Community Calendar

Join us for a conversation on how Roger Shimomura and other contemporary artists have responded to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, using multiple artistic media to communicate messages of pain, protest, and perseverance. We will begin this Gallery Gathering by looking at Shimomura’s Nisei Triology in the For the People, By the People exhibition. Then we will move downstairs to the Joy Light Gallery to view the exhibition Resilience–A Sansei Sense of Legacy.

"In September, our youngest art lovers can explore the work of local artists featured in the West Michigan Area Show. Through close looking and playful activities, young children can explore, move, and experience art together with their caregivers in a relaxed setting.

Wonder Walks is for children 2-4 years old (but all are welcome) and is free with the cost of admission. Caregivers must stay with their children at all times. Preregistration is encouraged"

Come to the Meader Fine Arts Library to create an artistic collage with Errin Ironside and the Collage Crew Kzoo. Inspired by the exhibition For the People, we are asking participants to meditate on what America means to you. All supplies will be provided.

Come to the Meader Fine Arts Library on Saturday to create an artistic collage with Errin Ironside and the Collage Crew Kzoo. Inspired by the exhibition For the People, we are asking participants to meditate on what America means to you. All supplies will be provided.

Conrad Kaufman

“A Collection of Regional Landscapes”
on view in KNC’s Glen Vista Gallery
September 1 – November 26
Reception Sunday, September 6, 2-4 pm

Self-described “regionalist landscaper” Conrad Kaufman has been observing and painting the area for nearly 30 years. Kaufman said his new collection on view at KNC is acrylic on canvas and represents a “collection of haunts” that he frequents, including the Nature Center, River Oaks, Gull Prairie Preserve, the Chipman Preserve and an area between Glendale and Bangor. Over the previous few months, Kaufman has focused on painting scenes from the Nature Center.

Free admission to reception

"During this ArtBreak, Prof. Ginger Owen-Murakami will discuss one of the most influential documentary photographs ever created. Produced by Dorothea Lange during the Great Depression as part of Roy Stryker’s Farm Security Administration (FSA) photography project, Migrant Mother remains in the public domain of the United States Library of Congress. As one of the most widely reproduced images in American history, this photograph endures as a profound symbol of hardship, resilience, and collective memory, embodying the struggles and perseverance that shaped the American experience.

Ginger Owen-Murakami is a Professor of Photography at Western Michigan University's Gwen Frostic School of Art. She teaches a variety of classes in Fine Art Studies (History, Professional Practices, Traditional Darkroom, Digital & Alternative Processes). Owen-Murakami’s artwork derives imagery from narratives and themes of family history, race, gender, and culture. She has lectured, worked, and exhibited internationally."

Join conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas for a public conversation exploring how artists document society and shape what it means to be American. Presented on the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Thomas will also reflect on love, language, and unity as tools for collective healing — drawing on his own practice, including his neon work, Love Over Rules, sculpture Community, and photo-based work, Pledge, on view in For the People, By the People: America at 250. A moderated Q&A facilitated by Rehema Barber, KIA Director of Curatorial Affairs, will follow.

Thomas holds a B.F.A. from New York University and an M.A./M.F.A. from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. He has received honorary doctorates from the Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, Portland, ME.

Arrive early to view Thomas’s Pledge (2018), Love Over Rules (Horizon Blue) (2020), and Community (2024), all on view in the For the People, By the People exhibition! Gallery hours for this exhibition will be extended until 6 pm, and admission is included with the cost of lecture attendance. Purchase early — tickets for this highly anticipated program are likely to sell quickly!

Ticket Prices:
KIA Members - $10
Non-members - $15
College students - $5

In September, Art Detectives will read a story about the Statue of Liberty and what she represents. Then they will explore the exhibition For the People, By the People to see how artists share the stories of the American people. Special guest Katie Platte from the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center will join us and show participants how to create a special book, so they can tell their own story.

Harlem Rhapsody follows Jessie Redmon Fauset, the literary editor of The Crisis magazine, as she helps ignite the Harlem Renaissance while navigating a secret affair with W.E.B. Du Bois. As the first Black woman to hold this editorial position, Jessie wastes no time uplifting those who will become some of the greatest voices of this legendary artistic movement. Victoria Christopher Murrary explores ambition, love, race, and the sacrifices behind artistic legacy and cultural transformation.

"“Art is the inner voice of the people.” —Alain Locke

Join us for a discussion of one of the most vibrant and significant movements in American art history – the Harlem Renaissance. Three scholars will reflect on the period’s rich legacy in the fields of visual art, music, and theatre. Moderated by Bianca Washington, the panel will include Dr. Amy Mooney (Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago), Rev. Millard Southern (PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at WMU), and Dr. Quincy Thomas (Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Kalamazoo College).