Art Beat

The only crime on your mind when you walk into Confections with Convictions, the handmade gourmet chocolate shop on Crosstown Parkway in Kalamazoo, may be one of indulgence. There are truffles, rose-honey caramels with salted pistachios, and dried strawberries.

Kalamazoo artist Linda Rzoska (pronounced ZOO-skuh) was already a tree hugger and climber as a little girl, growing up in Bangor. As she developed an interest in art, it was only natural that her favorite topic would be trees.

When Tom Holmes offered a class in holistic healing, using a "modality" called Internal Family Systems, he sometimes had trouble getting his students to visualize the many inner voices, or parts, that guide us every day of our lives. But one of his students, artist Sharon Eckstein, had a solution. Their collaborative effort became Eckstein’s InnerActive Cards, a deck of 75 illustrated cards, and Holmes’s book, Parts Work: An Illustrated Guide to Your Inner Life (Winged Heart Press, 2011).

Crawlspace Eviction entertained audiences in the Kalamazoo area for 16 years. It has weekly performances, including open-mic and stand-up comedy every Monday, and improv comedy twice a month.

Most of those who have heard of John Fetzer usually know him as the former owner of the Detroit Tigers. Some in Michigan, and especially in Kalamazoo, know a little about Fetzer’s other interests: broadcasting, and spiritual exploration. In his new book, John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age (Wayne State University Press, 2018), Western Michigan University professor Brian Wilson digs much deeper to reveal what very few knew about the Michigan entrepreneur.