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The Kirk Newman Art School offers a full schedule of exciting classes for adults, young adults and children. On hand is a highly professional faculty of practicing artists eager to share their love of art through teaching. State-of-the-art studios provide the perfect setting for courses in ceramics, painting, drawing, graphic design, jewelry, papermaking, glass, photography, printmaking, sculpture and weaving. Special short-term classes are scheduled annually, as are programs geared to students with disabilities. Each year, internationally recognized visiting artists conduct weekend and weeklong workshops that explore a variety of media.
We also offer extra-special classes
There are now programs available to home-school and charter-school students. One-hour classes can be arranged for groups no larger than 14 students. The KIA will provide art instructors, our first-rate facilities and supplies for a unique art experience in 2-D as well as clay. Class length, time and projects will be determined in advance by the KIA and the school group. For more information, call 269.349.7775, ext. 3101.
A new addition to the Art School is our art education Certificate Program.
Who is Kirk Newman?
Kirk Newman was born in Dallas, Texas in 1926 and began his artistic career experimenting with abstract sculpture and painting in the exciting post-World War II era. What increasingly intrigued him, however, was the human figure and how it could speak to the complexities of the modern world.
Newman began his exploration of the figure by creating small sculptures of anonymous businessmen. While their suits identified them as figures of power and authority, their crouching, falling, and grasping postures revealed vulnerability. Cast in bronze, the figures took on an unexpected timelessness. As Newman’s focus shifted toward the whimsical and satirical, the figures suggested the inflated egos and social pretensions of their subjects. By the 1980s the businessmen, now distorted, flattened and shadow-like, conveyed the fast pace of contemporary life.
While widely recognized as a sculptor, Newman was also a dedicated educator. He came to Kalamazoo in 1949 as part of the University of Michigan’s extension program. Newman believed community art programs could be as stimulating and rewarding as those offered at the college level. He recruited a dedicated group of teachers to help develop the KIA art school. When he left as Director of Education in 1978, the school that now bears his name had received national recognition. It continues to be an enduring presence in the cultural life of Kalamazoo.
Click here to see a short film of Kirk Newman in his studio (file size is 4MB)
314 South Park Street
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007
Directions
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