The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is a non-profit

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily co ...

and school in downtown

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropo ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, United States.

History

In 1924, members of the Kalamazoo Chapter of the

American Federation of Arts The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 w ...

established an art center "to further the development of interest and education in and of regard and appreciation for the various arts." The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts current building was unveiled in September 1961. Designed by the Chicago, Illinois, firm of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

, the structure is based on a

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

design for a small museum, in the International Style of architecture. In 1997, the KIA began a $14.5 million expansion and renovation. The project increased the size of the KIA to , and added a two-story lobby gallery, auditorium, classrooms and galleries, gallery shop, library and an interactive gallery for children.

Dale Chihuly Dale Chihuly () (born September 20, 1941) is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is best known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture". Early life Dale Patrick Chihuly was born on September 20 ...

's ''Kalamazoo Ruby Light Chandelier'', a colorful chandelier of 400 pieces of glass, became a permanent fixture in the lobby foyer. The renovated facility, with its 10 galleries and of exhibition space, opened in September 1998.

Exhibitions

The KIA hosts 10 to 15 temporary exhibitions each year in its ten galleries. These include recurring shows such as the West Michigan Area Show, High School Area Show, and Young Artists of Kalamazoo County. Others are built around works lent from museums, galleries, corporations or private collections. The museum also mounts ticketed exhibitions; the most successful have drawn tens of thousands of visitors. * In 2004, 47,000 visitors came to see "Millet To Matisse: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century French Painting", an exhibition of

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

and

post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

paintings from

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. It reopened in 2006 after a three-year refurbishment and since then has been one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions. The museum has 22 galleries, h ...

in Glasgow. * In 2005, nearly 60,000 people came from all 50 states and 17 countries to see "Chihuly in Kalamazoo", an exhibition of works by glass artist

. * In 2007, the KIA hosted " Lorna Simpson," a touring exhibition of the work of this contemporary artist. * In 2008, the KIA curated an exhibition celebrating the resurgence of American figurative painting: "The Figure Revealed." * In 2008-09, the KIA hosted two large-scale, ticketed exhibitions: "Spared from the Storm: Masterworks from the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the ...

" (November–February) and "

Georgia O'Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American modernist artist. She was known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been called the "Mother of Ame ...

and Her Times: American Modernism" from the Lane Collection of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

(May–September). * In 2015, the KIA hosted exhibitions by Seungmo Park, Manierre Dawson, and curated an exhibition about an artist who helped found the KIA: "Rediscovering Nina Belle Ward." * In 2016, the KIA hosted solo exhibitions by Barbara Takenaga, Renee Stout,

Chul Hyun Ahn Chul Hyun Ahn is a South Korean artist who works primarily with light. Description Ahn is a member of a group of young light artists including Olafur Eliasson, Ivan Navarro, Spencer Finch, and Leo Villareal. Ahn creates meditations on zen ...

Jiha Moon Jiha Moon (born 1973) is a contemporary artist who focuses on painting, printmaking, and sculptural ceramic objects. Born in Daegu, South Korea, Moon is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Early life and education Moon was born in Daegu, South ...

, and

Fred Wessel Fred may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Frederico Rod ...

, all of whom visited Kalamazoo during the course of their exhibitions. The KIA also presented in "Suspended: Sculpture from

ArtPrize ArtPrize is an art competition and festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Anyone over the age of 18 can display their art, and any space within the three-square-mile ArtPrize district can be a venue. There are typically over 160 venues such as museu ...

2015" emerging artists Joel S. Allen, (Steamboat Springs, Colorado),

Russell Prather Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory * Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **Ru ...

(Marquette, Michigan),

Irene LaVon Walker Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United State ...

(Ferndale, Michigan). * in 2017, the KIA hosted solo exhibitions by

Kay Walkingstick Kay WalkingStick (born March 2, 1935) is a Native American landscape artist and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Her later landscape paintings, executed in oil paint on wood panels often include patterns based on Southwest American Indian rugs, p ...

Sayaka Ganz Sayaka Ganz is a Japanese sculptor. Her works incorporate reclaimed plastic as a medium. She was born in Yokohama, Japan and grew up living in Japan, Brazil, and Hong Kong. Ganz identifies a strong Japanese influence in her work, even though sh ...

Hung Liu Hung Liu (劉虹) (17 February 1948 – 7 August 2021) was a Chinese Americans, Chinese-born American contemporary artist. She was predominantly a painter, but also worked with mixed-media and site-specific installation and was also one of the f ...

, and Wadada Leo Smith. * In 2018, the KIA hosted an exhibition featuring photographer

Dawoud Bey Dawoud Bey (born David Edward Smikle; November 25, 1953) is an American photographer and educator known for his large-scale art photography and street photography portraits, including American adolescents in relation to their community, and oth ...

. * In 2019, the KIA hosted the touring exhibition "Black Refractions: Highlights from

The Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an American art museum devoted to the work of artists of African descent. The museum's galleries are currently closed in preparation for a building project that will replace the current building, located at 144 W ...

" and solo shows by contemporary artists Orna Ben-Ami,

Inka Essenhigh Inka Essenhigh (born 1969) is an American painter based in New York City. Throughout her career, Essenhigh has had solo exhibitions at galleries such as Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, 303 Gallery, Stefan Stux Gallery, and Jacob Lewis Galle ...

, Maya Freelon, and Sungyhun Moon. The KIA offers lectures and educational events, outreach programs and a fine arts research library.

Permanent collection

The museum's permanent collection consists of more than 4,600 original works. Its primary emphasis is on 20th-century

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

, with works by such artists as

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

Alexander Calder Alexander Calder (; July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor known both for his innovative mobiles (kinetic sculptures powered by motors or air currents) that embrace chance in their aesthetic, his static "stabiles", and hi ...

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very l ...

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

, Luis Jiménez,

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' a ...

Tim Lowly Tim Lowly (born 1958 in Hendersonville, North Carolina) is a Chicago artist, musician, and teacher. He is known for compassionate egg tempera pictures of children in mysterious circumstances.Alan G. Artner, "Grabner Homes in on Subject Matter: L ...

Ed Paschke Edward Francis Paschke (June 22, 1939 – November 25, 2004) was an American painter of Polish descent. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons, as well as his father's creativity in wood carving and construction, led him toward a caree ...

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of the country's culture. Rockwell is most famous for the ...

Cindy Sherman Cynthia Morris Sherman (born January 19, 1954) is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. Her breakthrough work is often co ...

, Lorna Simpson,

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the l ...

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral allusion in painting and was a leading pr ...

and

Andrew Wyeth Andrew Newell Wyeth ( ; July 12, 1917 – January 16, 2009) was an American visual artist, primarily a realist painter, working predominantly in a regionalist style. He was one of the best-known U.S. artists of the middle 20th century. In his ...

. The collection also includes a number of 18th- and 19th-century American works, 20th-century European works, as well as African, Chinese,

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, and

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

and Oceanic works.

Kirk Newman Art School

The school has offered visual arts instruction to the community since 1931. Its goal is to nurture artistic creativity in the residents of West Michigan by providing affordable classes and workshops for people of all ages and skill levels in a range of media, including painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, jewelry-making, weaving and fiber arts. Faculty members are practicing artists and educators. The school was renamed in 2006 to honor Kalamazoo artist and former school director Kirk Newman.

KIA Art Fair

The KIA Art Fair began in 1952 as the Clothesline Art Show, an opportunity for local and regional artists to sell their works. Held the first Saturday of June in nearby Bronson Park, the KIA Art Fair is now the second oldest continuously running art fair in the United States. Each year, thousands of visitors join 200 artists in Bronson Park to view and purchase paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, jewelry, ceramics, fiber ware, sculpture and more.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 1924 establishments in Michigan Art museums established in 1924 Art museums and galleries in Michigan Museums in Kalamazoo, Michigan School buildings completed in 1961 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Art schools in Michigan Education in Kalamazoo, Michigan