Current Show
October 3, 2025
People Make Place
We invite you to join us in welcoming People Make Place to the gallery, a show saturated with a wide array of work and material. People Make Place has been in development by IWU art professor Henrik Söderström for several years, finally coming to fruition after what he refers to as a “game of telephone” with paper fibers across Grant County. This show uses “memory rich paper”- things like concert stubs, letters, and wedding invitations- as the starting point for making a sort of three-dimensional map of Grant County’s inhabitants. By bringing together the stories and experiences of those around us, we begin to see how the people are what make the place unique.
This show will include the work of several artists and partners included throughout the process of developing the exhibition, such as Tashema Davis, Will Carpenter, Andrew Kondrat, and more. It is also highly interactible, with the public encouraged to come in and experience the show in a tactile way - including answering telephones inside of paintings and contributing their own stories to the gallery walls.
Opening Reception is October 3rd, 2025, from 7-9 pm. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be provided.
July 16, 2025
Celebrate SAQA Indiana II: Quilting as an Art
We invite you to view our collaborative exhibition with SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Indiana, in conjunction with the Quilter’s Hall of Fame Annual Celebration. KAC will be just one of many places downtown filled with highly technical, breathtaking art quilts from July 17th - 19th and beyond.
The following is an excerpt from the curatorial statement by Amy O’Connell, SAQA representative and co-curator of this exhibit:
“When you say “quilt”, many think of the bed coverings our grandmothers made. We often start with the traditional methods of piecing and appliqué used for those, but add techniques like painting on fabric, printing manipulated photos, or hand-dyeing the fabrics. We embellish with beads, yarn, lace, and “draw” on the piece with free-motion quilting. These realistic or abstract pieces belong on museum walls, not relegated to the end of a bed. (Of course, many traditional quilts are truly works of art also).”
This installation will be available for the public to view from July 16th to September 10th of 2025. Join us Friday, July 18th from 5-7 pm for our opening reception! Many of the quilt artists will be in attendance to speak about their work.
FEBRUARY 21, 2025
Making a Garden of Strange Fruit
This exhibition is intended to prototype Marion Legacy, a site of remembrance and contemplation acknowledging the 1930 lynching of James Cameron, Thomas Shipp, and Abraham S. Smith. The project is by Marion-born artist Samuel Levi Jones and his collaborators LAA Office and Sam Van Aken. Making a Garden of Strange Fruit was previously featured at the Chicago Cultural Center for the Chicago Architecture Biennial:
THIS IS A REHEARSAL in 2023/24.
This installation will be available for the public to view from February 21st to July 1st of 2025.
Learn more about this exhibition here. | View our Conversation Bank.
Previous Shows
DECEMBER 6, 2024
Work by the Bored Board
Boredom is fertile ground for creativity. In our overstimulated environments, our minds rarely have the luxury of enough mental space for inspiration to take shape as art. This is compounded in the general expectation of an administrative board, where we often expect participation to be boring and bureaucratic. Instead, this show features our Marion Arts Commission board members' creative expression generated in spaces of contemplation and insight. Through their discipline as makers who often have “day jobs” conducting work for other businesses, they still find time to craft highly skilled art to share with the community. We hope this exhibition staves off your own boredom, and perhaps inspires you to take action when boredom strikes.
Join us for our reception with the board on January 18th, from 7 pm - 9 pm.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2024
MAC Gala
The artwork currently on display comes from the donations of artwork from various accomplished Grant County artists for the purpose of fundraising at the Gala. The Marion Arts Commission and the buyers of the art have graciously allowed it to remain up for the public to view until the end of the exhibition, November 21st.
The MAC Gala strives to celebrate the arts in our community while also paving the way forward by fundraising for the future. This event also highlights the Kennedy Art Center’s one-year anniversary of making art visible.
The Marion Arts Commission is dedicated to supporting the local government through the transformative power of the arts. By fostering creativity, unity, and positive change, MAC aims to contibute to the cultureal enrichment and redevelopment goals of the City of Marion.
