The EFA Rep

  • 2024-2025 Season
    • Dance
      • Inlet Dance Theatre | What Do You Do With An Idea?
      • Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company | Red Firecracker
    • Music
      • JazzReach | Hangin’ With The Giants
      • San Jose Taiko
    • Theater
      • Manual Cinema | The Magic City
      • TheaterWorksUSA | Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! The Musical!
    • Visual Arts
      • Cross Currents: The Art Of Japanese Woodblock Prints Traveling Exhibition
      • Legendary Voices: Art For The Next Century
  • Education Resources
  • Admission | Fees
  • Booking
  • Bus Rebate
  • About EFA
    • All EFA Programs
    • Aesthetic Education
    • Alternative Arts Initiative
    • Bus Rebate
    • EFA Presents!
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Excellence in the Arts High School Courses
    • Grants and Scholarships
    • PACE Program
  • Contact

Visual Arts

Left: Mary Brodbeck, Roadside (detail), Wild Flowers Series, 2023, woodblock print. | Right: Yoshisuke Funasaka, Kimidori Ao – MM 320 (detail), 2018, woodblock print. Photos by Mary Whalen.

Cross Currents: The Art Of Japanese Woodblock Prints Traveling Exhibition

September 9, 2024-June 2, 2025
Installed in schools
Best for grades K-12

Explore both the figurative and the abstract through the ancient art of Japanese woodblock printing. Cross Currents features the works of two contemporary artists who use this centuries-old technique in new ways: Kalamazoo artist Mary Brodbeck and Japanese artist Yoshisuke Funasaka. This exhibition is a culmination of twenty-five years of cross-cultural exchange and relationship of the two artists after Brodbeck studied woodblock printmaking in Tokyo with Funasaka. Students will be able to compare recognizable landscapes with abstract shapes and colors to find new insights in both approaches. EFA will deliver and install the artwork in schools in two-week blocks. MORE

Richard Diebenkorn, Sleeping Woman (detail), 1961, oil on canvas. Director’s Fund, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Image courtesy of Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.

Legendary Voices: Art For The Next Century

September 18, 2024-February 14, 2025
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts
Best for grades K-12

Legendary Voices pairs and groups work from different periods, artists, and genres creating compelling connections and dialogues, while also illuminating the breadth of the KIA’s collection. Themes such as abstraction, environment, identity, and portraiture converge with artistic expressions and innovative practices offering shared narratives and often unexpected parallels. These thoughtful and at times, unusual, selections offer new perspectives and deeper insights into artistic processes spanning several centuries, while also emphasizing notable events and moments during the last century. Legendary Voices also explores how artists grapple with the human condition, question society’s most pressing issues, and draw from their unique cultural contexts and individual experiences. MORE

EFA Wins Arts Innovation Award

In May, EFA was recognized with the Arts Schools Network 2024 Arts Innovation Award. Designed to recognize schools committed to taking innovative artistic risks, this award is presented to a school that has “broken the mold” in using the arts as a vehicle for teaching academics and/or making a positive difference in the lives of students and/or the community. MORE

About EFA

EFA enhances arts education for all K-12 and special education students in Kalamazoo County by making dance, music, theater, literary arts, media arts, and visual arts an essential part of comprehensive education. MORE

Connect with EFA

Want to keep up with what’s happening at EFA? Contact EFA with questions or follow us on social media.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Copyright 2025 | Kalamazoo RESA-Education for the Arts