Contemplating an ancient tree, with sketchbook in hand and drifting off into reverie, I will occasionally become aware of a soul inhering in that wall of wood erupting from the earth before me.  As my intellect subsides and other ways of perceiving become dominant, I see the tree before me expanding and contracting in measured pulses - like those of systole and diastole, taking place in exceedingly slow, nearly imperceptible rhythm.  In these moments I have been given a precious gift – one which I feel compelled to share. I circle that very simple reality and point it out once from this angle and then from another perspective, closing in with pencil and paper on that which is.  On a good day; that’s what I do; that’s who I am.  

Ladislav Hanka lives in Kalamazoo and shows his prints and drawings internationally. He examines themes of life, death and transfiguration – nature as the crucible in which man finds a reflection of his own life and meaning. More work and writing are available at his website. See also Ladislav's work on our NonFiction page.

Moments/ Marks in Time, in 4 parts

By Michael Dunn

Media: Ink, color pencils, gouache on folded paper

Each piece is like two pages of an open book. Each work was created in an hour by overlapping marks and techniques to capture each moment of time passing. Circular ink marks started the motion in each piece, reflecting time as being continuous pattern or motion of a cycle.

The white overlapping painting felt like memory of events that are not as clear today as when the event happened originally. It also reflects when I was having eye problems last summer and realized how much that I took the details for granted. Each moment, each memory became precious. What happens when they all blur together? Clarity became a luxury and each moment an event. The white is the light that obscures or the speed that clouds our understanding of what beauty that lies just beyond or beneath our eye level and it happens so quickly.

It's about taking the time to appreciate everything that is all around us before it's gone or taken away from us.  The images are time lapse or time records of an hour, intensely noticed and intentionally hidden.

Marsha Meyer's favorite past time is researching chemistry, physics, cosmology and evolution on a surface level, exploring how we got where we are and how miraculously  it all evolves into a fragile fit. To do this she writes what she learns, doodling together bits and pieces until they flicker into an image or feeling. She also finds inspiration in reading fiction and poetry; experiencing visual art, dance performances and literary readings; and hanging out with smart, artsy people. Marsha is a librarian most of the time, working at the Portage District Library in Portage, Michigan. The above broadside is a collaboration between Marsha and her husband, Michael Dunn.

Holga Image and Max Kneeling

By Kristin DeKam

The Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) mountains flank the southern edge of the Rockies, and given the right light and season, they become rich in color with deep red purples and blues. I see them in my horse's chest due to his markings; in Native American lore, his chest is a shield--a sacred shield. "Kneeling Max" picture is part of a set entitled Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

Kristin DeKam teaches mythology and philosophy in the humanities department at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.  When she's not teaching, she's probably hiking, riding (her horse), or eating.  She's also probably shlepping some kind of camera regardless of the weather or activity. Her interest in the darkroom and alternative printing processes began at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art in a digital negatives class.  But then she met Holga (a small plastic, medium format camera) and the world became delightfully and straightforwardly square. She didn't bother to fix the cracked surface of her iPhone; she retired her digital Nikon to holiday shoots of drunken relatives and/or munchkins; and lastly, she built her own UV light source in her basement to burn Van Dyke and gum images.

Little Hours Carry On

By Sharon Eckstein and Kathleen Borgardt

Pen and ink, colored pencil, letterpress on mat board, loom woven cotton cloth, carry on suitcase

Sharon Eckstein:  Illumination

Kathleen Borgardt:  poetry, letterpress, weaving

Kathleen Borgardt lives and works on her vineyard in Southwestern Michigan. She is a participating writer in Hours, an exhibition of art and writing inspired by the Book of Hours.

Sharon Eckstein has been drawing pictures and writing poems since she can remember. After careers in art education and as a gallery artist she took a hiatus to study psychology, earning her degree to practice. Presently she is combining art and psychology through illustrating psychology modalities and has developed therapy cards depicting inner ego states. She also is studying creative writing with Susan Ramsey at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and besides poetry, she’s writing a novel. She lives in the country with her husband, Brian, two dogs, one cat and countless wildlife.

Tick-Tock, Babycakes

By Amelia Hansen

Watercolor and gouache

Mid-afternoon, the glaring reality: not much time left.

Amelia Hansen has been a freelance illustrator since 1989. She specializes in natural science subjects for books and interpretive exhibits, but has also illustrated four children’s picture books and sometimes works as a graphic recorder.

“Illustration is a powerful communication tool which sometimes speaks more clearly than words”, Amelia says. “For me, the most liberating aspect of the Hours project was the opportunity to make art which isn’t required to speak clearly, paintings which are deliberately meant to mumble veiled suggestions about the emotionally loaded abstract concept of Time.”

Dawn

By Renee Jensen

Oil on canvas

Breaking the kite string

Moments of life flutter away

Looking down my palm holds

A broken string

Letting go in release

The sun which had set

Dawns

~ Charles Myers

Renee Jensen attended the University of Iowa and received an MFA Degree in Art and Multi-media. She has exhibited paintings and video art nationally, including exhibitions at the Kansas City Art Institute, Chicago Art Institute, the Islip Gallery, the Kitchen and the Just Above Midtown Gallery in New York.

She then entered a sixteen-year career in the broadcast industry and produced nationally and internationally distributed programming for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). As a senior producer/director at WOSU-TV in Columbus, Ohio, she produced and directed many award-winning performance programs and documentaries. She has received five Emmys, two CHRIS international film awards and numerous other television awards. Renee is the manager of the Sullivan Center Cultural Art Center in Rockford, Illinois.

Giclée print

Fish Monster

By Paul Nehring

Wire, paper, plaster, wood stain

These sculptures were inspired by the creatures found in the decorative borders of illuminated manuscripts, their original purpose being to poke fun at or otherwise comment on the text.

Paul is a painter, sculptor, gardener and sometimes teacher of art. He also attempts to play various musical instruments, some of which he makes himself.

Ten Hours of Play

By Kat Cole

Found materials, copper, brass, steel, seed beads

I gave myself 10 hours, one hour for each month I will have lived in Kalamazoo.  Laying out objects and scraps found here, I began to play.

Kat Cole creates her art from found materials. She is a metals and jewelry area corrdinator at Western Michigan University.

Quiet Respite

By Kathy Kreager

Forged and welded steel

This piece reflects the emotional state an individual must achieve in order to be engaged in the act of meditation.

Kathy Kreager has a master's degree in social work but was raised by a craftsman. For many years she dabbled in a variety of art forms. When she combined welded and forged steel with stained and fused glass, the result was Magic to her. Her work can be found in several galleries, private and public collections.

6 a.m.

By Elizabeth Kerlikowske

Mixed media

I like to be lost right before the moment of clarity. Like sunrise. Like when a poem is done, all the pieces fit.

Elizabeth Kerlikowske is an English professor, poet and visual artist.She is also president of Friends of Poetry, a 36-year-old nonprofit supporting literary arts in the Kalamazoo area.

Feels Like None, 3 p.m.

By Mindi Bagnall

Digital image, giclee print

When the day gets to be past half over and not enough has been done; that feels like none.

Mindi K. Bagnall is a fine artist living in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from Western Michigan University. More of her work can be seen at her studio in the Park Trades Center in Kalamazoo.

Winged Messengers

By Donna Groot

Mixed media on wood panel

Reflection on the evening light, a peaceful embracing of contradictions within.