Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Roze Kerr’s art exhibition, “Home.” Roze Kerr’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 04/20/2025 – 04/26/2025.

“What does “home” mean, or what constitutes something as “home”? How do we understand the term “home” in universal, colloquial, and individual contexts? These are the questions I seek to answer through my art, looking for my own definition of “home” both through and in opposition to the lens of society and my peers. My emotions leading up to and during this process are difficult to express, not only with words but visually as well. In order to convey elements and nuances of these feelings, I create digital illustrations in varying style. Some of my works are fairly abstract, while others are symbolic, expressive in a painterly fashion, or imitating traditional drawing methods. Through these works I explore what “home” means to other people and what it used to mean to me, in addition to my understanding of the concept based on the assumption of others. I aim to create an environment in which one may experience or try to understand the sense of instability and unsurety of not having the common life experiences that others assume one has. Figuring out what I can call “home” is an ongoing process for me. My journey continues as I experience life and explore the ways in which I can feel the security that my peers have long lived with.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 04/24/25; alongside Tyler Houle’s reception.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Tyler Houle’s art exhibition, “豚革対竹刃 (Pigskin vs Bamboo Blade).” Tyler Houle’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 04/20/2025 – 04/26/2025

“I wanted to create a show of movement, power, American and Japanese culture, combined with sports to make a piece that has characters and objects that exceed the manga panels and mediums they originate in.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 04/24/25; alongside Roze Kerr’s reception.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Elena Stolberg’s art exhibition. Elena Stolberg’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 04/27/2025 – 05/03/2025.

“Through my work, I hope to create a sense of joy and curiosity around the idea of gender. I use recycled fabric from my own clothing and spare scraps to subtly incorporate my own identity into the pieces I will be wearing. In using the materials of fabric and foam, I revisit notions of childhood-a time that somehow seemed to be both void and full of gendered performance-and highlight the performative nature of gender and how it can be worn, reshaped, discarded, or cherished.

The act of wearing a mask inherently suggests a role being assumed or the covering of a true identity, but my masks are representative of the uncovering of a personal sense of identity and contentedness found in the performance of self. The “stage” of gender is something that is unavoidably theatric in nature. In creating and wearing my masks, I want to take the performance of gender, which is a thing that has often inspired anxiety in me, and show how it can be used as a vessel for spreading joy, self-love, and acceptance of others.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 05/01/25; alongside Gus Horvath’s reception.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Gus Horvath’s art exhibition “Cast views and X-rays.” Gus Horvath’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 04/27/2025 – 05/03/2025.

“Through my photographs, I’m seeking to understand the space between my hands on the camera and the person, the scene, the culture I photograph. I’m interested in how this space is moderated by intention, by history, and how our views of places are shaped by our own intentions.

Photography is unlike any other visual medium in that it presents a true image, an image that is perceived to be real. But photography is undeniably biased in its intention and in the photographers interests. Film photography makes each photo a single take, a capture of a moment, in which the user cannot see and refine the photo by retaking. It’s also is a physical media that is affected by the world surrounding it, whether that be torrential rain or X-rays. I want my bias and physical experience in the film to be tangible to the audience, so it makes no effort to hide.

In terms of the works personal goal I’m interested in documenting and experiencing Costa Rica’s diverse and rich environment, as many of the spots we visited are facing the severe affects of climate change.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 05/01/25; alongside Elena Stolberg’s reception.

The Art and Art History Department and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts invite you to Dr. James Denison’s talk, “‘Into My Blood:’ John Marin’s ‘Maine Soil’ and ‘Yankee Folk.’”

This presentation offers a new interpretation of the artist John Marin’s (1870-1953) work in Maine. Drawing on Marin’s writings, it investigates his attempted assimilation into what he perceived to be a rustic “Yankee” community on the Maine coast. As well as relating his representations of denizens of the Maine coast to contemporaneous notions of whiteness and New England identity, it situates Marin’s fascination with Maine within the long history of ethnic and cultural tourism in the state.

A native of the DC area and a graduate of Bowdoin College, James completed his PhD in art history at the University of Michigan, where he wrote a thesis on the connections between the Stieglitz Circle and racism in the interwar U.S. In 2023 he joined Kalamazoo College and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts as a postdoctoral fellow.

Image info:

John Marin, Young Man of the Sea, Maine, 1934. Watercolor and crayon on paper, 15 ½ x 20 5/8 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Mabel Bowdle’s art exhibition. Mabel Bowdle’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 05/04/2025 – 05/10/2025.

“In my own work, I take a multi-media approach to explore the complexities of American identity, particularly the question of whether understanding one’s ancestry strengthens or complicates our sense of self. By combining personal memories, research into American history and immigration, and conversations with peers and community members, I engage deeply with these questions. This exploration has taken shape through experimental filmmaking, blending abstraction, painting, and fading visuals with oil paintings to create a cohesive cardboard installation. The film is projected on a makeshift marionette stage, surrounded by tartan drapes, inviting viewers into an immersive experience.

Through this curated environment, I hope to encourage viewers to reflect critically on what America means to them and to explore their own sense of identity within the broader American context. Ultimately, I seek to enrich our culture, fostering a sense of peace and common ground, one rooted in understanding, shared stories, and a collective effort to heal the divisions that persist. I believe this exploration, grounded in history, personal experience, and the work of influential artists, can help us begin to break free from the cycles of disconnection and alienation that so many of us feel. It is my hope that this journey will inspire a more mentally and physically sustainable future for our country, one built on empathy, dialogue, and shared humanity, and reconnect with our collective consciousness.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Friday, 05/09/25.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Laetitia Loo’s art exhibition. Laetitia Loo’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 05/11/2025 – 05/17/2025.

“In this body of work, I am depicting objects and landscapes through an exploration of loss, grief, and nostalgia. Each piece builds upon the others through a cohesive colour pallette and aims to explore different facets of loss and my own interpretations of the growth and processing that comes with loss, whether it be death, a loss of relationship, or a loss of a place. My goal with this body of work was to depict my own experiences in hopes that someone could look into the vignettes and see aspects of themselves in both the brighter and darker elements. The process of painting itself has always been a very therapeutic process for me, and in creating works about my feelings of loss, it felt like putting pieces of my emotions and thoughts onto canvas with each brushstroke. The sculptural elements I included in this body of work also featured a time consuming and meticulous process which felt true to the other works. It was also an addition of something more tangible and reaching out from the flat 2D plains that I was confined to. Grief to me is a cyclical thing. You’re never free of it completely, it merely transforms itself into different versions as you process. Sometimes it is messier and raw while other times it’s simply nostalgia with edges that are tinged with blue.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Tuesday, 05/13/25.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Megan McGarry’s art exhibition. Megan McGarry’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 05/18/2025 – 05/24/2025.

“In my artwork, I experiment with themes of color, shape, and space to create abstract works that are collaged and sewn together. My work is primarily process based and the final pieces are never planned out, the pieces tend to make themselves as I work. I experiment with my materials and approach my art with a “what if…” headspace. Through this mixing of color combinations, shapes, sizes, and layers I create these abstract environments and I am able to create my own ecosystem of collaged paintings that mimic ideas of landscapes and natural environments.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 05/22/25; alongside Annabel Bee’s reception.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Annabel Bee’s art exhibition. Annabel Bee’s exhibition is on view on the FAB balcony throughout the week, 05/18/2025 – 05/24/2025.

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 05/22/25; alongside Megan McGarry’s reception.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Jackson Willits’ art exhibition. Jackson Willits’ exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 05/25/2025 – 05/31/2025.

“My work takes the various traditions of portrait and landscape paintings and incorperates abstract line drawings into their compositions complicating the painted forms and bringing out the abstract qualities in the paintings. By overlaying purly abstract designs over top of my figures they are deconstructed and redefined into simple aesthetic forms. This form of representation connects with themes of human control over nature and natural elements. The Abstractions themselves seek to take over the natural forms and make them idealized in a humanly artificial way.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 05/29/25.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Aiden Morgan’s art exhibition. Aiden Morgan’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 06/01/2025 – 06/07/2025.

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Thursday, 06/05/25.

Join the Art Department for a reception celebrating Natalie Martinez’s art exhibition, “Through the Lens of Darkness and Loss: A Tribute to My Father.” Natalie Martinez’s exhibition is on view in the FAB gallery throughout the week, 06/08/2025 – 06/14/2025.

“With this artwork, in order to explore the idea of processing grief through nature, I draw from my own experience with loss. The images within this work are intentionally kept dark, reflecting the weight of loss while also using the nature depicted in the images to represent the beauty that can come from this sadness. Grief is an unfortunately inevitable, raw, and a deeply human aspect of life, but with this work I hope to create a meaningful tribute to my father as well as a visual discussion on the reflection of grief and the beauty in cherishing a loved one’s memory.”

The reception will be held at 3:30pm on Monday, 06/09/25.