Call for Artists, now through September 30! You’re invited to join the

Buy Local Art & Gift FairSaturday, December 6, 2025 9 am – 4 pm  Free admission to the Fair and trails all day!

KNC’s Buy Local Art & Gift Fair is a celebration of local artists featuring unique booths from top local artisans. The quality and variety of work, friendly artists, and festive atmosphere have made this an annual tradition you don’t want to miss! KNC Members also get invited to the popular Jingle Mingle the evening prior to the art fair.

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Art Drawn From Nature:
Kirk Newman Art School at the Kalamazoo Nature Center

KNC collaborates with the Kalamazoo Institute of the Arts to offer classes at KNC each season. Explore the beauty of the trails, blossoms, trees, animals, and scenery through a range of nature-inspired art courses led by the talented instructors at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA). Please note, registration for these programs is through the KIA. KNC and KIA Members receive a discount!

Learn more about the classes at KNC below.

Creative Nature Journaling 9/13

Creative Nature Journaling
Saturday, September 13, 9 am – 4 pm
Fee: $130/KNC or KIA Members, $150/Non-Members
Meet: KNC Visitor Center

A wonderful opportunity to get in touch with nature and yourself at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. Allow yourself to be inspired by the natural world around you, and pour your creativity onto the page. Try out journaling and sketching prompts, meditative exercises for honing observation skills, and learn to make a botanical study from life. Bring any media you like to work in, a writing utensil, and a journal. Portable stools provided. Please wear appropriate footwear and clothing for the weather and light hiking, as well as water and lunch. Instructor: Taylor Scamehorn

Writing in the Wild 9/20-10/18

Writing in the Wild
4-week session: Saturdays, September 20-October 18, 10 am – Noon (no class October 4)
Fee: $125/KNC or KIA Members, $145/Non-Members
Meet: KNC Visitor Center

Read, write, and discuss a variety of nature-related stories, memoirs, and poems. Gain further appreciation for the ways that nature can inspire and infuse our own writing. Works like Wild by Cheryl Strayed and the poetry of Mary Oliver will be read out loud together and then used as sources of inspiration from which to create new work. During class we will spend time reading, writing, and sharing what we’ve written. We will also take short walks and write outside when weather allows. This class will demonstrate ways of accessing nature—in a cerebral way, through reading and writing, and in a physical way, by taking advantage of the Kalamazoo Nature Center in our own backyard. Instructor: Elissa Cahn

Register at the KIA
Forest Mosaic

Now open in KNC’s Exhibits Hall

The Kalamazoo Nature Center’s exhibit, Forest Mosaic: How Forests Transform and Sustain, is currently open, offering visitors an in-depth exploration of the vital role forests play in our world. This exhibit allows guests to discover the complex web of interactions among plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms that make up the forests of Southwest Michigan. Interactive displays engage visitors in various ways, including a touch-sensitive map that helps them locate different forest biomes along the KNC trails.

Forest Mosaic is engaging an estimated 18,000 visitors, including students from Kalamazoo County schools who visit on field trips. The exhibit also plays a role in large public events like Maple Sugar Fest and offers workshops for area teachers to help them integrate exhibit content into their classrooms.

On view now in the Glen Vista Gallery:

Kalamazoo Woodturners & Woodworkers