Community Calendar

Herbal Oil Workshop
Connect with nature’s harvest and bottle the very best that summer has to offer as we create our own infused herbal oils! Join Lea Sevigny of Joyful Wildcrafting for a guided look into the world of summer herbs. We’ll learn to identify local plants and talk about the ways we can preserve their benefits to use long after summer’s end.

Saturday, August 29, 2026, 10 am-12 pm

Meet: Visitor Center Classroom

Fee: KNC Members $16; Non-Members $20

Please Register >

Audience: Adults

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.

Please join us the first Saturday of each month at 9 AM (barring special events or bad weather which will be announced on our Facebook page), for "Beginning Birding Walks," led by experienced birders from the Audubon Society of Kalamazoo. This event is free and open to the public. Meet at the second parking lot at Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, just off SR 43. All skill levels are welcome.

We will enjoy nature while typically identifying 20-40 species of birds, plus butterflies, frogs, etc. Over 200 bird species have been sighted at Wolf Lake, which offers a variety of habitats and easy walking trails. Annual highlights include colorful songbirds like orioles, warblers, tanagers, hawks and eagles, kingfishers, Great Blue and Green Herons, and over 20 species of waterfowl. Eastern Bluebirds can be found year-round! Children accompanying adults are welcome. The focus is on birding fundamentals, and extra binoculars are always available. The walk typically takes about 2 hours (but feel free to arrive late or leave early).

"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."

"Meet internationally-renowned conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas! During this special program, Thomas will share reflections on his work, which revolves primarily around themes of perspective, identity, commodity, media, and culture. Thomas’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad and recognized with many prestigious awards and fellowships. He is the creator of such powerful public artworks as The Embrace (Boston, 2022), Unity (Brooklyn, 2019), and Love Over Rules (San Francisco, 2017). His collaborative projects include Question Bridge: Black Males, In Search Of The Truth (The Truth Booth), The Writing on the Wall, and For Freedoms.

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 - $15
Non-members - $20
College students - $10"

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.

Tacos, tequila, and tunes, what more do you need?!

Get ready for an unforgettable afternoon at the Tacos & Tequila Crawl in Downtown Kalamazoo. Grab your friends and hit the town as you crawl between local hotspots, enjoying five delicious specialty tacos, sipping on signature tequila drinks, and soaking up all the fiesta vibes along the way. Your ticket is your all-access pass to flavor and fun. Featuring a taco at each stop, exclusive swag, and entry to an epic after party in Bates Alley with a live DJ to keep the celebration going.

This isn’t just a food crawl. It’s part taco tour, part bar crawl, and a FUNdraiser for MRC Industries.

Gather your crew, snag your tickets, and get ready for a fiesta you won’t forget!