The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is a nonprofit art museum and school. It is located in the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the United States.

History

In 1924, members of the Kalamazoo Chapter of the American Federation of Arts created an art center "to help people learn more about and appreciate the arts."

The current building of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts was unveiled in September 1961. Designed by the Chicago, Illinois, firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) structure was inspired by a design from Mies van der Rohe for a small museum, following the International Style of architecture.

In 1997, the KIA started a $14.5 million project to expand and renovate the building. This project increased the size of the KIA to 72,000 square feet (6,700 m²) and added a two-story lobby gallery, auditorium, classrooms, galleries, a gallery shop, library, and an interactive gallery for children.

Dale Chihuly’s Kalamazoo Ruby Light Chandelier, a colorful chandelier made of 400 pieces of glass, became a permanent display in the lobby foyer. The renovated facility, with 10 galleries and 11,000 square feet (1,000 m²) of exhibition space, opened in September 1998.

Exhibitions

The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) hosts 10 to 15 temporary exhibitions each year in its ten galleries. These include regular exhibitions such as the West Michigan Area Show, High School Area Show, and Young Artists of Kalamazoo County. Other exhibitions are based on artwork borrowed from museums, galleries, corporations, or private collections.

The museum also holds ticketed exhibitions. Some of these have attracted tens of thousands of visitors.

• In 2004, 47,000 people visited "Millet To Matisse: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century French Painting," an exhibition featuring Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings from Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.
• In 2005, nearly 60,000 people from all 50 states and 17 countries visited "Chihuly in Kalamazoo," an exhibition of works by glass artist Dale Chihuly.
• In 2007, the KIA hosted "Lorna Simpson," a touring exhibition of the work of this contemporary artist.
• In 2008, the KIA organized an exhibition celebrating the resurgence of American figurative painting: "The Figure Revealed."
• In 2008–09, the KIA hosted two large-scale, ticketed exhibitions: "Spared from the Storm: Masterworks from the New Orleans Museum of Art" (November–February) and "Georgia O'Keeffe and Her Times: American Modernism" from the Lane Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (May–September).
• In 2015, the KIA hosted exhibitions by Seungmo Park, Manierre Dawson, and curated an exhibition about an artist who helped found the KIA: "Rediscovering Nina Belle Ward."
• In 2016, the KIA hosted solo exhibitions by Barbara Takenaga, Renee Stout, Chul Hyun Ahn, Jiha Moon, and Fred Wessel, all of whom visited Kalamazoo during their exhibitions. The KIA also presented "Suspended: Sculpture from ArtPrize 2015," featuring emerging artists Joel S. Allen (Steamboat Springs, Colorado), Russell Prather (Marquette, Michigan), and Irene LaVon Walker (Ferndale, Michigan).
• In 2017, the KIA hosted solo exhibitions by Kay Walkingstick, Sayaka Ganz, Hung Liu, and Wadada Leo Smith.
• In 2018, the KIA hosted an exhibition featuring photographer Dawoud Bey.
• In 2019, the KIA hosted the touring exhibition "Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem" and solo shows by contemporary artists Orna Ben-Ami, Inka Essenhigh, Maya Freelon, and Sungyhun Moon.

The KIA provides lectures, educational events, outreach programs, and a fine arts research library.

Permanent collection

The museum's collection of art that is always on display includes more than 4,600 original pieces. The main focus of the collection is on art created in the 20th century by American artists, such as Ansel Adams, Mary Cassatt, Alexander Calder, Chuck Close, Helen Frankenthaler, Edward Hopper, Luis Jiménez, Käthe Kollwitz, Tim Lowly, Ed Paschke, Norman Rockwell, Cindy Sherman, Lorna Simpson, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Andy Warhol, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Andrew Wyeth. The collection also includes art from the 18th and 19th centuries in America, 20th-century European art, and works from Africa, China, Japan, pre-Columbian cultures, and Oceanic regions.

Kirk Newman Art School

The school has taught visual arts to the community since 1931. Its goal is to help people develop their artistic skills by offering low-cost classes and workshops for all ages and skill levels. These classes include painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, jewelry-making, weaving, and fiber arts. Teachers at the school are professional artists and educators. In 2006, the school was renamed to honor Kirk Newman, a Kalamazoo artist and former school director.

KIA Art Fair

The KIA Art Fair started in 1952 as the Clothesline Art Show, giving local and regional artists a chance to sell their artwork. Now held on the first Saturday of June in Bronson Park, the KIA Art Fair is the second oldest art fair in the United States that has been running without interruption for many years. Every year, thousands of people visit Bronson Park to see and buy artwork from 200 artists. The fair features paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, jewelry, ceramics, fiber art, sculptures, and other types of art.