Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

A glass sculpture with a color pattern resembling a monarch butterfly wing sits in a display case in front of a wall of several paintings at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Custom LED panels on a museum wall glow with colorful purple and yellow abstract shapes, while illuminated circles are projected onto an adjacent wall at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Now on view:
👉✋ Celebrate talented regional artists in the 2025 West Michigan Area Show.

🎆 Leo Villareal: Interstellar invites viewers into the immersive digital worlds of Leo Villareal, where code, celestial bodies, and humanity converge into a fusion of art and technology.

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Art, including paintings and portraits, hangs on two gallery walls - one blue and one white - while a sculptural installation sits on a pedestal in the foreground.

A person wearing a black jacket and hat operates a theremin, a musical instrument contained in a wooden cabinet with metal piping extending from it.

Two people discuss the Sourced from the Zoo object guide while kneeling at a table with a typewriter on it.

Two parents and a child lean in to look at and discuss a quilled paper artwork piece hanging on a gallery wall.

Sourced from the 'Zoo, now on view (with a theremin too).

14.03.2025 20:51 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Enthusiasm is all you need to get started!

05.03.2025 15:57 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A person sits at a pottery wheel, shaping clay into a bowl shape.

Children and adults work on assembling metal pieces into larger sculptures at different tables in a large metalworking studio.

A person in a blue apron and KIA nametag uses needle-nose pliers to shape a piece of jewelry while a person in a gray sweatshirt and hat watches closely. They stand over a table with jewelry making supplies in bags and baskets.

Friday from 6–9pm is our annual Hands On event—a lively evening to experience the joy of art making. From wheel throwing and printmaking to welding and textiles, you’ll have the chance to try the activities that happen in our studios every day. See the projects: kiarts.org/knas-hands-on-event/

05.03.2025 14:44 — 👍 10    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A family of imaginative characters of felt and fiber—including a fireball, a snow person, a grumpy piece of toast, and a gumdrop penguin—sit in a garden of vibrant flowers and potato rocks. Image credit: JooYoung Choi, The Freizor-Bern Family: And it was Plain to See You were my Destiny, 2019-2025, wooden armature, quilt poly fiber batting, fleece, poly-fill, metal hardware, polyfoam, and felt. Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery.

Three vibrant paintings by artist JooYoung Choi hang on museum gallery walls featuring characters and events from her Cosmic Womb series.

"What makes us feel like we belong? Who are the people, or what life events have lifted us up?" The works and characters in An Infinite Constellation of Love encourage you to consider these questions.

Visit this fantastical realm through June 15.

25.02.2025 18:15 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

An art gallery with four artworks of different mediums hanging on a wall, and two others - including a black ash basket - on pedestals. Photo by Colleen Woolpert.

An art gallery with numerous abstract artworks on a wall in groupings and pairings, with a variety of bright geometric shapes and patterns. The gallery space surrounds a staircase to a lower gallery. Two visitors are shown in a motion blur. Photo by Colleen Woolpert.

Two people, each wearing a blazer and name tag, stand in an art gallery as they point at and discuss a painting in a large and ornate gold colored frame. Photo by Colleen Woolpert.

This is the last weekend to see our exhibition Legendary Voices: Art for the Next Century. It pairs artworks from different periods, artists, and genres to create compelling connections and dialogues, while also illuminating the breadth of our permanent collection.

Sat: 11am–5pm
Sun: 12pm–4pm

14.02.2025 19:39 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

🖼️ Jill Waskowsky, Kirk II, 1983, lithograph, hand-colored. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Donation from Edward Sackley III, 2006.42

07.02.2025 17:45 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

"It's funny because it's bigger than a normal hat."

Newman’s black suit and lifelike expression ground the piece in realism. However, any formality presented by Waskowsky’s realistic depiction of Newman’s face is humorously disrupted by adding a brightly colored geometric hat & oversized bowtie.

07.02.2025 17:45 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

A lithograph of artist Kirk Newman. He wears a black suit and lifelike expression, humorously disrupted with a bright and multicolored geometric top hat and oversized striped bowtie. Circular cutouts in the suit and the exaggerated gesture of the subject's hand refer to the imagery seen in Newman’s own lithographs. Image credit: Jill Waskowsky, Kirk II, 1983, lithograph, hand-colored. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Donation from Edward Sackley III, 2006.

A photo of a framed lithograph of artist Kirk Newman. He wears a black suit and lifelike expression, humorously disrupted with a bright and multicolored geometric top hat and oversized striped bowtie. Circular cutouts in the suit and the exaggerated gesture of the subject's hand refer to the imagery seen in Newman’s own lithographs. Image credit: Jill Waskowsky, Kirk II, 1983, lithograph, hand-colored. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Donation from Edward Sackley III, 2006.

A new highlight in our lobby features artist Jill Waskowsky. Her lithograph Kirk II pays homage to Kirk Newman, a prominent sculptor, teacher, and contributor to the Kalamazoo art community. It juxtaposes realism with stylized, whimsical elements, reflecting Newman’s artistic and personal legacy.

07.02.2025 17:45 — 👍 8    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

An Infinite Constellation of Love Journey into the dazzling and boundless world of JooYoung Choi’s artistry. February 22–June 15.

📸: JooYoung Choi, Detail of Pound Cake Man and Emma Pound Cake Girl, 2019, wooden armature, quilt poly fiber batting, fleece, poly-fill, metal hardware, polyfoam, and felt. Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, photography by Thomas Dubrock.

Exhibition info: kiarts.org/exhibition/a...

23.01.2025 13:44 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A photograph of a sculptural installation of comic figures, each containing dozens of panels of colorful fabric with shapes resembling faces. The larger figure is holding a smaller one aloft in one of its hands. They stand against a backdrop of trees and a starry night sky.

We're excited to journey into the dazzling and boundless world of JooYoung Choi in An Infinite Constellation of Love, opening Feb. 22.

Choi's videos, sculptures, paintings, and site-specific installations are inspired by science fiction, fantasy, social justice, and the artist’s personal history.

23.01.2025 13:43 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Currently on view in our lower level galleries.

18.12.2024 18:10 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Black & white photograph of a Victorian mansion, circa 1958, with signage indicating the home of the Kalamazoo Art Center.

Flashback Friday: In 1947, the KIA moved from a leased temporary home to its first owned home, a renovated Victorian mansion at 421 West South Street.

Zoom in for details: The KIA was then known as the Kalamazoo Art Center. The sign noting the move to Jasper St. places the photo in 1958.

13.12.2024 22:16 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Looks like this one was the first, good to see more love for runnin' over big ol' block prints:

19.11.2024 18:08 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A steamroller drives over an inked woodblock in a parking lot in order to produce a canvas print as onlookers stand and watch from behind a barrier. The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts entrance is seen in the background.

A black and white woodblock print celebrating the South Street Print Fest and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts' 100th anniversary hangs with clothespins as it dries. The print itself depicts the event, showcasing a steamroller and the KIA building.

Two people wearing bright safety vests reveal a printed canvas produced by driving an asphalt roller over an inked woodblock. People watch and cheer for the reveal in the background from behind a barrier.

An artist's gloved hands hold a roller as they ink up a woodblock relief carving.

Trying to be one of the first accounts on here to post about using a steamroller as a printing press.

19.11.2024 16:45 — 👍 21    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0

This is Stephen Hansen's You are Here, 1992, color etching. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Gift of the artist, 1992/3.22

15.11.2024 21:10 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A color etching by artist Stephen Hansen depicting the ubiquitous habit, in Michigan, of mapping the outline of the Lower Peninsula upon our own bodies. In the foreground, a helpful Michigander points to their hand. In the background, local architecture and monuments are assembled in a compressed Kalamazoo skyline, while caricatures humorously represent the people of the city with reference to local history, cultural institutions, business, and agriculture. And of course, the windows of the KIA reveal a festive event—perhaps the opening of Hansen's 1992 retrospective for which this print was made.

Introducing ourselves on Bluesky like a true Michigander.

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This is Dale Chihuly's Kalamazoo Ruby Light Chandelier, 1998, blown glass, wire, stainless steel armature. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Gift of Christopher and Margo Light, 1998.8.

15.11.2024 13:57 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A hand blown glass sculpture hangs from a ceiling, featuring hundreds of red, orange, and yellow twisting and spiraling glass tubes and shapes radiating out from the center.

Let's start at the top: With 464 individually blown glass pieces measuring 7 feet in diameter and weighing nearly 1,000 pounds.

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