Kalamazoo Institute of Arts: Offering a lot for a tiny price -- free!
While the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts holds millions of dollars’ worth of art in its collection, visitors can usually view the museum for free six days a week.
The museum boasts nearly 4,000 pieces in its permanent collection, ranging from to a 1,200-year-old cast-gold pendant crafted in pre-Columbian Costa Rica to the whimsical, luminous fantasy Kalamazoo Ruby Light Chandelier. That blown-glass fantasy, created by American artist Dale Chihuly in 1998 out of wire and 400 pieces of red, orange and yellow glass, hangs over the South Park Street entrance. The permanent collection focuses on American painting, sculpture and ceramics; American and European works on paper, from 16th century on; and photography. The museum contains 11,000 square feet of exhibition space in 10 galleries.
The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts also has special exhibitions, some traveling, some culled from the museum’s own extensive collection. Click here to learn about current temporary exhibitions. Past exhibitions include The Art of Warner Brothers Cartoons, a show of Russian-American artist Marc Chagall’s etchings, Spared from the Storm: Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art, Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist World and an exhibition of Hudson River School artists.
The museum also has special exhibitions with a Michigan flavor: Once a year it hosts the West Michigan Area Show in which artists from the 14 counties surrounding Kalamazoo exhibit their work; an annual film festival for teenaged directors, an annual exhibition of art created by Kalamazoo students from kindergarten through eighth grade and a competition for high-school artists.
You can find out what's upcoming at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts by checking and the museum’s Upcoming Exhibitions webpage and its Events Calendar.
Visitors can take free guided tours on Sunday at 2 p.m. Group tours at other times for adult visitors cost $15 per docent for groups up to 15 in number. The museum will arrange group tours for groups ranging from 10 to 60 with four weeks’ notice. The fee is waived for college groups. As for school-aged visitors, teachers can learn more about field trips to the museum here.
The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts has programs for adults, kids and families and teenagers. Most are free; however, the Art & All That Jazz on selected Friday nights, while free for members, costs $3 for the general public.
HelloMetro Tip: The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts has offered art classes since 1931. At its Kirk Newman Art School, named for the local sculptor, the museum offers more than 300 classes each year in ceramics, sculpture, jewelry making, print making, fiber, photography and glass fusing. The classes are for those from age 4 to adults. You can register online, in person during museum hours; by calling (269) 349–7775, extension 3101, during the week and, on weekends, the same number at extension 3001; by faxing (269) 349–9313 or by mail.
Posted by Ivonne Rovira
