The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Presents Sculpture From its Collection

Written by Stuart Valentine Sunday, 18 September 2011 22:07

Kalamazoo, MI.- The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is pleased to present "Off the Wall", on view from September 17th through December 4th. Featuring a selection of sculptures from the institute's collection, the exhibition includes art that can literally and figuratively be described as "off the wall." Over 65 free-standing sculptures and wall reliefs from the 1950s to the present demonstrate the 20th-century impulse to push the boundaries of fine art. Some artists created unexpected, abstract forms using traditional materials. Artists also dared to use commonplace or industrial materials that flaunted the conventions of fine art. Ceramicists made vessels unconstrained by functionality.

While a painting might present a two-dimensional illusion of the world, a three-dimensional work of art exists directly in your environment, making you interact with it as an object in your space. Beyond pushing boundaries, sculpture has the potential to dissolve distinctions between the experience of art and daily life. Artists of national renown and regional acclaim in the exhibition include Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Rudy Autio, Peter Voulkos, Paul Flickinger, Al Lavergne, Karla Wyss-Tye, and more. Come see what you think makes each of these works "off the wall."

In 1924, the Kalamazoo Chapter of the American Federation of the Arts incorporated as the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to present classes and establish legal responsibility for the ownership of art objects.  In 1947 the KIA gained a permanent home when it purchased and a renovated a Victorian mansion at 421 West South Street. In the 1930s and 40s, distinguished guest lecturers such as Diego Rivera, Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier challenged and informed local audiences about the contemporary art world. An eclectic schedule of exhibitions included work by Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee, Japanese prints and ceramics, African Art, Dutch old masters, and even an international kite collection that became a traveling exhibition. Annual juried competitions and exhibitions by local artists and students helped promote and encourage both new and established artists. In 1961, the KIA built a new facility, the Gilmore Art Center at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts at its current location. In 2006, the Art School was named the Kirk Newman Art School to recognize the artist and former Art School director who contributed so much to its development. Today over 100,000 visitors each year enjoy exciting temporary exhibitions, an outstanding permanent collection of nearly 4,000 works, programs, and events at the KIA. Nearly 3,000 students enroll annually in Kirk Newman Art School classes. The collection, originally developed to complement the KIA's art school, focuses on American painting, sculpture and ceramics, American and European works on paper from the 16th century onwards, photography and American art, from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century portraiture and landscape painting to modern and contemporary abstraction and figurative works, is the strength of the KIA's permanent collection. Significant works by Alexander Calder, William Merritt Chase, Dale Chihuly, Richard Diebenkorn, Janet Fish, Helen Frankenthaler, Franz Kline and Andy Warhol are part of the collection. In recent years, the collection has been expanded to include Oceanic objects, Pre-Columbian gold and ceramics, African art and East Asian art. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.kiarts.org

---

Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~