Rosemary Rae, 2018 MFA in Graphic Design

(At left: GGGGGGGGGG and Movie Actress Magic by Rosemary Rae—each collage 11″x8.5″; scrap magazine pages, type, packing material, images; 2018. Courtesy of the artist via Kolaj Institute.)

Rosemary Rae (’18 GD) has been selected among the first round of participants in Kolaj Institute’s Poetry & Collage Residency for 2022. According to Kolaj’s website, the 12 selected artists “will work together to investigate the intersection of collage and poetry by exploring concepts of 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.” Kolaj Institute will release a book of collage and poetry work including multiple spreads by each artist from the residency.

A portfolio of Rae’s work was included in issue #28 of Kolaj magazine, with her collage, “Flashback,” featured on the cover. As noted in the magazine, the piece incorporates “a discarded box, scrap papers, foil, music sheet, wood type and images with letter pressed letters. ‘These things could be the items you find in a junk drawer, but here they are, layered and mapped, choreographed on the collage; a cacophony of fragments and styles, somehow coalescing into a pleasant, almost rhythmic, harmonious state.’”

In describing her work for the magazine, Rae states, “My collage work explores the relationship between space and color, and celebrates the play and energy of random compositions across a page.” Her MFA thesis at VCFA, A Lady Red & the Em Dash, explored the work of Emily Dickinson, the multi-hyphenate nature of women’s experience, and more through stunning collage, letterpress, and other means.

Learn more about Rosemary and her work by visiting her website.