Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich MRC provides services like skill building services to adults with disabilities, mental illness.

I enjoy coming here, and I enjoy the, um, people.

I think that this is something that could benefit any type of community, because there are all types of people everywhere.

There’s always a need for social services like this.

Yeah, and it comes to me naturally, to paint and stuff.

And it just helps me to, um, not, um, think about other things.

Whatever people want to try, We’re here to help them do.

If we don’t share what we know, how is anyone else gonna learn new stuff.

You are an art instructor for wonderful MRC artWorks.

So tell me about your organization.

So here at Artworks, what we do is do skill building, through creating art, and this is to help people learn the types of things that will help them be more independent in life, get maybe jobs outside of here, because everything they sell here, they make money on, and hopefully we teach them some skills that foster their independence in other areas of life, too.

What art is being done here?

Almost anything you can think of.

Back here is actually a really good example of how many different things we make.

We have, like, paintings, crocheted objects, sewn things.

There’s like pillows, toys, and some jewelry, too.

So, we don’t want to limit people in what they can make here.

We want them to feel like my ideas are possible, and my ideas aren’t good.

So if there’s something that is maybe a real high goal that’s gonna take a real long time to reach and take a lot of work, there’s a lot of steps to that, but we’re gonna help you all the way from start to finish, make that happen for you as best we can.

We have people who already have personal interest, and maybe they make art at home, so they want an avenue where they can learn more and hold their skills and also find a place to sell it.

Some people maybe have never done art before.

but really want to try, and it can be a little inhibitive.

When you’re trying to learn a new craft, and it costs so much money to get all the supplies.

But we have it here for everybody.

One of our um, instructors showed me how to paint, and I got a little bit better, and a little bit more better about it, and it just took me quite a while to do it, and sometimes, I just felt like I could give up, but they say, Oh, no, Monica, you are not going to give up.

Whether they keep on working with you until you got better and better at it.

And I finally say, Okay, I’m gonna sit down here and take my time and do it.

So, and I did very well.

I just keep on getting better and better each day of doing it.

And so some of my paintings are out right now, and one of them is handing up right now, and it’s over, and the wall behind me.

I paint Corvettes, and I paint trucks, and I paint a little bit of everything.

The Corvettes are my favorite cars, just because all cars and tracks are my favorite.

In my favorite color is purple.

I did that calendar, and I drew all of those, those are my friends.

So my role here is to observe one out of our seven groups.

We rotate through all the groups we have, so each group gets to be with every instructor.

I’m here to support them and answer questions to help give constructive feedback.

about their projects, and to maybe help give some concrete steps they can take to make their vision a reality.

You might see some things here that I gave some tips and pointers on.

Like, there’s a little flower girl over here, but this is all our artist stuff.

It’s important that they can work beside a person that can help you, and the instructors can’t always do your work for you.

You have to do your work on your own, because they’re not gonna get paid, you’re gonna get paid for doing your own work.

And you have a whole retail arm.

How do you determine what’s to be sold?

Everything is to be sold.

A part of what we do here is to help people understand that, well, is definitely fun.

If we’re trying to make money off it and trying to sell it, it has to appeal to other people, not just us.

So, while you, the artist, might be totally fine with your first pass at your work, that’s what the instructors are here to tell, like, oh, it looks like you might have missed a spot on the canvas.

So let’s clean this up right here.

Here’s a couple places, we could try adding some more visual interest, and then after they’re satisfied, after we’re satisfied, we turn it in, it gets priced, and it gets put out here.

How do you let an artist know that her, uh, her or his, uh, piece has been sold?

Well, sometimes they’ll see it happen, because a lot of our customers come in during our operational hours, so they might notice or even talk to the customer themselves to say, like, You want to see something I made?

Um, but also, they get, um, they get paid for it, so they get paystubs, and that’s a good way to let them know that, Hey, you made some sales, you made some money off what you did.

I, um, retail a little bit.

It’s fun to do it, but sometimes I have a hard time with the retail part.

Sometimes a wall comes out in front of my brain and tells me, I can’t go on.

And then sometimes it comes back, and it says, Okay, Monica, you can do it.

So I’m doing it on Fridays.

How does the culture of Kalamazoo, where you’re pretty much in the heart of, help this exposure to its community?

Oh, I feel like Kalamazoo is a really community focused place.

I see so many, like, art events that people can table at.

We do our art hops every two months, where that we participate in, too.

So, Kalamazoo just seems like a really art focused place where even our little neighborhoods will have mural contests or things that, like, beautify the area.

And I think artworks just slots right into that really, really well.

I think everybody can make art.

What I always say to people who say they can’t draw is, I bet you can, but you just can’t draw the way you want to.

And so part of what we do here is help people use the skills they already have, learn to appreciate what they can do, and the things that only they can do.

There’s art here that people make that I could never do, even though I’ve been drawing for, like, 20 years, because I’m not them.

I don’t have their mindset and their abilities.

So we’re here to, like, help, uh, use those abilities they have and to make unique creative stuff.

You shouldn’t just sit home and not do anything.

You should be involved with your hand in your mind, and it’s good for your mind to do different things, besides sitting at home, doing nothing.

And I want you to get people in here and getting them involved in artworks, and I think it’s a good thing for them to do.

I appreciate you guys interviewing me today, and I appreciate all of you guys coming around taking pictures of me today.

I appreciate that.

You’re the star.

I’m the star.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Superstar.

Superstar, superstar.

So if you guys get a chance to, before you guys leave, I would like you guys to look at some of my paintings today if you have time.

And if you guys don’t, that’ll be okay.

And if you guys come back in sometime.

I would like to show you my paintings.

Yes.

I’ll get a smiling face put on a piece of paper saying, Monica, you did a good job at the end of the day.

And then that makes me feel good about it.

How many were to ask you, what is the Kirk Newman art school?

How do you explain it to somebody?

So, in 1949, Kirk Newman came to the KIA, Council Institute of Arts, and set up the school, and really wanted the school to be equal to what you would get at a university, the quality of the instruction?

The school has grown to about eight departments.

Ceramics, we have the busiest department here.

We run about 15 classes, every session, 150 students probably.

So we’re community based, not like, say, an institution like a university or community college.

So we’re not giving out grades.

All our classes, we ask that everyone takes a beginning ceramics class, just to get their hands in clay, and they’ll be introduced to all the hand building processes, and then a little taste of wheel work.

And then a lot of our classes are technique, classes, so they might involve techniques of firing.

They might include techniques of decoration, or surface embellishment, scale themes.

We will rival any studio around in the area in West Michigan, so... Yeah.

I was looking to start a new hobby when my daughter went off to college, and I decided to try ceramics, and I had heard about the school, and knew some people that took classes here.

So I signed up for a beginning class, and I loved it.

And I’ve been continuing on ever since, and that was about eight or nine years ago.

So before I started my classes here, I had never touched a molecule of clay in my life, I mean, ever, I really give the credit for the progress I’ve made to my instructors and my classmates.

Like, it’s a very collaborative, cooperative environment, and people help each other.

If I have a question about something.

I know I can always ask someone.

That really has helped me improve, and taken me on this path.

How do you teach the differences between allowing somebody to be creative in their art and, like, really nailing down those technical skills at the same time?

Well, there’s always that saying that, eventually, your hands catch up with your head and your heart, and so, you do have to learn those techniques, and sometimes, you have to just hold people back and say, you know, you’ll get this sometimes.

You won’t be able to throw a 15 inch pot right now, but once you get the techniques down, you’ll get there.

And ceramics requires so much patience, and we put something in a kiln, and we don’t see it, maybe, for another five days or even longer.

So, you know, the learning process also requires the patients, just like the techniques do.

I feel like it’s a very special, unique place.

Not only because of the school and the inspiration I get from other students and the faculty, but the museum, like, for us to have access to the museum and be able to walk through the galleries and see the things that are in there and then have that spark ideas, I think, is really unique.

So, I feel like being in an art school and having access to a world class museum is really a unique combination that we’re very, very fortunate to have, I think it ups our quality and what we can offer, and we can take the students into the museum, and show them current work, traveling shows, and use that as a teaching source of ideas generating ideas.

And they see what professional artists are doing.

You know, we’re all, like I say, our teachers are all practicing artists.

So they understand that this is what it takes to really make it.

I always try and come in here with an idea of, what am I gonna do today?

Otherwise, I just sit there and I’m overwhelmed.

So I make a mental list of what I want to do, and then my other favorite part is that the total other end of the process, when you see the finished results.

What are some of your favorite moments of teaching with your students, whether it’s, you know, breakthroughs or teaching them a new technique?

Yeah, the community.

Definitely here, you know, there’s people that are in here every day and they return year after year.

for these classes.

I think the breakthrough moments are always when people have success, or even with failure, that they learn from that.

But mostly the success.

And then I really like to see someone take that success and move on to the next piece.

We call working in a series.

So if you sort of catapult off one piece and into another.

So it just continually generates ideas.

And that’s the way I work, too.

I mean, my ideas come from working.

having my hands in clay in the studio, so... I make a lot of pottery that is themed for one of the sports that I also participate in, which is curling.

And so I wanted to focus on expanding what I do there.

So, I spoke with the instructor beforehand and said, This is what I want to do.

So I had a specific goal in that class.

Often in a class, I’ll have a goal of what I want to work on.

The instructors usually ask at the beginning, if there’s something specific that you want to work on that time.

And the class is usually focused on something.

And then, as I said, when I come in on class day, I usually have an idea of what I want to make, what I want to do, what I want to accomplish, and that really helps guide me.

What would you maybe say to somebody who wants to try out a class here?

Would you, you know, urge him?

Oh, definitely.

We offer different length of sessions, and I always say, If you’re not sure, our spring session is only six weeks long, and that’s always where you can get a taste.

I invite anyone to come down, and we have scholarship programs, so if, you know, cost should never be prohibitive for you to be able to be creative.

What are your feelings about the art scene in Kalamazoo as a whole?

Vibrant.

Very, yeah, very vibrant.

Um, between all the visual arts, you know, little, there’s little studios everywhere, there’s pop up galleries, you know, between the art hops on the first Friday nights, music, dance, theater, we’re right down here, downtown, with the Civic Theater.

You know, so there’s a lot going on.

I think, uh, I’ve never seen it drop off.

I only see it growing more and more all the time.

And, you know, we know that there’s other studios opening up, and it’s like, that’s great, you know, because we feel like we’re very unique in our teaching methods.

So, you know, the more the better.

I think Kalamazoo has a great... In West Michigan has a great art scene.

I think it’s one of the really defining things about this area.

I think the art school and the KIA play really an anchoring role in that, or facilities are great.

The people around, you know, the administration, and my bosses, you know, they’re great.

So that’s kind of what it means to me.

And I’m really proud of what we’ve done here.

Continuing our journey with the Kirk Newman School of Arts, let’s step back in time to hear from the man himself, Kirk Newman.

Kalamazoo Lively Arts, with the help of Christopher Markin, interviewed him in 2015 on his last day in the art studio.

Well, hi, my name’s Christopher Marken.

I’m here in Kalamazoo, Michigan, with one of my dearest friends, oldest friends, friends of my family, artist Kirk Newman.

Kirk?

Take a bow.

Yeah, that’s me.

That’s you.

Yeah.

Well, I can’t believe that I actually have the opportunity to sit next to you and discuss, you’re lucky guy.

I am a lucky guy, the life of your work and how it’s evolved and where it came from.

Could you tell us?

Well, to start with, you read it exactly right.

And I know that a lot of people don’t get it or care about a lot of the stuff I’ve made.

But I always thought what I was doing was probably just right.

I like that drawing.

Yeah.

Now, see, that looks just right to me.

Now, a lot of folks think that looks so good, but... I disagree.

That sums up a lot of, I think, what my work’s always been about, and that is the total frustration and confusion, that so many of us hold inside, but have to deal with all the time.

So I made a drawing showing that he’s dealing with an awful lot there.

He’s even late to work, but he does have his tie on, even though it’s just a space.

So it’s kind of the contradiction of everything that ends up in a lot of my drawings.

You know, I’ve always noticed a theme, several themes in your work, as it’s progressed, but one that’s always jumped out at me, were the use of holes.

Yeah.

Tell me about that, because as we pan around and you see... At one point, I realized that the holes in things is pretty natural, because that’s the way the world is.

Sometimes they’re very minute, and you can’t even see them, but still they’re full of holes.

All in reality is a matter of holes and not holes.

Not KNOT, but, you know, not.

And that’s what this is.

That’s why those are that way, and the hands up thing is one of the oldest gestures that man can make.

That, and the one, the defensive arm gesture that we all learn from total history of man.

And then we come to this one, that also has the holes.

Well, that guy’s in a tough spot.

Yeah, he’d been hit pretty hard.

Well, it looks like he’s got some bullets.

Yeah.

Coming at him.

And today, you know, holes in things, is just part of the life out there, uh, there’s wars, air wars, there wars everywhere, and everybody’s full of holes, because we’ve been shot a lot.

Fortunately, it isn’t total.

Whether by bullets or lies, we all by shot at.

Yeah.

Kirk has an amazing sense of humor.

It takes an educated eye and consciousness to pick up on it.

But once you do, you got it.

And you see it everywhere.

Kirk got that.

The fact that he captured that, the essence of what it is to be human, whether it be through the darkness of his earlier pieces evolving into the shadow figures, to the whimsy, to the playful.

It all makes me smile.

I don’t think I could have asked for any bigger gift in life than that.

And that’s the company of Kirk.

This guy, for example.

Yeah, that’s a pretty summery piece, and it’s a fairly young one.

Early, early in the development of the work, but this hat is so realistic.

It really is.

The familiar looking hat.

But I always have liked the idea of the negative space.

This piece has a lot of negative space.

The back and the front, you can see, it’s basically a very thin piece, and yet, it doesn’t need to be filled out to work as a moving figure, and I just like it a lot.

Looking back at the life of your work, I’m always drawn back to some of your earlier stuff from the 1960s, early 1960s, all the way through the 70s, which were more full bodied, figurative work.

Yeah, well, I made some very realistic sculpture.

You did.

You did, indeed.

And your drawings, there’s a lot of the element of desperation, of, like, the fallen man, not knowing what to do, when all he can do is either give up and get up.

I know that out there in the world.

There’s a lot of desperation.

You see all these cars lined up every morning, every night.

That’s a lot of desperation.

Sure is.

I want to get the hell home, you know?

It is.

I want to get to work.

The one that’s always been dear to my heart and everyone that lives in Southwest Michigan would have to be the party in front of the KIA.

I like it.

I think it’s one of the best things I made.

And those are all life size figures.

And I was happy with the piece, and I think they’re 12, a row of 12 figures.

The very day it was dedicated, they had a big crowd there.

I’d say a third and a half of the people there thought this was the ugliest thing they’d ever seen, and they wanted it torn down.

They say, We can’t have that here in front of our art center.

Were those the members of the board, and... Yeah, and other people that just, they didn’t get it at all.

Did they even look at it and go, That figure looks familiar.

There was one in there, a guy, I knew really well, and the expression is, he’s giving you the bird.

You’ve heard that bird?

Well, he’s in there.

Birds on his own.

That was a great, that, to this day, is one of my favorite pieces.

Yeah, I think because I’d built that is how I got the job going Hong Kong, because the Chicago person that was working for Hilton, saw the work here and said, There’s nothing like that in Hong Kong.

Why don’t we do it?

So I’d say I got involved in that.

And then, because other people had seen that work, I got other jobs, that I didn’t take some of them, but I did take the one in Toronto.

And it has 21 figures.

And it’s quite realistic, that was a really tough one on you, as I recall.

That really took a lot on you.

Yeah, I was tired of doing stuff, and I was getting a little older.

I think I was about 75.

No, I wasn’t quite that old, but... Middle age.

I was getting a little older.

I was just so happy when it was done.

Yeah, man.

I remember.

Yeah, yeah.

I remember, because the first thing I remember you doing, you were drawing again.

Yeah, well, that’s where it is.

That’s where the fun is.

It’s my greatest pleasure and personal accomplishment, knowing Kirk, when he looked at me and he said, You know, you get it.

And I wish, I hope he knows how important that one single statement was to me, and is to me, to this day, and forever will be, because to get it is really something special, and to be part of his life, to be in his orbit, so to speak, was always such a privilege, and such an honor.

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