Material Memory Exhibition

Material Memory explores how knowledge, history, and cultural memory are carried through objects and the act of making. Bringing together four artists working in ceramics, fiber, tapestry, and print, the exhibition centers analog processes, material investigation, and t......More

Material Memory explores how knowledge, history, and cultural memory are carried through objects and the act of making. Bringing together four artists working in ceramics, fiber, tapestry, and print, the exhibition centers analog processes, material investigation, and the slow accumulation of gesture and meaning. Through hand-built ceramics, bead-encrusted vessels, pony-bead tapestries, and meticulously carved relief prints, the artists in Material Memory examine how culture and personal histories are inherited, learned, and reinterpreted through labor, repetition, and intimate engagement with material. These works ask viewers to consider how objects embody memory, mediate identity, and carry stories across generations. Featuring: Chris Salas (Ceramics) Salas’s hand-built ceramic forms emerge through intuitive, iterative processes informed by personal relationships, historical research, and the ongoing legacy of colonization in the Americas. Clay becomes a vessel for cultural reckoning, holding layered histories through time-intensive making and surface. Katie Mongoven (Fiber, Beading) Mongoven transforms found blue-and-white ceramic vessels with intricate beadwork and embroidery. Her labor-intensive practice explores diasporic memory, identity reconstruction, and the reclamation of Orientalist objects through touch, repetition, and bodily presence. akeylah wellington (Sculpture, Tapestry)Wellington’s pony-bead tapestries and mixed-media sculptures blend humor, endurance, and personal history. Drawing on childhood imagery, early digital culture, and found materials, her work preserves stories of displacement, resilience, and generational inheritance. Ramiro Rodriguez (Printmaking)Rodriguez’s woodblock and linoleum relief prints document familial and cultural narratives rooted in Mexican-American print traditions. Through carving and layered printing, his work embeds memory, transformation, and inherited knowledge into the physical act of making. Together, the artists in Material Memory use material as language—foregrounding slow, analog processes as acts of remembering, learning, and transmission. Their works are deeply personal yet culturally resonant, tracing the invisible threads of inheritance that bind past, present, and future.

Krasl Art Center, 707 Lake Blvd, St. Joseph, MI, 49085, United States

Chamber Business After Hours

Be among the first to discover the 2026 Krasl Art Fair plans at May’s Business After Hours. The Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber and KAC will host the event on Thursday, May 14, 2026, from 5 – 7 PM. Come for drinks, light snacks, and networking.

Krasl Art Center, 707 Lake Blvd, St. Joseph, MI, 49085, United States

Preview Party: Sculpture in the Direct Method

Sculpture in the Direct Method presents a dynamic conversation between generations of Black artists, exploring abstraction, representation, and political engagement in modern and contemporary practice. Featuring Isaac Duncan III, Ajene Cetawayo Williams, Richard Hunt, a......More

Sculpture in the Direct Method presents a dynamic conversation between generations of Black artists, exploring abstraction, representation, and political engagement in modern and contemporary practice. Featuring Isaac Duncan III, Ajene Cetawayo Williams, Richard Hunt, and Albert LaVergne, the exhibition highlights how material, form, and concept intersect to reflect both personal and collective histories. The works on view range from bold abstraction to nuanced representation, moving between politically engaged statements and more meditative explorations of gesture and form. Across sculpture and painting, the exhibition demonstrates the breadth and complexity of Black artistic expression. By bringing together artists from two generations, the exhibition invites consideration of how ideas, techniques, and perspectives evolve while remaining grounded in cultural experience and artistic inquiry. Throughout, material and process serve as key points of connection, shaping how artists engage identity, history, and culture.

Krasl Art Center, 707 Lake Blvd, St. Joseph, MI, 49085, United States

Artists in Dialogue: Isaac Duncan III and Ajene Cetawayo Williams

Join artists Isaac Duncan III and Ajene Cetawayo Williams to learn more about their exhibition: Sculpture in the Direct Method.Spanning generations of artistic practice, Sculpture in the Direct Method explores how artists engage abstraction, representation, and material......More

Join artists Isaac Duncan III and Ajene Cetawayo Williams to learn more about their exhibition: Sculpture in the Direct Method.Spanning generations of artistic practice, Sculpture in the Direct Method explores how artists engage abstraction, representation, and material process as interconnected and evolving strategies. The featured artists employ a range of visual languages, from gestural and improvisational approaches to more structured and symbolic forms, reflecting the breadth of contemporary and modern Black artistic practice.At the center of the exhibition is the direct method of metal sculpture, in which materials are cut, bent, and welded together to build form. This process allows for immediacy and revision, positioning material as an active and responsive element in the development of each work. Rather than adhering to predetermined outcomes, artists working in this way often allow form to emerge through interaction with their materials.Sculpture in the Direct Method is on view through August 9th.

Krasl Art Center, 707 Lake Blvd, St. Joseph, MI, 49085, United States

Summer Art Market: May 30

The Summer Art Markets are curated artist markets on Krasl Art Center’s (KAC) beautiful Oval Lawn. The 2026 Summer Markets are held from 10 am – 5 pm. Dates for 2026 are May 30, July 18, August 15, and September 5. This is the same date and time as the St. Joe Today Art......More

The Summer Art Markets are curated artist markets on Krasl Art Center’s (KAC) beautiful Oval Lawn. The 2026 Summer Markets are held from 10 am – 5 pm. Dates for 2026 are May 30, July 18, August 15, and September 5. This is the same date and time as the St. Joe Today Artisan Fair. St. Joe Today and Krasl Art Center will work together to promote both events to optimize foot traffic. Average foot traffic in 2025 was over 1,850 each date. To apply to participate in the 2026 Summer Art Markets: apply here.

Krasl Art Center, 707 Lake Blvd, St. Joseph, MI, 49085, United States