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Alexa Karabin

Visual Artist: Painting

I make intricate handmade watercolor paintings that are made out of my grandmother’s antique jewelry and other non-traditional material. Each piece is adorned with 24k gold leaf.

Thomas Kasdorf

Conrad Kaufman

Conrad is self-taught artist and has a B.S. in Anthropology from WMU. His many public murals can be seen at Food Dance Café, the People’s Food Co-op, the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, the Portage and Kalamazoo Public Libraries and illuminating poems on walls all around Kalamazoo. He has painted over 100 residential murals as well .

Linda Kekic

Visual Artist: Glass; Visual Artist: Jewelry

My interest in kiln fused glass and jewelry began in the fall of 2003 when I signed up for a glass art class at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. I was immediately hooked. Since then I have been having more fun than I could imagine – creating beautiful, colorful pieces of glass to incorporate into jewelry, sculptures, bowls and vases. The beauty of teaching in the Metals and Jewelry Department at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is the opportunity to experiment with a variety of techniques and processes. My work includes hand designed glass art pieces that I shape on a lapidary and fire polish in the kiln, some of which are beveled to a pyramid shape. I also cut and shape a variety of stones and slabs including Fordite, Leland Bluestone, beach glass and 2000 year old Roman Glass. I enjoy traveling the world and wherever I go, I look for local stones, glass and other interesting elements to include in my work. My jewelry pieces frequently are set and paired with metals including sterling silver, copper, brass and Precious Metal Clay. I incorporate a variety of techniques for setting stones and glass including bezel setting, prong setting and tube setting. I also incorporate fold forming, corrugating, forging and a variety of texturing techniques. A recent series called “Junk Yard” jewelry involves soldering metal scrap to sheet metal and designing pendants, earrings, rings and bracelets from asymmetrical materials. I enjoy creating larger glass art sculptures, wall pieces, bowls and vases. I love to pair kiln fused and lamp worked glass with other media including handmade paper, water colors, metals, and encaustics. It is interesting to see how different media complement and interact with each other. I enjoy teaching both jewelry making and kiln fused glass art to students of a variety of ages and skill levels. Teaching art inspires me to continuously improve and expand my skills and interests. Thanks so much for your interest in my work. I love to share my experiences and ideas with others.

Chuck Kelley

Justin Kellner

Visual Artist: Photography

Justin Kellner earned the Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Kendall College of Art and Design. “My intent is to evoke memories and the sense of a place and time while portraying the interrupted cycles existing throughout the natural world’s various ecosystems. Habitat loss resulting in the decline of many bird species through human expansion and climate change are ideas that inspire my work and are infused into it. I always want to help educate and inform viewers on my subject matter through my artwork, but more importantly, I hope my work creates a curiosity in the subject matter. I would rather spark an interest in a view so they then in-turn go out on their own and explore these issues and ideas.” www.justinkellner.com

Mary Kenney

Derek Ketchum

Danny Kim

Film Maker

j.c. kins

Poet; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Prints / Digital Art / Graphic Design

art should be as interesting and complex as its viewer.

Pamela Kirkham

Singer; Visual Artist: Painting

Artist’s Statement Pamela Kirkham is an energetic, expressive painter who works primarily in acrylics. Her work incorporates both the abstract and realistic. Each piece is rich with textures and layer after layer of thin and thick paint. Kirkham found that acrylic paint, with its transparent to opaque consistencies, is the ideal medium for expressing the multi-layered, healing nature of the human mind and its ability to morph from the abstraction of dreams to reality. Many life experiences with native cultures living in New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma have led to the development of her signature artistic theme: healing of the body through the mind. Kirkham combines layers of abstraction and realism, compositionally weaving the viewer’s eye back and forth across diagonal grid patterns, and cleverly leads the viewer upward toward the light. Healing of the mind takes place when viewed through a state of reflection or meditation, helping individuals escape from their life struggles and heal from within. Light is an important element in the artist’s work as it symbolizes a place of inner peace. Basic structure of each piece implies the magnetic fields of Gaia. Upon further familiarity with Kirkham’s unique biography and the sources of inspiration behind her oeuvre, an artist is uncovered who has skillfully marshaled passion, a deep understanding of nature and it’s connection with the human mind, and solid technique to create a genuinely original body of work.

Marissa Klee-Peregon

Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Prints / Digital Art / Graphic Design; Visual Artist: Installation

Marissa Klee-Peregon is an artist based in Kalamazoo, MI. She received her BA in studio art & art history from Wellesley College in 2016, and is now the Post Baccalaureate Fellow in Art at Kalamazoo College. She spent the summer of 2018 as a resident at The Birdsell Project in South Bend, Indiana. She currently has a solo show on view at the Light Fine Arts Gallery at Kalamazoo College, and a two-person show with Patrick Kinne on view at InForm Architecture.

Bill Klinesteker

Tracy Klinesteker

Art Hop Artist; Visual Artist: Painting

It is all about color! I have always reacted very strongly to it. I paint with pastels because of this love for pure color. Because pastels are an opaque medium, I have to layer color over color to create blends. I work with sticks, pencils, and rubber smudgers. I try to avoid using black and white for shadows and highlights, and make different marks to create texture and depth. I gravitate toward detail in my paintings, but recently, I have tried to loosen up a little. I work an area until I feel it looks right to me, then struggle to leave it be. I find pastels a fascinating and challenging medium to work in. My subjects are eclectic. If a scene strikes me, I’ll try it. My abstracts are pure color celebrations, using as many colors in my palette as I can. Artist Statement: “…Standing in the cold with…a seismically red autumn leaf…it’s color hitting  our senses like a blow from a stun gun,…we stand with a huge grin, too paralyzed  by the intricately veined gaudiness of the leaf to move.” — Diane Ackerman, “A Natural History of the Senses”, 1990, p 256, Random House. It is all about color! I have always reacted very strongly to it. As my favorite  author Diane Ackerman describes above, I am sometimes too stunned to move.  I paint with pastels because of this love for pure color. Pastel sticks are pure pigment with binder added to keep them together. The less binder, the purer the pigment, the softer the pastel. Soft pastels blend beautifully and create that lovely, painterly brushstroke. Hard pastels and pencils are for straight edges and fine details. Because pastels are an opaque medium, I have to layer color over color to create blends. I work with sticks, pencils, and rubber smudgers. I try to avoid using black and white for shadows and highlights, and make different marks to create texture and depth. I gravitate toward detail in my paintings, but recently, I have tried to loosen up a little. I work an area until I feel it looks right to me, then struggle to leave it be. I find pastels a fascinating and challenging medium to work in. My subjects are eclectic. If a scene strikes me, I’ll try it. My abstracts are pure color celebrations, using as many colors in my palette as I can. I have fallen deeply in love with this medium and I am having way too much fun! Current news: Working on a diptych called “Locks of Love.” I’ve worked with Helen Kleczynski in her Art House Studio in Vicksburg for about two years now. “Spring Leaf” was accepted into The Great American Paint In Project, which is a group of artists chosen internationally for paintings completed during the first lockdowns of the pandemic. Interview on WMUK’s Art Beat airing on January 8, 2021. Will have a show in the Hand & Wrist waiting area at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo from March through June 2021. Will teach Beginning Pastel Painting with WMU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in the summer of 2021. Juried Awards: 1st Place: “Martini on the Rocks” 2020 Southwest Florida Pastel Society Valued Strokes Show. Second Place & People’s Choice: “Sacred Cairn” 2020 Westminster Presbyterian Church Art Festival. Best in Show: “Spring Leaf” 2020 KVCC Alumni+ Art Show, Center for New Media. 2nd Place: “Martini on the Rocks” 2020 NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery’s Annual Juried Show. Special Recognition: “Autumn Leaves” Nov 2019 LightSpaceTime.com Nature Art Exhibition. 2nd Place: “Door Series #2: Red Portal” Chroma 2019 Pastel Society of Colorado Show. 2nd Place: “H.O.M.E.S.” 2019 KVCC Alumni+ Art Show, Center for New Media. Honorable Mention: “Martini on the Rocks” Pastel 100 Competition, Pastel Journal, April 2019 issue. Special Recognition: “Sammy” May 2018 LightSpaceTime.com Animal Art Exhibition. People’s Choice/Committee Prize: “H.O.M.E.S.” 2018 Westminster Presbyterian Church Art Festival. First Place: “Autumn Leaves” 2017 Westminster Presbyterian Church Art Festival. People’s Choice: “Screaming Bloody Murder” 2016 Westminster Presbyterian Church Art Festival.

Gene Knific

Composer; Film Maker; Musician; Producer; Singer; Teacher / Instructor

Hannah Knoll

I am an artist/designer/aspiring architect base in Kalamazoo, Mi where I recently graduated from Kalamazoo College. While my degree is in physics (with minors in mathematics and studio art) my passion is in design, a field that challenge my on a cross-disciplinary level I enjoy. I am interested primarily in the relationship between community and the physical landscape, leading to my desired career in architecture or urban design, fields I have begun to explore through jobs, internships and my study abroad experience in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am currently working for the Kalamazoo College both at the Office of Facilities Management updating architecturally drawings and serving as the Post-Baccalaureate Fellow in Art for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Stacey Korycki

Kayleigh Kostrzewa

Dancer

Stacy Koviak-Davison

Musician; Singer

Jane Kozhevnikova

Art Hop Artist; Composer; Musician; Teacher / Instructor

Evgeniya “Jane” Kozhevnikova, a Fulbright Scholar, is a candidate for the Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance, currently studying at Western Michigan University. Jane received her bachelor’s degree from the Russian State Professional Pedagogical University and her first master’s degree in Music Composition from Western Michigan University. She has been working as a musician in theatres, performing original music with her jazz band, and teaching piano. In 2019, Jane received a DownBeat Magazine Outstanding Performance award in the Latin jazz category. She also became one of the six winners of “Music Now” contest, a part of ISU Contemporary Music Festival. Her works has been performed at the regional, national, and international level music events. Though Jane specializes in jazz composition, she writes classical chamber music, as well. Her compositions are often inspired by Rachmaninov, Chopin, Brahms, and Scriabin. Among her recent projects is a large choral cycle for mixed voices on the lyrics by Christina Rossetti and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Jane Kramer

Visual Artist: Photography; Visual Artist: Prints / Digital Art / Graphic Design

Jane Kramer has a degree in Anthropology from the University of MN and photography training from the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, MT. She received a 2013 Chris Clark Fellowship from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and was selected to participate in Art from the Lakes – an art exchange program between Japan and MI. This inspired “Foreshadowing – Endangered & Threatened Plant Species”, a project for which she photographs the shadows of endangered plant species and transfers the images (with alcohol gel) onto paper she makes from invasive plant species. www.janekramer.com.

Ashley Kretler

Visual Artist: Painting

Ashley aspires to be the “brunette Elle Woods,” and that means facing each day with unwavering positivity! When she visited the LKF team as part of her interview process, we were impressed not only by her ability to withstand the onslaught of questions, but also by her passion for small businesses and creative mindset. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Ashley’s day-to-day workload includes compiling data matrixes, editing proposals, researching marketing topics, and preventing the Account Executives’ collective hair from catching on fire. The supportive demeanor and sense of detail that Ashley displays is a natural fit within LKF’s hardworking yet fun-loving office atmosphere and we are excited to have her on board.

Katelyn Kronshage

Alexa Kus

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