Art Beat

Theater has the unique ability to deepen our understanding of people whose life experiences are different from our own. It allows us to step into their lives for a brief moment. Theater can also be an agent of social change by addressing difficult issues.

The manuscript for a children’s book sat in Jane Yolen’s desk drawer for some time. She loved it. But no one else did. Until, that is, her daughter, Heidi E. Y. Stemple, transformed it.

The fight for women to get the right to vote will soon be remembered in glass in downtown Kalamazoo.

Pamela Paulsrud is recognized internationally as a papermaker, calligrapher, book artist, and collaborator. Her work includes smaller pieces and large-scale installations. But Paulsrud's greatest passion is an ongoing project she co-created called Treewhispers, an international collaboration about the human connection to trees.

Janice Marsh-Prelesnik was trained as a musician. But much of her life has been spent in holistic healing, as a midwife, a massage therapist, and a herbalist. Now, Marsh-Prelesnik uses the sonic experience of plant music in her expressive arts/music therapy practice with people in hospice and memory care, during bodywork sessions, and for deep relaxation and meditation.