Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Offers Reduced Admission Fees While Preparing for Two Exciting Exhibitions

Photo Courtesy of KIA

The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is reducing admission fees from October 7–25! 

“While our curatorial team is hard at work preparing our galleries for two upcoming exhibitions you won’t want to miss; Among the Beasts: Wild, Tamed, & Imagined (opening Oct. 28) and Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society (opening Nov. 7) our lower level galleries remain open for you to discover a new favorite from the KIA’s permanent collection. “~KIA

Notable works currently on view include: Helen Frankenthaler’s Code Blue (returning from its recent travels to The Gagosian Gallery in New York City), Janet Fish’s June, Robert Seldon Duncanson’s Heart of the Andes, Kay WalkingStick’s North Rim Clouds, JooYoung Choi’s Always Love You, and many more!

Learn more about how to Adopt a Work of Art listed above, click here!

Learn, Play, and Explore in the Interactive Gallery

The Upjohn Mason Grandchildren Interactive Gallery is also open during museum hours. This area invites hands-on play and creative exploration for everyone.

With its fun atmosphere, this learning space encourages visitors to express their creativity, ponder new ideas, and dive into engaging activities that inspire their imagination. Guests can spend time making art, creating their own sculpture, building with legos, or reading a book.

Admission Fees Thru October 25, 2026

Adults: $5

Seniors (60+), Groups (10 or more): $4

College Students (18+ with ID): $3.50

Youth (ages 7–17): $2.50

Children (ages 6 & younger): Free

Active Duty Military: Free

Museum Members: Free. Member guests admitted based on membership levels.

Exhibitions Currently On View

Resilience—A Sansei Sense of Legacy

On View Thru November 1, 2026

Told from the point of view of Sansei (third generation) Japanese Americans, Resilience—A Sansei Sense of Legacy is an exhibition of eight artists whose work reflects on the effect of EO9066 (The law ordered the forced imprisonment of all Japanese Americans living on the west coast of the United States) as it resonated from generation to generation. Each in their own way, the artists in this exhibition express moments of deeply felt pain and reluctant acceptance, emotions which were often withheld by their elders.

Exhibition artists are: Kristine Aono, Reiko Fujii, Wendy Maruyama, Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Tom Nakashima, Roger Shimomura, Na Omi Judy Shintani, and Jerry Takigawa.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Among the Beasts: Wild, Tamed, & Imagined

October 28, 2026–January 31, 2027

Among the Beasts: Wild, Tamed & Imagined explores the many roles that animals have played in artistic expression for millennia. Through diverse media, artists have depicted animals as subjects of labor and companionship, symbols and recordings of the natural world and spiritual beliefs, and figures of our imagination, traveling between reality and myth. Organized into three thematic sections—wild, domesticated, and fantastical—Among the Beasts traces how cultural values, environmental perspectives, and cultural traditions shape these representations.

Drawing entirely from the permanent collection of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Among the Beasts spans centuries, continents, and vast artistic traditions. Ancient pre-Columbian gold pendants, Japanese netsuke, Chinese scrolls, African sculpture, European and American prints, and contemporary paintings and photographs reveal the remarkable diversity of ways animals appear in art. Across these cultures and time periods, animals have served as companions, sources of labor, symbols of power and spirituality, and embodiments of hopes, fears, and imagination.

Among the Beasts explores how artists have looked to animals to express ideas about humanity’s relationship with nature, to celebrate and document the natural world, and to give form to stories that transcend everyday experiences. Together, these works demonstrate that animals are far more than artistic subjects—they are a mirror of human beliefs, identity, wonder, and creativity.

Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society

November 7, 2026–February 7, 2027

Statement Pieces: Fashioning the Self & Society explores how fashion and the visual arts influence understandings and representations of our identities. Juxtaposing works from the KIA’s collection with contemporary fashion from the Barrett Barrera Projects collection, this exhibition examines how self-presentation and identity have been shaped and reimagined over the last 200 years. Fashion and portraiture address more than appearance—they can present ideas, status, and even offer visibility. They can also become sites where identity— particularly the construction of the feminine—is staged, negotiated, and at times challenged.

Images of nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century women in Statement Pieces reveal how femininity was expressed through posture, dress, and carefully composed surroundings. Contemporary fashions by Gucci and Molly Goddard echo and transform these earlier representations, offering vibrant colors, embellishment, and exaggerated silhouettes to signify status, fantasy, and the persistent performance of femininity. Through photographs by James Van Der Zee and Ernest Withers, who depict African American women as dancers, singers, and cultural icons, the exhibition also explores visibility as a form of authorship, claiming space via movement, glamour, and presence.

This sense of self-determination finds parallels in the garments of Alexander McQueen and Dapper Dan, where clothing serves as both protection and declaration. Elsewhere, Statement Pieces offers a different perspective on selfhood.

Works by Helen Frankenthaler, Catherine Hinkle, and Miriam Schapiro shift attention from outward appearance to emotion, structure, and materiality. Similarly, designers such as Bea Szenfeld and Vivienne Westwood use form and experimentation to push fashion beyond function and into the realm of conceptual art. Meanwhile, Hung Liu, Sheila Pree Bright, Cindy Sherman, and Rei Kawakubo further challenge conventional ideas of identity, representation, and the body. Overall, Statement Pieces:

Fashioning the Self & Society invites visitors to consider how appearance and self-expression shape our understandings of ourselves and others—and how our identities remain dynamic, evolving constructions.

Organized in conjunction with Barrett Barrera Projects.

For more information visit kiarts.org

About the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts

Founded in 1924, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is a nationally accredited art museum and community art school that brings people together through creativity, learning, and shared experience. Each year, more than 100,000 visitors explore 10–15 rotating exhibitions across the museum’s 10 galleries, drawn from a permanent collection of nearly 5,000 works spanning American, European, Asian, and contemporary art.

Beyond the galleries, the KIA is a place where art is not only viewed but made. The Kirk Newman Art School (KNAS) welcomes more than 3,400 enrollments annually, offering hands-on instruction in ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, drawing and painting, printmaking, fiber, photography, glass fusing, and enrichment programs for all ages. Students learn directly from professional artists and educators in a dynamic, studio-based environment.

The museum campus also includes a multi-media auditorium, a publicly accessible art library, an interactive children’s gallery, and the KIA Gallery Shop featuring work by local, regional, and international artists.

Through exhibitions, education, and community partnerships, the KIA serves as a cultural anchor for Southwest Michigan — a place where art sparks curiosity, strengthens connection, and inspires new ways of seeing. Learn more at kiarts.org.