While most artists work alone, there are advantages to coming together from time to time to share work and ideas, and to simply enjoy the companionship of like minds. Signature Artists in Kalamazoo is such a group: a community of 27 artists working in a wide range of mediums. Amy Culp is one of those artists. She’s a jeweler who has been a member for 12 years. Culp talks about Signature Artists, its members, their art, and the annual event for which they are known.
“The Signature Artists are probably best known for its December gallery that it puts on every year, which they have been doing for probably the last 40 years,” Culp says. “The group itself started 50 years ago. They came together as a group of professional artists wanting to share knowledge and experience, have speakers, and do demonstrations and things like that. They meet every month, so all year long we are really trying to enrich each other as professional artists.”
While the annual gallery features all manner of the arts—ceramics, painting, jewelry, woodwork, fiber arts, pastel drawings, photography, and more—Amy Culp’s contribution is jewelry.
“I’ve been making jewelry from sterling silver for 20 to 25 years,” Culp says.
When her husband got a job in the Caribbean a decade ago, Culp moved out of the Kalamazoo area for a time. But she is now returning and bringing with her the Caribbean influence on her designs.
Her work, along with the work of the other artists, will be open to the public from December 1-27 at the Carillon Center, 6800 South Westnedge in Portage. An artists’ reception will take place on December 3, from noon to 5 p.m., and the public is invited to come, view the art, and meet the artists. Regular hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 7 p.m.; from noon to 3 p.m. on December 24; and noon to 5 p.m. on December 27.
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