✂️Upcoming Exhibition - Come to Me, Here Beside the River - New Orleans Jazz Museum, 400 Esplanade, New Orleans, LA 70116, USA.✂️

⚡️✂️Upcoming Exhibition: Come to Me, Here Beside the River✂️⚡️
⏰When: Tuesday the 8th - 22nd of September 2026
📍Where: NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM,
400 Esplanade,
New Orleans,
LA 70116,
USA.

I am delighted be taking part in the forthcoming “Come to me, here beside the River” Exhibition to be held during the NOLA Riverfest at the New Orleans Jazz Museum and organised by the Kolaj Institute. In Celtic Mythology many of our main rivers were considered to be Goddesses, full of power and mystery, and fonts of folklore in their own right. It was interesting to me the to consider the Mississippi in a similar vein.

About the Exhibition:
“Come to me, here beside the River” brings together nine International Collage Artists, each of whom offers a unique take on the Mississippi River as a dynamic force of culture. The exhibition will take place on the iron fence of the U.S. Mint, home of the New Orleans Jazz Museum.

Participating Artists include:
Anthony D Kelly (Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland), LaVonna Varnado Brown (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA), Marta Janik (Warsaw, Poland), Lilya Chavaga (Brussels, Belgium), Matthew Hendricks (Cape Town, South Africa), Allison Spence (Tallahassee, Florida, USA), Seth Ter Haar (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA), Jeanna Penn (Oakland, California, USA) Ric Kasini Kadour (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA & Montreal, Quebec, Canada).

This exhibition is also part of the Kolaj Institutes overarching “The River Bends, So Must We” project.

”The River Bends, So Must We” Project:
“The River Bends and So Must We” is a project of Kolaj Institute that reflects on the Mississippi River as a dynamic force of culture. In 2026 and 2027, we will bring together artists from the International Collage Community to make artwork that imagines and speaks to what lessons the River can teach us about our own humanity. We will consider the history of the River in New Orleans from primordial times, pre-Columbian civilization, and to the present moment. We will examine how the River is an economic force, a tool of power, a natural wonder, and source of magic. We will take up Maya Angelou’s (1928–2014) invitation in her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning”, and “Speak to humankind today. Come to me, here beside the River.”

For more about the Kolaj Institute and “The River Bends, So Must We” project CLICK HERE.

For more about the New Orleans Jazz Museum 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.

✂️Upcoming Symposium - Curiosity, Wonder, Joy, & Portals at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025✂️

⚡️Upcoming Symposium- Curiosity, Wonder, Joy, & Portals at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025⚡️
Saturday, 2-3pm (CDT), June 28th, 2025,
At: Cafe Istanbul, 2372 St Claude Ave,
Room 252, New Orleans, LA 70117,
United States.

I am really honored to be presenting research and work on my upcoming Lexicon of Wonder project at Kolaj Fest 2025 as part of a symposium on Curiosity, Joy, Wonder and Portals alongside the amazing Breasia Hayes, Savannah Greene & C.Joi Sanchez.

I have been formulating the Lexicon of Wonder project over the last number of years and it is soon to be completed and released in the form of exhibitions and a publication. The first iteration of the Lexicon of Wonder exhibition will take place at Áras Inis Gluaire later this Summer with details coming soon.

Check out a note below from the organizers about the Symposium and my part in it:

”With its roots and history in the Surreal, collage is a well-built path to exercise curiosity. What happens if I put these two things together? Collage’s ability to bridge time and geography makes it a vehicle to explore new realms. During the Symposium at Kolaj Fest New Orleans, we will hear from Anthony D Kelly, Breasia Hayes, Savannah Green, and C. Joi Sanchez, each who are engaged in projects that explore wonder and joy and how life experiences take one down creative paths.

Anthony D Kelly is an artist, writer, and integrative psychotherapist from Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. “At the beating heart of my art practice are both wonder and play. Collage is a way for me to connect with myself, my community and the world around me,” wrote the artist. “I often hold a concept, word or idea in mind until an image coalesces and presents itself internally. I then sit and begin to sift through materials both digital and analogue for something that resonates.” Kelly will present his project, “Lexicon of Wonder”. He wrote, “Wonder and Awe are complex emotions arising in response to experiences of profound beauty, connection, natural phenomena, or through bearing witness to the incredible capacities, courage or talents of other human beings. They can also arise at times of great personal crisis or fear such as witnessing the raw power of nature at a time of natural disaster.” Kelly will speak about project origins, his ongoing research into the emotional states of wonder and awe, the role poetry plays in the project, and his plans for an exhibition and publication.”

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.

Image: “Communications Bananatron” (detail) by Anthony D Kelly
21″x9″; Digital Collage; 2024.