Community Calendar

While the weather outside is chilly, the KIA will be warm and welcoming. Join us for a cozy winter-themed family night. We’ll start with a guided tour of the permanent collection, searching for artworks that capture the spirit of the season. Then, create your own winter-inspired masterpiece.

If you are unable to join us right at 6pm, feel free to come when you can. Guests will be able to view the exhibition on their own until 8pm and art projects will be available until 7:30pm.

Image credit: Detail from: Hasui Kawase, Zojo-ji Temple in Shiba from the series of Twenty Views of Tokyo, 1925, woodblock print. Collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts; Gift of Erik and Alice Jensen and Family, 2024.18.

The Greens of Winter Walk
Saturday, January 17 at 2 pm

Audience: All Ages
Meet: Visitor Center front desk

We might think of Winter as a season dominated by whites and browns, but our hardiest green photosynthetic life clings on all year round! Take a tour of the mosses and lichens of the woods and learn how these radically different organisms survive and thrive. This program has a flexible end time to accommodate for hiking time.

Fee: Included in regular KNC admission; drop in program

Yoga & Forest Bathing
Sunday, January 18, 2-4 pm

Audience: Adults

Meet: Gallery in the visitor center

Reconnect with yourself and with nature by joining us for a mindful session of yoga and shinrin yoku, the art and practice of forest bathing. Yoga will be gentle and perfect for all experience levels, followed by a guided meditative walk led by an experienced shinrin yoku instructor. Bring a yoga mat and be ready to change into outdoor clothing for our walk.

Fee: Member $28, Non-Member $35. Please register.

Aspiring artist Louisa becomes enchanted by three figures nestled in the corner of a famous painting. Intrigued, she embarks on a cross-country journey to uncover their story. Twenty-five years earlier, in a coastal town, four teenagers–misfits with bruised pasts–bonded over summer days on an abandoned pier, forging fierce loyalty and creative escape. Their friendship inspired the painting, and its legacy touches Louisa’s life in unexpected and emotional ways. Please note that the author will not be in attendance for this event.

Through tactile experiments with 3D printing and various conventional and unconventional materials, including ceramics, Taekyeom reimagines design as both visual, tactile, and spatial. His work combined design practice with digital fabrication to create tangible typography, graphics, and even designed objects. This presentation highlights the inventive journey into DIY toolmaking, material exploration, and the playful possibilities of experimental design.

Taekyeom Lee is a distinguished interdisciplinary graphic designer and visionary design educator known for his innovative integration of emerging technologies into visual communication design. He is currently an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Indiana University Bloomington. His research explores unconventional materials and alternative solutions to create tangible typography, graphics, and even designed objects using digital fabrication. He infused 3D printing into his research and has been experimenting with various methods and materials for tactile experiences.

Saturday, January 24, 10 –11:30 am

Audience: Adults
Meet: Visitor Center Classroom

Join us to learn how to make fire cider, a popular herbal tonic often used to keep some pep in your step for the cold months of winter. We’ll learn about the history and purported benefits of fire cider, then make our own batch of the spicy pick-me-up.

Fee: Member $15, Non-Member $20. Please register.

Stop by the KIA’s Meader Fine Arts library to create a fun bookmark using a variety of lettering styles. We will have stencils, stickers, and stamps on hand for you to create unique bookmarks to use in your next read. Experiment with different letters, styles, and colors to create a font collage or quote. All materials will be provided.

Discover KNC Guided Hike
Saturdays, January 24 & February 28, 2 pm

Audience: All Ages

Meet: Visitor Center Front Desk

Come explore KNC on a guided hike through some of our favorite areas. Each month will feature a different trail, taking you through our greatest hits and best kept secrets. Dress appropriately for the weather and bring your best trail shoes! Hot tea will be provided.

1/24/2026- Discover the Habitat Haven Trail

2/28/2026- Discover the Prairie Pathway Trail

Fee: Members Free, Non-Member $10. Please register; drop in if space allows.

Typography brings form to words both beautiful and mundane. What factors do graphic designers consider as they’re selecting the “clothes” our words will wear? How have changes in technology influenced fonts, designers, and the work they make? What effects have these developments had on the philosophy of typography? Join Ryan Lewis for a brief journey through the p’s and q’s of typographic expression.

Ryan Lewis is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Western Michigan University, where he teaches courses in typography, bookmaking, letterpress, and advanced problem solving. His research interests include stop-motion animation, type design, and animated typography. His video work has been exhibited and screened in the US and abroad. Lewis earned an MFA from Ohio University and a BFA from Utah State University.

Professor Margaret Bohls is an American potter and educator who teaches at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. During this talk, she will discuss her artwork, which consists of several different series of vessel forms, including her Italian Series and Modernist Series. Bohls will also speak about her inspirations, which include ancient Etruscan and Apulian pottery and Modernist era/mid-century designs in ceramics and silver.

Bohls has taught hands-on workshops at art centers such as Greenwich House Pottery in New York, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Bohls’ work has been shown in over 100 group and solo exhibitions since 1995 and is included in the permanent collections of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), the Weisman Museum of Art, and the Everson Museum of Art. She has written articles for the Journal of the National Council for Education on Ceramic Arts and Pottery Making Illustrated, and her ceramic work has been featured in periodicals such as Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter Magazine.