Vitameatavegamin. The chocolate factory. Wine making in Italy. Each of these phrases probably calls to mind the image of a “zany redhead” named Lucy Ricardo. But did you know that Lucille Ball, the star of I Love Lucy, was one of the first female studio heads in Hollywood? During its peak in the 1950s, Desilu…
Explore Expressions in Paper and Clay with faculty from the Kirk Newman Art School. Julie Devers (Chair of Ceramics) and Deborah Mattson (Chair of Printmaking) will discuss works from the exhibition, which highlights the vibrant, engaging, and innovative traditions of Japanese printmaking and ceramics spanning the past fifty years. This exhibition continues the Kalamazoo Institute…
The Kirk Newman Art School Post-Baccalaureate Program is in its seventh year, and more than 50 artists have completed the program.The nine-month residency is designed for aspiring artists who want to grow and strengthen their art practice in a supportive community, with access to professional studio facilities and guidance. At each of these ARTbreaks, KIA…
Portraiture as an art form has been in existence for at least five millennia. A portrait conveys not only its subject’s physical characteristics, but may also reveal key aspects of an individual’s personal psychology, as well as unique insights into disparate social, cultural, and political histories. The National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution outlines…
The Kirk Newman Art School Post-Baccalaureate Program is in its seventh year, and more than 50 artists have completed the program.The nine-month residency is designed for aspiring artists who want to grow and strengthen their art practice in a supportive community, with access to professional studio facilities and guidance. At each of these ARTbreaks, KIA…
The Kirk Newman Art School Post-Baccalaureate Program is in its seventh year, and more than 50 artists have completed the program.The nine-month residency is designed for aspiring artists who want to grow and strengthen their art practice in a supportive community, with access to professional studio facilities and guidance. At each of these ARTbreaks, KIA…
In 1950s American culture, teenagers were the focus of sustained media attention. A recently defined social category, “the teenager” ignited hopes and fears about changes in America’s political and economic landscapes. Films about teenagers in this period often portrayed them in extreme terms, either as obedient followers of social systems or as juvenile delinquents who…
Tewa Pueblo artist Maria Martinez earned international renown within her lifetime for her black-on-black pottery, a style she developed in the early 20th century, drawing inspiration from fragments of 17th-century black pottery that were discovered in 1908. Creating pottery in this signature style soon became a family pursuit, with Martinez collaborating with her husband, Julian,…
The Kirk Newman Art School Post-Baccalaureate Program is in its seventh year, and more than 50 artists have completed the program. The nine-month residency is designed for aspiring artists who want to grow and strengthen their art practice in a supportive community, with access to professional studio facilities and guidance. During this ARTbreak, KIA guests…
Visiting Tokyo artist Yoshisuke Funasaka and Kalamazoo artist Mary Brodbeck will speak about Cross Currents: East/West, their joint woodblock print exhibition showing at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center from May 12 to July 28. The artists will offer insights into Japanese art, culture, and cross-cultural exchange. Japanese woodblock prints are characteristically spatially flat, graphic, and…
The West Michigan Area Show is an annual juried exhibition showcasing exceptional work in all media since the 1960s. The exhibition draws hundreds of entries each year from a 14-county region, and an experienced juror selects the works that will be included in this dynamic exhibition of regional artists. The juror for the 2023 West…
During select ARTbreaks throughout the summer, artists featured in the 2023 West Michigan Area Show will deliver talks on their featured pieces, their larger bodies of work, their artistic processes, and their points of inspiration. With works selected from more than 400 submitted entries, the West Michigan Area Show highlights the work of talented regional…