Kruizenga Art Museum

Past Exhibitions

Object Lessons: Selected Gifts from the Kamansky-Wheaton Collection, 2014–2024 June 4–August 10, 2024 This exhibition features a selection of the artworks that have been donated from the Kamansky-Wheaton collection over the past 10 years. The artworks were chosen by KAM curator Charles Mason to demonstrate the quality of the collection and to illustrate the range of stories the objects can tell. The museum is immensely grateful to David Kamansky and Gerald Wheaton. Image: Portrait of Margaret Ramsden, attributed to: Cornelius Johnson (English, 1593–1661), Circa 1625. Oil on canvas. Hope College Collection, gift of David Kamansky in honor of his husband Gerald Wheaton, 2023.29.3
Deep Roots, New shoots January 12–May 18, 2024 Deep Roots, New Shoots features 40 African artworks created between the 1960s and the early 2020s, all of which belong to the Kruizenga Museum’s permanent collection. The artworks span the length and breadth of the African continent, from Morocco to South Africa and Nigeria to Ethiopia. They represent a diverse variety of artistic styles and movements, and reflect a broad range of themes and issues, including celebrations of ethnic and national pride, struggles against various forms of inequality and injustice, and critical reflections on the enduring impacts of colonialism and global consumerism. Image: Cookoil pa Speed. Sky Salanje (Zimbabwean, b. 1992), 2022. Acrylic on canvas. Hope College Collection, 2023.28
A New Art for a New China August 26–December 16, 2023 This exhibition features a selection of Chinese prints dating from the late 1930s to the early 2020s that reflect the broader history of China and Chinese printmaking during that period. The artworks belong to a collection of more than 1,500 modern Chinese prints that was formed by Dr. David Ihrman and his late wife Huang Dong Ihrman, and donated to the Kruizenga Museum in 2021. The Ihrman collection ranks among the largest collections of modern Chinese prints to be found outside of China. Image:The Dream of the Butterfly. Shao Mingjiang (Chinese, b. 1956), 1993. Woodcut. 2021.2.1100
Portrait Stories Every portrait tells a story. What’s yours? January 13–May 13, 2023 Portrait Stories was curated by five Hope College students working under the supervision of Kruizenga Art Museum Director Charles Mason. The exhibition features 49 artworks representing a broad range of cultures, time periods and media. It includes portraits by famous historical artists like Rembrandt van Rijn, James Tissot, Kathe Kollwitz and Salvador Dali as well as works by contemporary artists like Rashid Johnson, John Valadez and Zachary Drucker. The artworks in the exhibition were selected by the students to explore different aspects of portraiture and to show how the genre has evolved over time. Image: Tattoo Series No. 5. Qiu Zhijie (Chinese, b. 1969), 2000. Dye coupler print. Hope College Collection, 2015.64
No Planet B September 2–December 10, 2022 No Planet B features 41 artworks that reflect critically on the many environmental problems that currently face our planet, from climate change and sea level rise to industrial pollution and biodiversity loss. The title of the exhibition comes from a catchphrase popularized by former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said that there can be no plan B for solving the world’s environmental problems because there is no planet B. The exhibition was organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum. Image: Cité Soleil 15. Antonio Bolfo (American, b. 1981). Archival inkjet print. 2013. Hope College Collection, 2022.49
Chicanx Art Celebrating Hispanic Heritage September 2–November 5, 2022 In celebration of Hispanic Heritage month, this exhibition features 11 artworks by Chicano and Chicana artists that reflect different aspects of Mexican American culture. Image: Electric Hero: Cesar Chavez. Linda Vallejo (American, b. 1951), 2009. Acrylic on canvas. Hope College Collection, 2022.35
the golden age of dutch delftware Selections from the Jack E. Lapp Collection June 3–August 6, 2022 The Golden Age of Dutch Delftware: Selections from the Jack E. Lapp Collection features a selection of historical and early modern Delftware ceramics drawn from the collection of Hudsonville resident Jack E. Lapp. Formed over a period of 40 years, the Lapp Collection includes more than 250 examples of Dutch Delftware spanning four centuries of production and representing a broad assortment of forms and designs. Image: Dish with Baroque Scrolling Design. Dutch, ca. 1720-1740.Tin-glazed earthenware. Loan from the Jack E. Lapp Collection.
say it loud Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride June 3–August 6, 2022 The KAM celebrates Pride Month with Say It Loud: Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride, an exhibition of 15 artworks by LGBTQ+ artists. Ranging in date from 1911 to 2022, the artworks in the exhibition represent a variety of different countries and cultures. Most of the works are recent acquisitions that have never before been displayed at the museum. Image: Love. Robert Indiana (American, 1928–2018). Circa 1968. Lithograph. Gift of Dr. Winton Stephan, 1991.2.5.
SHANK'S MARE TOKAIDO: Misadventures Along the Eastern Sea Road January 14–May 21, 2022 Shank’s Mare Tōkaidō: Misadventures Along the Eastern Sea Road featured a suite of 60 Japanese woodblock prints depicting places and people along the famous Tōkaidō Road that once ran along the eastern coast of Japan, connecting the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. The exhibition also included six earlier original woodblock prints of the Tōkaidō by Utagawa Hiroshige, along with paintings, photographs, clothing, household wares and other items that shed additional light on the people, places and things portrayed in the Tōkaidō images. Image: Kawasaki. Fujikawa Tamenobu (Japanese, active ca. 1900-1920). 1918. Woodblock print, ink and colors on paper. Hope College Collection, 2014.13.4
Color, Texture, Form: Modern European and American Art from the Brummel Collection September 10–December 11, 2021 Color, Texture, Form featured a selection of 62 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures drawn from the collection of Hope College Class of 1957 alumnus Mike Brummel. Most of the pieces were created by artists active in the cities of New York and Paris during the middle decades of the 20th century. The display included both representational and abstract artwork and featured a special selection of works by the French artist Françoise Gilot. Image: Bird and Blue Flowers (L’oiseau et les fleurs bleues). Françoise Gilot (French, born 1921). Ca. early 1960s. Oil on canvas. Loan from the M.L. Brummel Collection
Michael Ayrton's Minotaur Suite May 28–August 28, 2021 Michael Ayrton’s Minotaur Suite featured a suite of 10 etchings created by British painter, printmaker and sculptor Michael Ayrton in 1971 that portray the life of the Minotaur, a fearsome half-man, half-bull creature from classical Greek mythology. The 10 prints of the Minotaur Suite were accompanied by 22 additional paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures by Ayrton that illustrated his deep engagement with classical Greek mythology over the last 20 years of his career. The museum is grateful to Hope College Professor Emeritus Jack Nyenhuis whose scholarship on Michael Ayrton underpinned the interpretive content of this exhibition and who, along with his wife, Lee, lent or donated many of the artworks included in the display. Image: Minotaur Risen, Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975), 1971, Etching, Hope College Collection, purchased with funds donated by Mr. and Mrs.George Strumbos, 1988.2.8
DRAWING WITH LIGHT: MEZZOTINT PRINTS FROM THE ROSSOF COLLECTION January 19–June 26, 2021 Drawing with Light offered a chronological survey of mezzotint printmaking from the 17th century to the present day. It intentionally included works by many different artists representing a broad range of subjects and styles. The majority of the prints featured in the exhibition were donated or lent from the collection of Arthur and Kristine Rossof of Douglas, Michigan. Image: Mindscape, Gatja Helgart Rothe (German, 1935–2007), 1977, Mezzotint, Gift of Arthur and Kristine Rossof, 2017.69.5
Salvador Dali: Memories of Surrealism January 19–April 17, 2021 Salvador Dali was a leading figure in the Surrealist art movement from the 1920s to the 1970s. Salvador Dali: Memories of Surrealism was a focus exhibition featuring twelve lithographic prints created by Dali in 1971 as a reflection on his long artistic career.
DOMINION OVER THE EARTH November 1–December 20, 2019 Dominion Over the Earth was an online exhibition organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum in conjunction with the Hope College 2020 NEA Big Read Lakeshore program. In consideration of the 2020 Big Read book, Nathaniel Philbrick’s In the Heart of the Sea, which recounts the story of the crew of an early 19th-century American ship that sank in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while hunting whales, this online exhibition features a selection of artworks from the Kruizenga Art Museum collection that explore changing attitudes toward the natural environment in Europe and America from the 18th century to the present.
BLACK LIVES MATTER, BLACK CULTURE MATTERS August 18–December 5, 2020 Black Lives Matter, Black Culture Matters featured fifty artworks that address a variety of topics in African American history and culture from the end of the Civil War to the present. The exhibition attempted to provide some historical context for the current Black Lives Matter protests against systemic racism in criminal justice, education, jobs, health care and housing. It was additionally a celebration of Black culture and the many ways that Black culture has enriched American life over the past two centuries.
Resilience, Resistance and Revival in 20th-Century Yoruba Art January 17–December 18, 2020 Resilience, Resistance and Revival in 20^th-Century Yoruba Art examined the survival and evolution of Yoruba art and culture in Nigeria through the periods of British colonization and post-colonial independence. The artworks included in the exhibition illustrate how Yoruba art has been shaped by the twin forces of continuity and change through the 20th and into the 21st centuries.
TRUTH TO POWER November 1–December 20, 2019 Truth to Power was organized by the Kruizenga Art Museum in conjunction with the Hope College 2019 NEA Big Read Lakeshore program. The exhibition highlighted a small selection of 20th and 21st-century artworks from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, all of which represented the spirit of speaking truth to power.
DEITIES AND DEVOTION IN MONGOLIAN BUDDHIST ART August 30–December 14, 2019 Deities and Devotion in Mongolian Buddhist Art explored the role that art plays in the religious beliefs and devotional practices of Mongolian Tantric Buddhism.
STILL LISTENING: NEW SCULPTURES BY TODD ERICKSON May 31–August 3, 2019 Still Listening featured sculptures by Detroit artist and Hope College alumnus Todd Erickson.
ONCE WERE NOMADS: TEXTILES AND CULTURE IN BALUCHISTAN January 15–May 11, 2019 Once Were Nomads used textiles to examine the traditional life and culture of the nomadic peoples of Baluchistan, a territory that straddles the modern borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
LIVING TRADITION: CONTEMPORARY ETHIOPIAN CHRISTIAN ART FROM THE SOBANIA COLLECTION September 21–December 15, 2018 Living Tradition explored the beliefs and practices of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as they are reflected in contemporary paintings, icons, liturgical objects and other works of art. The 67 artworks in the exhibition were collected and donated to the Kruizenga Art Museum by Dr. Neal Sobania, a Hope alumnus from the Class of 1968 who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia and later went on to make Eastern Africa the focus of his academic career.
IN MEMORY: THE ART OF BILLY MAYER May 29–September 8, 2018 In Memory: The Art of Billy Mayer offered a commemorative look at artist and Hope College faculty member Billy Mayer's artwork.
CULTURE, COMMERCE AND CRITICISM: 500 YEARS OF EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PRINTS January 12–May 19, 2018 Culture, Commerce and Criticism explored how artists in Western culture used prints over the past five centuries as vehicles to transmit knowledge, generate income and critique current events.
FROM BEYOND THE STARS: INNOVATION AND INSPIRATION IN MEIJI JAPANESE ART August 29–December 16, 2017 From Beyond the Stars: Innovation and Inspiration in Meiji Japanese Art, explored some of the major new developments that occurred in Japanese art during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and revealed how art contributed to the larger political, social and economic changes that transformed Japan into a modern world power at that time.
ACCESS POINTS: RECENT ACQUISTIONS OF A TEACHING MUSEUM May 30–August 12, 2017 Access Points presented a diverse selection of artworks that had been recently acquired by the Kruizenga Art Museum. The exhibition included artworks from Asia, Africa, Europe and America that were either generously donated or strategically purchased since 2014.
GOSPEL STORIES: OTTO DIX AND SADAO WATANABE January 10–May 20, 2017 Gospel Stories showcased 47 pieces of work from two important 20th century artists — Otto Dix and Sadao Watanabe — who were inspired to engage deeply with the Christian faith as a result of their experiences during World War II and its aftermath.
AFTER THE RUPUTURE: NEW DIRECTIONS IN MEXICAN ART 1960s–1980s August 30–December 17, 2016 After the Rupture featured a selection of 32 paintings, prints and drawings by 15 artists associated with the Rupture Generation — a group of Mexican artists who broke away from the Muralist School and explored a wider range of styles and subjects between the 1960s and 1980s.
PAST PRESENT EAST WEST: HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION September 9, 2015–May 14, 2016 Past Present East West showcased approximately 70 works of art from the founding collection. The exhibition was divided between the museum's two galleries, with artworks from Europe and the Americas displayed in one gallery, and artworks from Asia displayed in the other.

Past Exhibitions

Chicanx Art

say it loud