Collage with the Louis Armstrong House Museum

Floor 3, Theater

Open for all ages

Artists of all ages are invited to explore Edges of Ailey and create their own collages incorporating improvisation, experimentation, and play! In partnership with the Louis Armstrong House Museum, we’ve designed a day filled with artmaking, music, and fun for all led by Charanya Ramakrishnan from LAHM.

Alvin Ailey once said about his friend and collaborator, artist Romare Bearden, “There's so much music in Romie’s work.” Bearden designed sets and costumes for Ailey and other choreographers. In 1979, Bearden created the Bayou Fever series of narrative collages as a springboard for a dance he hoped Ailey would choreograph. Though the dance was never realized, the collages are now on view in Edges of Ailey. 

Louis Armstrong was a trailblazing musician, vocalist, and entertainer who revolutionized jazz and became a global cultural icon. Born in New Orleans in 1901, his innovative artistry and boundless charisma left an indelible mark on music, film, and popular culture, earning him a legacy that resonates worldwide to this day. Armstrong was also a prolific collage artist, using photographs, letters, promotion materials, newspaper articles, and more to create art on the walls of his home, in scrapbooks, and on five hundred reel-to-reel tape boxes, which are part of the Armstrong Archives. 

The Louis Armstrong House Museum (LAHM) sustains and promotes the cultural, historical, and humanitarian legacy of Louis Armstrong by preserving and interpreting Armstrong’s house and grounds, collecting and sharing archival materials that document Armstrong’s life and legacy, developing programs for the public that educate and inspire, and engaging with contemporary artists to create performances and new works.