Mark your calendar now for Art League’s 70th season—days and times vary this season!
Kalamazoo Art League returns for its 70th season with a variety of intriguing speakers and exciting programs. Art League membership is open to any KIA member. Enjoy free admission to Art League’s lectures and discounts on our depARTure travel adventures.
Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 6:30 pm
Reception follows talk
Michelle Hargrave: The Buffet Party-Entertaining with American Ingenuity
Our own Michelle Hargrave, Executive Director of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, kicks off the Art League’s 70th season with a fascinating talk that traces how buffet-style entertaining rose to prominence during the Great Depression as a practical yet stylish alternative to formal dining.
Inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt and fueled by shifting social norms, Americans embraced informal buffets and cocktail parties and companies responded by enlisting designers like Russell Wright and Walter von Nessen to create modern, elegant serving ware tailored to this new way of gathering. The result was a distinctly American approach to entertaining—functional, fashionable, and full of ingenuity.
The Food as Art reception following the program will present buffet food that reflects themes of the presentation. It will be created by Chef Ryne Bisnett and sponsored by Greenleaf Hospitality and the Kalamazoo Country Club.
Thursday, October 16, 2025, 6 pm
Reception at 5:30
Dr. Robert Mintz: East Asian Birding in the Galleries
Art League is delighted to help sponsor this year’s Joy Light Lecture which will feature Dr. Robert Mintz, Deputy Director of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. With a collection of more than 20,000 artworks, the museum celebrates the importance of Asian and Asian American artists. This program is free and open to the public.
Become a member of the Kalamazoo Art League
Members’ dues support this great series of lectures. And free admission to lectures and receptions makes membership a great value!
Check out previous speakers and enjoy- or revisit- their recorded programs.
ART LEAGUE is a motivated and dedicated volunteer organization founded to organize annual lecture series at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Annual dues (valid July 1st thru the next June 30th) are $45.
Since 1955, lecturers have been selected from across the US from the forefront of experts who create, curate, study, or write about art. Art League programs promote understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the visual arts for its members, the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and our community.
Check out what our past lecturers have been doing since they spoke to Art League!
October 9, 2019
Crime Scene Conservation: Preserving the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death
April 10, 2019