Upcoming Exhibitions at the KIA

This annual juried exhibition celebrates the work of high school artists in Southwest Michigan. Students who qualify may concurrently enter the 6th District Congressional Art Competition, and the winner will receive a trip to Washington DC to see their art on view in the U.S. Capitol.

This annual exhibition showcases the work of artists from 14 Michigan counties. A guest juror selects roughly 100 works for the show, from hundreds of submissions. More than $5,000 in cash prizes will be awarded at an opening reception for the exhibition on Friday, May 17. The public is invited to vote for their favorite work during the summer, and the Peoples' Choice Award, sponsored by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, will be awarded in August.

Orna Ben-Ami brings attention to the global refugee crisis through her welded iron works in this exhibition, creating highly symbolic pieces that carry universal, local and deeply personal meanings. Ben-Ami has developed of unique process of selecting photographs of people with their belongings, sculpting the belongings in iron and attaching the welded pieces to the enlarged photographs. These mixed media works represent the memories and dreams of displaced individuals. Ben-Ami cuts and welds the iron by hand to soften it and shape into familiar forms that represent the strongholds of identity and physical and emotional weight of their journey. She is one of the few female welders celebrated internationally. After studying gold and silversmith at the Jerusalem Technological Center, she studied sculpture at the Corcoran School of Art and art history at the Tel Aviv University.

Celebrate the joys and foibles of French society and culture between 1830 and 1930, when Paris was the world capital of artistic creativity, innovation, and opportunity. The daily life of all people "from the city and country, rich and poor, famous and anonymous "grew to become a most popular subject. The exhibition is organized according to several major themes that dominate the museum s holdings, and fully half of our collection s French prints are featured. These include depictions that glorify or ridicule the ever-present French State, landscapes of the monuments and street life found in big towns and cities, bucolic renditions of farm life, the adoration of beautiful women, the love of children, and the fruitful relationship that arose between printmaking and literature. Among the artists on view are Théodore Géricault, Honoré Daumier, Charles Méryon, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Georges Rouault, and James Tissot. A small number of our French photographs round out the display.

Georges Rouault, Bittersweet, 1935, aquatint. Collection of the KIA, Director's Fund Purchase

Moon's large-scale watercolor works are painted in the style of
mid-20th century American Action painters like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. He layers, drips, and splatters his watercolors, taking advantage of the fluid and translucent nature of watercolor, the speed of the medium s drying time, and its hazy, airy nature. Moon s compositions explore the representation of elements with a visual tension created through color, gloss, luster, and texture, focusing attention over the entire surface. He has been featured in eight solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions throughout Korea. Based in Paris, Moon is represented and exhibited by galleries in Paris and New York.

Sunghyun Moon, Afternoon (detail), 2016, watercolor. Courtesy of Waterfall Gallery.

A touring exhibition that reflects the breadth of the Studio Museum's significant holdings, including works by artists including Romare Bearden, David Hammons, Norman Lewis, Wangechi Mutu, and Lorna Simpson. The KIA will be one of only six museums nationally to host the exhibition -- on tour while the Studio Museum raises its new building -- and the only Midwest venue. As a complement, two companion exhibitions will be presented: Works from the KIA Collection by African American Artists, along with an invitational exhibition of works by Black artists living and working in and around Kalamazoo.