deck is packed full of variety and has introduced me to new artists. It is also an extremely affordable way for people to own a wonderful array of collage art.
From Kolaj Magazine:
”Kasini House Artshop works with the Kolaj Magazine Artist Directory to produce curated packs of the Collage Artist Trading Cards. Each card is a full color, 5.5” x 3.5” postcard with rounded corners. An example of an artist’s work is on the front of the card and the artist’s public contact information is on the back. Collage Artist Trading Cards come in packs of 15. You can frame the cards you like as mini-prints; collect and curate your very own exhibition. You can also use the cards for discovering contemporary, fine art collage. We think they are a great way to be introduced to the artwork of collage artists.”
Purchase Your Pack: https://shop.kasinihouseartshop.com/category/trading-cards
🔸🔹🔸 COLLAGE & ILLUSTRATION: FRANKENSTIEN RESIDENCY - AUGUST - OCTOBER 2023🔸🔹🔸
🔸🔹🔸 COLLAGE & ILLUSTRATION: FRANKENSTEIN RESIDENCY - AUGUST - OCTOBER 2023🔸🔹🔸
I am absolutely delighted to have been accepted to take part in the Kolaj Intitute's Collage & Illustration Residency which is focused on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and hosted by the illustrious Kolaj Institute over the course of August - October 2023.
If you follow my work you may have had the dire misfortune of witnessing the frightening annual Rare Monster Sighting reports posted every October, and will know that I am very interested in the intersection between visual art, poetry and literature, and how these different creative practices can act as engines to spur each other on. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has been a joy to research and is so much more than a gothic horror novel. The novel itself is a poigniant reflection on the danger of humanities efforts to subjugate nature through science and technology; but also on loss, abandonment, alienation, loneliness and at times the restorative power of relationship. Its a novel of great depth and as we have started to share our ideas on the residency new perspectives and nuances arise.
⚡️!!! IT’S ALIVE !!!⚡️
The organisers have this to say:
"During the Collage & Illustration Residency – Frankenstein, artists will work to visually interpret Mary Shelley’s 1818 proto-science fiction novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. As part of Kolaj Institute’s ongoing Collage & Illustration project, this virtual residency aims to explore the themes of creation, identity, and the boundaries of human imagination through the captivating mediums of collage and illustration. Kolaj Institute will publish Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus using the illustrations made during the residency as a way of bringing this important, historical book and the themes it raises to 21st century readers. A selection of artwork will be exhibited at Kolaj Institute in New Orleans. "
To find out more about the Kolaj Institute and their residency programmes visit: https://kolajmagazine.com/content/institute/collage-illustration-frankenstein/
🔸🔹🔸ANNOUNCEMENT: KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE EVENT - Saturday, March 11, 2023, 2PM EST/ 7PM GMT🔸🔹🔸
🔸🔹🔸 ANNOUNCEMENT: KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE EVENT🔸🔹🔸
Artists in the Archives: European Collagists' Perspectives on American Archives
Saturday, March 11, 2023, 2PM EST/ 7PM GMT.
Looking forward to speaking during this exciting event this coming Saturday with Marta Janik, Ric Kasini Kadour and others.
Join Us!
More on the project:
"On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stewart-Swift Research Center, the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History invited an international network of collage artists to engage with historic material in the archive and to create a folio of collage prints that reflect on the idea of community in a 21st century world. Five artists who participated in the project did so from Europe. What did their unique perspective draw from the archive? Artists from Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, and Ukraine will join project curator Ric Kasini Kadour for a conversation about European perspectives on American history and place."
Read more: https://kolajinstitute.org/kolaj-live-online/
You can register for free HERE
Kolaj Magazine is a quarterly, printed, art magazine reviewing and surveying contemporary collage with an international perspective. We are interested in collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century art movement. Subscribe and get your copy today. http://www.kolajmagazine.com/shop.html
🔸🔹🔸ANNOUNCEMENT: KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE EVENT - This Sunday 26th February at 6PM GMT/ 2PM EST🔸🔹🔸
🔸ANNOUNCEMENT: KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE EVENT: Get Ready for World Collage Day 2023🔸
This Sunday 26th February at 7PM GMT/ 2PM EST
In this online event, Ric Kasini Kadour will share the impetus for the day’s creation and its philosophy. We will introduce the 2023 World Collage Day Poster Artist Anthony D Kelly from Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland who will speak about the concept behind the poster and the series of postcards he designed for the day. Kelly and Kadour will be joined by others planning World Collage Day events and activities. Bring your ideas, questions, and thoughts about your own plans for World Collage Day 2023 to share. The Virtual Event is Free & Open to All.
Kelly writes: “There is something inherently beautiful, courageous and profoundly valuable in this creative drive to recompose alienated parts into new, wonderful and unified realities; especially in the face of potential missteps, mistakes and failures,” writes Kelly. “As an act collage invites us to hold a vital middle ground, to navigate juxtapositions, disjunctions, conflicts, contradictions and clashes of context, as we seek to move towards understanding, and the creation of something meaningful and new.”
To download a high-resolution PDF of the poster, find out more about taking part in World Collage Day 2023, or register for the Kolaj Live Online event: https://kolajinstitute.org/worldcollageday/
For more from Kolaj Magazine visit: http://kolajmagazine.com/content/