Jackie Stasevich is with Kalamazoo ARTisans, a ceramic arts cooperative in the Park Trades Center. She is sitting outside the studio at Art Hop while painting a ceramic egg.
“We do love that it’s a funky, cool place," Stasevich said.
"If you haven’t gone in there yet, you can kind of tell from out here, this had to be an exterior wall with windows and stuff. The brick work is cool. It’s more interesting than a new building would be, because it’s so old and a maze.”
Artisan Ceramics has been in the Park Trades Center for about a dozen years. When it moved into the onetime loose-leaf binder factory, it was at a time of upheaval for the more than 115-year-old building.
Then developer PlazaCorp took over.
“I’ve got to say the management has been really supportive," Stasevich said.
"Anytime we have issues with the building they respond right away. It’s been a really good experience for our group. I don’t know where else there is a place like this.”
The Park Trades Center has been a home to artists in Kalamazoo since the 1970s. Today there are about 100 artists who work there now.
But things are changing near the Park Trades Center.
“Time is ticking as far as this space goes,” said Jenna Riehl.
Riehl is a member of Recreation Collective. The group hosts art and music events, including Zine Fest and dance parties.
“It feels like maybe once that stadium is been built, and since this justice center has gone up like pretty much in front of our eyes, I can see that there will eventually have to be a transition.”
Watching and wondering
The stadium is the Kalamazoo Event Center, a $300 million arena being constructed just down the road. The Justice Center is the new courthouse complex across the street that opened in December 2023.
Olivia Stier is another member of Recreation Collective.
“There is a lot of worry, because this is a really big space that already does so much but also has so much potential. And I'm sure you know, PlazaCorp loves a place with potential.”
Liz Baker is the building manager and a PlazaCorp representative. She declined to be recorded, but said things will continue just as they are at the Park Trades Center for at least the next three years.
I pressed her on what happens after that, and she said she’d get back to me. But she never did, though I followed up several times.
Jah has been coming to the Park Trades studio since they were eight years old for art lessons.
“When you want to be in a space like this for as long as you can, it’s kind of scary hearing three years,” Jah said.
Now 21, Jah is part of Starlite Collective at Park Trades. Starlite provides studio space to a variety of visual artists for $50-100 a month.
“I think I just kind of fell in love with it," they said.
"It's very whimsical. I can tell that there were artists here who came before me. It's like going into a museum, but you get to meet all the artists. You get to see what they do. I like that.”
Jah said they have been feeling unsettled by changes downtown. They note the recent demolition of a smaller old building nearby, which most recently was a cell phone store.
"That building had been standing there forever and operating forever. So it can happen randomly and for somebody that, like this is their main space, especially away from home and away from work, this is my calm area."
As for the prospect of redeveloping the Park Trades Center, Jah said "it worries me."
Previous moves
Olivia Stier from Recreation Collective said some Park Trades artists have already migrated from another PlazaCorp property.
"There’s a good deal of artists here that used to have studios in the old Gibson guitar factory and everyone was funneled here when they decided to cut those. Same for East Hall," she said.
East Hall is an academic hall at Western Michigan University and home to several faculty art studios until they were moved to the Park Trades Center in the mid-2000s.
Jackie Stasevich of Kalamazoo ARTisan ceramics said it’s important to have an art space downtown.
“We really love that we can be part of the downtown community and a part of Art Hop and we’re accessible. It’s downtown, it’s central for all our members too. So this is just really a nice place for us all to come together.”
Stasevich said she’s sure Park Trades sits on what is now a “prime piece of property.” Given the building's age and size, she speculated that it must be expensive to maintain.
Stasevich said she hopes it endures as an incubator for art in Kalamazoo.
But if it doesn’t, she said she hopes Kalamazoo ARTisan ceramics will have a couple of months to move.