Kalamazoo Then & Now is a community art activation built around a larger wood-panel painting I began last year depicting Kalamazoo as it looked roughly 75 years ago. I plan to complete this “Then” painting and create a companion “Now” painting that reflects the city’s present‑day character, energy, and lived experience.

In the ‘Then’ painting, the scene itself is from a picture of downtown Kalamazoo with it’s locally-iconic (for the time) buildings with resident passerbys. The ‘Now’ painting will portray a similar vantage point.

To bring the community into the process, I will host a small public event where Kalamazoo residents are invited to contribute their own memories, impressions, or hopes for the city. Participants will write or draw on small paper tags (a single word, a short phrase, a tiny sketch) which will be displayed alongside the two paintings as a collective portrait of Kalamazoo across time.

The project blends visual art, local history, and community storytelling. It creates a space where people can see themselves reflected in the city’s evolution and share what Kalamazoo means to them today.

The wood panel for the “Then” painting was donated  to me by The Heritage Company, a Kalamazoo architectural salvage shop (a local favorite). It was a bit weathered and the idea of ‘Kalamazoo history’ and ‘reuse’ inspired the subject matter - a portrait of Kalamazoo as it once was, built on a foundation of reinvention.