Krasl Art Center in downtown St. Joseph, Michigan collects and publicly displays contemporary sculpture. On our campus and throughout the community, indoors and out, you can engage with dynamic artworks by Dale Chihuly, Richard Hunt, George Rickey, and many more artists – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Explore KAC’s public sculpture sites and you will learn about more than art; you will discover the community in which it lives.
Krasl Art Center offers youth and adult education programs in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, photography, stop-motion animation, ceramics, and sculpture. Stay up-to-date on classes by subscribing to our e-newsletter
KAC offers in-person programs including youth camps & classes, teen/adult classes, and visiting artist workshops year-round.
Something is always happening at Krasl Art Center. From the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff to ongoing public events indoors and out to our volunteer gatherings, Krasl is a vibrant year ’round gathering spot. See what’s coming soon. We’d love to see you at Krasl Art Center in beautiful downtown St. Joseph, Michigan.
Head to Lake Bluff Park on the second weekend of July for the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff presented by 1st Source Bank Wealth Advisory Services and Krasl Art Center! 2025 dates are Saturday, July 12 from 10 am – 6 pm, and Sunday, July 13 from 10 am – 5 pm.
The non-profit Krasl Art Center provides southwest Michigan residents and visitors the opportunity to experience high quality art exhibitions, installations, and events, and to participate in art classes, camps, guest artist workshops, and outreach opportunities. Always changing indoors and out, Krasl is grateful for the support of our generous donors, volunteers and members. If you haven’t yet, please consider volunteering, becoming a member and/or making a donation. It all matters.
What a world we live in. This change in life has been so quick and dramatic but one thing is for sure – we all still want to come together and inspire one another. While we may not be able to gather in person, there are still so many stories about creativity and inspiration happening worth sharing – now more than ever. For the past 5 years, PechaKucha St. Joseph/Benton Harbor (PKSJBH) has brought 19 evenings filled with such creative stories, and the 20th installment promises to do just the same.
As part of the new INSPIRE the World initiative from PechaKucha (PK) Headquarters in Tokyo, tune in to PechaKucha St. Joseph/Benton Harbor’s YouTube Event for a free and live online event Thursday, May 14 at 7 PM. Catch familiar faces in the lineup of nine presenters from around the nation and meet PK founder Mark Dytham during this new and inspiring virtual event:
Mark Dytham, PechaKucha Founder, Tokyo, Japan.
Lana DeFrancesco, PechaKucha Organizer, St. Joseph, MI
Ronnika “RJ” Williams, PechaKucha Organizer, Boys and Girls Club, Benton Harbor, MI
Matthew Bizoe, PechaKucha Organizer, Krasl Art Center, Bridgman, MI
Emily McKenna, Krasl Art Center, Benton Harbor, MI
Sara Katanko, PechaKucha Organizer, Wightman, Benton Harbor, MI
Chris Gregory, (former) PechaKucha Organizer, Pepsi Designer, New York, NY
Jude Pullen, Technologist & Physical Prototyping Expert, London, UK
Kelly McElroy, Civil Engineer at Cook Nuclear Plant, St. Joseph, MI
Donations can be made on the organization’s Eventbrite page.
PechaKucha ‘INSPIRE The World’ LIVE events showcase positive, creative and inspiring stories. In times of crisis, the PK global network has mobilized to curate stories of how people, who are creatively coping through the COVID-19 pandemic, can INSPIRE the World. These presentations are curated to talk about not only the pandemic, but also to inspire with stories unrelated to our current situation.
PechaKucha’s – meaning “chit chat” in Japanese – presentation format shows 20 images, each for 20 seconds. In other words, presenters get 400 seconds to tell their story, with visuals guiding the way. Whether you have been to all 19 volumes or this is your first, this fun evening spent hearing from local artists and community members will bring inspirational stories to your home.
This creative outlet began as nighttime get-togethers in Tokyo in 2003 by two renowned architects. Since then, three million people have attended PechaKucha events worldwide. Inspired by their desire to “talk less, show more,” Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo’s Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa) created PechaKucha in February 2003 as a way to attract people to their experimental event space in Roppongi, Japan, and to enable young designers to meet, show their work, and exchange ideas in 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
In 2004, cities in Europe began hosting PK Nights, followed over the years by hundreds of others across the globe. As of April 2019, PechaKucha nights had been held in more than 1,142 cities worldwide and attended by more than 3 million people. The key to the success is the simple format where presenters only get 20 images shown for 20 seconds each — giving anyone a chance to present their recent project or passion.
It’s no surprise PechaKucha has been described at the world’s biggest physical social network! When we now find ourselves lacking physical spaces where creative people can share their work, PechaKucha’s network is able to expose the hidden creativity across the world. PechaKucha nights are organized by local, passionate, and enthusiastic people with backgrounds in many creative fields – hear their stories on May 14!
Wightman, Krasl Art Center, and individual volunteers collaborate to bring this engaging event to the community.