September 2 – October 12, 2008

September 2 – November 2, 2008
This loan exhibition of forty paintings from the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, was selected from a collection of over 100 assembled by Michael Hall and Pat Glascock and acquired by the museum several years ago. Costs for the second half of this exhibition are included in the grant budget. The paintings chronicle life in the upper Midwest in the first part of the 20th century, exploring self or place and revealing traditional and changing ways of life. Subjects include the waters, land, people, everyday architecture, cities, daily life, industry and commerce, history and identity.

Like much of American scene painting elsewhere in the country, many Great Lakes artists faithfully recorded people at work and play. Some have affinities to Depression-era subjects or hints of surrealism. Among the highlights is Detroit artist Soltan Zepeshy’s 1931 dynamic view of Woodward Avenue implying the promise, energy and change of the automobile culture.

October 18 – December 19, 2008

January 12 – March 15, 2009
This exhibition of over 100 objects celebrates the expanding KAM collection, in particular gifts and purchases from the past ten years. Among the highlights are Old Master and 19th century paintings, and those by Elaine DeKooning and Alan Shields; sculpture by Reuben Kadish; prints by Chuck Close and Miriam Schapiro; and ceramics by Toshiko Takeazu, Ruth Duckworth, and Louis Raynor. The global focus includes Chinese ancestor portraits, contemporary photographs and Han dynasty ceramics; prints by South African William Kentridge and by Inuit artists; and Islamic miniatures. Photographs range from the 19th century to Yousuf Karsh’s portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe.

Installed by theme, the exhibition will provide an opportunity to research and experiment with interpretation and installation in anticipation of the move to the future Broad Art Museum in 2011. Groupings of landscape, abstraction, ceramic tradition, technical innovation, city and country, twists on tradition, among others, will allow cross cultural connections and global comparisons. Curators (Bandes, Kingsley, Bossen) will consult with docents and other community members in writing labels and developing the educational programming. Select highlights of the exhibition will be written by scholars (8 authors have been secured so far) and published in a Kresge Art Museum Bulletin providing new research on the objects geared for a general audience.

March 21 – April 5, 2009

April 11 – April 26, 2009

May 2 – July 31, 2009
This exhibition will feature approximately 20 nationally-known Michigan artists who work in a range of mediums. Well-respected critics, curators, directors, dealers, artists, and scholars from across the state will be asked this summer to submit three names of artists who meet this criterion. Dennis Nawrocki, CCS, Detroit, and Gene Jenneman, Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, have already been asked. Based on this list, KAM curator April Kingsley will make studio visits to narrow the choices and select the artists to participate by December. We will assure that the pool has broad geographic representation as well as emerging and mid-career artists. Critic Roger Green will write the catalogue essay to accompany the show. We anticipate organizing a series of artist lectures during the show.

September 8 – October 18, 2009
In honor of Lansing’s newest sister city, Asan City in South Korea, this celebration has two parts:

Gods, Demons and Generals: Icons of Korean Shamanism, an exhibition of late 19th-early 20th century paintings of spirits and deities plus several photographs, organized by the Korea Society, New York. It explore the shamanic tradition that has informed Koreans’ world view and their belief system, past and present.

Contemporary Korean Traditions: an exhibition of three contemporary Korean artists whose work is grounded in artistic traditions, such as ceramics and pogaji, the art of wrapping. (Honorariums are included in the budget). They will be chosen next fall from a list that is being compiled with the aide of MSU Studio Art Professor Jae Won Lee, a well-known ceramist originally from Korea of artists living in Korea and the United States. These exhibitions are organized in conjunction with MSU’s Asian Studies Program as is the programming that will cover other Korean arts (film, dance and music) and a lecture by a shaman. KAM’s Director serves on the Lansing Sister Cities Commission board and will assure connections with it.