Bird on a Wire at LeMieux Galleries NOLA

Written By Monica d. Church

21 May-14 June 2026

an official exhibition of Kolaj Fest New Orleans

From the call for works, “The idiom, Bird on a Wire, speaks to the tension between freedom and vulnerability, a precarious state of existence where at any moment one could fly or fall. Leonard Cohen’s 1968 song is an apology, a prayer, and an anthem. He sings, “I have tried in my way to be free.” The idiom also speaks to what it feels like to be an artist; constantly on the verge of success or failure, balancing security with unpredictability. The idiom also speaks to this historical moment where society itself feels precarious or to quote Cohen’s song, we are all “like a worm on a hook.”

Jurors, Christy Wood, the director of LeMieux Galleries, and Kolaj Magazine Editor Ric Kasini Kadour selected my collage, Midnight in America, (collage found papers & eggshells on Stonehenge paper, 4 x 6 inches) as part of the exhibition.Kolaj Fest New Orleans is an annual, multi-day festival & symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 10-14 June 2026.

Participating artists are:

Andrea Burgay (Brooklyn, New York) | Monica Church (Poughkeepsie, New York) | Valeri Clarke (Cheyenne, Wyoming) | Chad Colby (Durango, Colorado) | Trish Crapo (Leyden, Massachusetts) | Ben DiNino (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | Melanie Eubanks (Hattiesburg, Mississippi) | Julie Glass (Amite, Louisiana) | Cindy Green (Tuscon, Arizona) | Craig Howarth (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) | Re Howse (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Ric Kasini Kadour (New Orleans, Louisiana & Montreal, Quebec) | Helen Kauder (New Haven, Connecticut) | Clive Knights (Portland, Oregon) | Samantha Lamph/Len (Riverside, California) | Carol M. Lynch (Metairie, Louisiana) | Bethanie Mangigian (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Jaclyn McCabe (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Beau McCall (New York, New York) | Robbie Morgan (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Carolyn E. Oliver (Carlsbad, California) | Kirk Read (Portland, Oregon) | Robin Roberts (San Diego, California) | Robert A. Schaefer. Jr (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Sandra Schilling (Lenox, Massachusetts) | Martina Sciolino (Hattiesburg, Mississippi) | Stephen Tomasko (Akron, Ohio) | William Tucker (New Orleans, Louisiana) | LaVonna Varnado-Brown (New Orleans, Louisiana) | Ashley Williams (Northport, Alabama).

Monica d. Church

Monica d. Church (b. 1964, Middlebury, VT USA) is an abstract artist who paints on repurposed sails. She lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley where she sails on the Hudson River in a 1966 Ensign. She also works in printmaking, photography and collage.

Monica has a BA in visual arts from Bennington College and an MFA in painting from The University of Kentucky. Her works are in numerous collections including Manugistics, Rockville, MD; Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY; and Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY.

monicachurch.org
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