Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of Greater Kalamazoo.

I’m just a dude who’s trying to do my best.

And now I’m a dad who is trying to do something that, you know, my son can be proud of.

Hi, I’m Christopher Keener.

I am the founder and steward of Glow Hall in downtown Kalamazoo.

I’m an artist, and a musician, a dad, and a teacher, and I’ve lived in Kalamazoo since 2020.

And this is my space.

I am an artist from Texas and Missouri.

We lived in Chicago for a long time, and came to Kalamasu a few years ago.

Yeah, the pandemic happened, and I found myself in this weird position here where I had this opportunity to do something cool, and, yeah, just decided to go for it.

It was kind of wild.

It was kind of a lot of, like, kismet.

The funny part.

It was, like, I had a bad day at work, where I was, like, kind of really stressed out being a teacher.

So, just on a whim, was, like, looking up spaces, CMO was around, and saw this space, and took a second look at it, ’cause I was, like, couldn’t believe that it was down, like, right where it is, like, right in the center of downtown.

It’s an idea that came up before in the, to do, like, a venue in this town.

There wasn’t, like, a medium sized venue of in Kalamazoo.

There’s bigger, larger venues, and there’s some really great small venues.

You know, every town has, and cities have those, like, medium sized rooms that are kind of, like, for in between the great big acts, and the newer touring or local bands, you know?

Those are the size rooms that I, my first job’s doing sound in, were, those are, like, the size rooms that I spent a lot of time touring across the country in, and just, uh, where I have seen, like, the most mad, like, all the best shows in my experience have been in those size rooms.

All those sort of ideas kind of came together in this space.

Um, like, oh, cool, we could do... a venue, but not be a bar, you know, because, I mean, I like to go to a bar and I like to have a drink or whatever, and I toured for years, and, you know, all those spaces I’m talking about in all those towns.

Those are bars, but also all the times on tour, it would always be like, why do we have to sit in a bar all day, you know?

Like, why does this show have to be at a bar?

Like, why can’t it be at a gallery or another space or, you know, someplace that’s pleasant to be in during the day?

Well, it’s absolutely a gallery space.

Uh, I’d say it’s an event space community gathering space.

One of the cool things about having as much space as we have here and being is that we can use that to be, make ourselves available in a way that doesn’t have to be directly for, you know, like, capital, like, oriented.

The sound is amazing in here.

The sound on stage is some of the best that I’ve had as a musician.

People are asking for less vocals in the monitor.

You know, I’m like, yes.

When you feel comfortable as a musician, you can make have a great performance.

And when you have a great performance, and people feel that, you know?

And I think it kind of, like, starts in the bottom, like, rises up, like, where there’s just, like, this level of comfort in the space.

We are definitely a safe space when we have shows.

It’s not just something we say.

It’s like, people feel it.

People say it all the time, you know?

Um, it’s a really safe and emotionally safe environment.

where everybody’s looking out for each other when we have shows.

We have all this area, this square footage of space that, like, we can provide, we can still be a gallery, we can provide a dining room, but we can also probably just area for people to be, you know, and, like, lounging, and people to meet up and talk and have their, you know, connection, make connections here.

It is a gallery.

It’s a theater.

It’s a music venue, and it’s working really hard to try to make it into some sort of a school as well.

So... Kalamazoo is not a place that I ever considered, or even knew really existed.

Even when I was touring, I never played here or anything like that.

Um, it’s like one of, you know, the, yes there really is Kalamazoo T shirts We made these, Yes, there really is a glow hall in Kalamazoo t shirts.

There’s this wild history here, and of music production, and the birthplace of punk rock is, like, where’s in the seat of it, you know, the birthplace of Motown, all that stuff.

Gibson guitars were made two blocks from here.

The first rap hills were made, like, right down the street from here.

Um, like, just a huge impact on modern music, you know, it’s like wild history.

There’s something in the water, you know?

It is insane how good the local bands are.

These young people coming up in this town.

It’s just, like, like I’ve said, a billion times.

Like, even if you’re not, it’s not your favorite kind of music or whatever, you cannot deny that they rip, they crush it, whatever they’re doing.

And I swear they’re all, I guess maybe it’s YouTube or something, but it’s like, these kids are good, man.

I, like, knew I wanted to be a dad.

You know, I was, like, stoked to be a dad.

And I, like, of course, knew that I would love my kid.

A lot of my work, and before my son was always, like, exploring different ideas of toxic masculinity, and the, like, tenderness to, uh, toughness, line.

A lot of, like, uh, search around toxic masculinity and, uh, generational trauma.

The idea of, like, the responsibility of raising, like, a sensitive white man in America was absolutely terrifying to me.

And so, but it was about, like, this idea of learning how to be a sensitive man, and, um, so, like, those are the things that inspire me in my work.

There was, like, a few tough years there after a pandemic, through the pandemic.

But to come out of it and build this community here and making really great relationships here and getting to know all the local artists and stuff like that.

I mean, doing it like this has been great, because I have this, uh, community in other places.

And as an adult, it’s, like, harder to make those longer relationships and it’s harder to have the time to, like, break into a music or an art scene.

And so by doing this, I’ve, like, really been able to get to know so many more people in the community and really feel, like, such a warm embrace from the people in the community.

And so recently, it’s absolutely been the support rallied around keeping this place afloat.

If you’re in a band these days, you have to also be a photographer.

You also have to be a video maker.

You also have to be a content creator.

You also have to, you know, write copy.

You have to do all these things.

And that’s one way to look at it, or you could look at it as, like, the whole thing is the project, right?

Like, today, I’m gonna shoot video and photographs for the band.

But, uh, the photography and, like, the stuff I’m building for, the set of the photography, there’s sculpture, there’s lighting, there’s all the things involved.

a part of a music project, you know, that will have, like, performance involved with it, you know?

So I now see the whole thing as the work.

My work these days is sculptures, photography, it’s community organizing, it’s video, it’s graphic design, it’s taking a deep breath before we’re playing to somebody who made you mad.

You know, like, uh, it’s like all those things.

I feel like glow hall is my art piece right now.

You know, it’s, like, building this space is my work.

Hanging these curtains up by myself at 2:00 in the morning is, like, me working on my latest sculpture.

But that said, I know that this is a community space, and I want it to grow past me.

Ready?

We always say, like, no matter what, we know we’ll be teaching.

We know we’ll be dancing, doing yoga, doing all of the art, doing everything we do.

So, we hope to be here, you know, for as long as it’s happening, right?

And from there on, wherever we are, we’ll still be doing it.

My name is Joy.

I am one of the owners, instructors, and choreographers at Move with Joy Dance Studio, also a Pilates and Yoga Instructor of over 26 years.

I’m Aerick, the other half of Move with Joy.

I teach breakdancing classes for all ages.

Um, I also do some sound healing during, um, some yoga sessions as well, and I am a full time artist.

So when the pandemic happened and things shut down, we had a chance to think, Well, what do we really want to do, and, um, you know, I knew I just wanted to keep teaching, and at that point, people were reaching out, asking, Hey, you know, I know everything’s shut down, studios are shut down, you know, can you just come to our house and teach, you know, some private sessions?

Can you come out in the field, and we’ll do big classes?

And I was just doing it with people asking me to, but it started being like, Well, this is what I want to do.

This is what people are wanting.

So it just made sense to keep going with it.

So we started, like, investing in, like, behind extra mats, doing all these things, and Aerick someone who was kind of like, We need to make an LLC.

Like, at this point, this is, like, investing.

This is our full time, like, position, right?

That just kind of fell in our lap.

So as we were doing that, you know, being in Michigan with this weather, you know, once it got cold, we were running a basement of a gym for a while.

That kind of, we outgrew very quickly.

So, we started looking for, like, a new space.

Like, where are we gonna go next?

Like, we kind of knew we’d have to get something a little bigger.

We walked by this space, and when I saw the sign, I noticed the name of the company that was renting the space, and I looked it up, and the guy who was in charge of that group.

I went to high school with them, and we met up and kind of talked about our vision, and that’s what they were kind of looking for for this space, something more family based, something, um, for the community, and it just kind of snowballed from there.

We had to start on the roof here, because they were building this space.

But the roof was a good idea, because COVID was still, it was like 2021.

COVID was still like, you kind of want to be outdoors if you’re exercising with people.

But it was harder to do certain classes up there, you know, certain dance classes, particularly being cement, you know?

But we would be able to do yoga and Pilates up there, and we had the access to a community room to offer some classes to, like, more kids based classes and things.

Still, realizing the benefits of, like, being outside, just that nature aspect, the roof has, like, plants up there, so it’s so cool.

Like, we feel grateful to have, like, opportunities for inside and outside.

So we are located in the Edison neighborhood, um, on the corner of Portage in Lake Street.

With this space, we’re in, it’s in the creamery belty.

Oh, yeah.

And this building, what’s cool is this is a wonderful housing space for people, and the YWCA daycares on the other end.

So this is a space for a lot of families to come, like, bring their kids to dance.

Even people that live in the building have opportunities to come utilize the space for, like, almost like a gym, right?

You can come here any day and practice with us.

We are very community based, very family based as well.

We have several classes that you could attend with your teenage child, or even young babies can come.

We have toys in the corner.

We’ve been around enough to know that, that not all spaces are accessible for families, and we want to make sure that we are accessible for anyone and everyone in the community.

And we do a free community yoga every Thursday at 6 every Thursday.

Every Thursday, at 6 o’clock.

Okay.

A lot of things have become luxuries that shouldn’t necessarily be reserved for a certain type of person, or a certain type of status, or any of that kind of stuff, and we want to make sure everybody has access.

Um, at least at least once a week, but, like, um, Joy was saying, we have the community card.

So it could be multiple times a week.

We’re here for the community to help strengthen our community by strengthening ourselves and taking care of ourselves.

And our drop in system.

I think makes it a lot more accessible.

Having to, like, sign up for full sessions of months or weeks, um, can usually be a barrier for folks, um, whereas being able to just drop in when you can, kind of releases that pressure of having to be there every week.

I know that with my breakdancing and, um, teaching the kids and the adults, and the breakdance classes, it has really motivated me and inspired me to learn more, to be able to teach more.

What I love about dance in general, like, when you are allowed to explore it for your entire life, and not told, which is, like, heartbreaking for so many people, to be told at, like, a certain age, okay, you’re done with this now, right?

Have no outlet for that part of you that wants to express.

It allows you to keep elevating throughout your life, because there is so much to learn.

It’s, like, endless learning.

Doing these art shows... was, like, an unexpected inspiration for me, like, my goal for the art shows was really to just give artists more confidence, um, and showing their work.

Um, and... it’s... it’s just been really amazing to see so many... people sharing their work for the first time, to the community, in our space, um, and having their family be there, to be able to support them, and doing that, um, and the community at large, to be able to support them, and doing that.

and to be doing that alongside artists who have been showing work for years.

It’s something I’ve noticed a lot, is, like, when people come here, that’s, like, the first step, because usually, they say, Oh, I’ve taken so long to just get a chance to, like, do something, other than just, like, work and just feel exhausted, right?

That’s where a lot of people are at, but we find that most of people, once they start having a space to express theirself, take care of theirself, like, just even stretching can be, like, soul healing, right?

Um, they kind of start brightening up, and they’ll just be more feeling positive in life, and having more energy, and things don’t feel so burdensome.

So it’s, like, something that is needed, just like any type of healthcare, like, is just, like, a space to, like, express art, express your physical self, um, your mental energy, your emotions, you know, and we open space, too, for, like, a lot of our classes will have intentional little breaks between because people will hang out and chat.

And we’ve cultivated really cool communities.

A wide range of ages and scale levels have shown here together, and I feel like that’s real, community, or real, um, showcase of what the community is capable of, the different views of the community, um, and just how cohesive it can all be in one space.

Free yoga every Thursday, at 6:00, free yoga, every Thursday, at 6:00 p.m.

I thought you said that art.

Yes.

Just want to make it very clear When we started our business, I had a thought, my thought was a plan.

Here’s my plan, and I think I got it all worked out, and I think this is the way it’s gonna go.

Granted, life happens, situations change.

You have to pivot and adapt.

But what I’ve noticed is over the last 4 years are the doors that open, that are not expected, and the ability to, like, jump in and even be afraid of it has opened up so many other opportunities.

My name’s Chafe Hensley.

I live in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

I’m co owner and co creative director of Weirder Wonderland and Creative Goods and Services Business.

I’m also a musician, and I love my community.

Equipment full-time job in August 22. and then jumped right into Weirder Wonderland as being full time, owners of the business, but it’s my full time work, and it’s been going steady since.

So, yeah, fall 22.

What’s wild is that my whole, my approach was graph design and illustration.

That was my main goal.

I ended up in the fall of 22, um, Patrick Hirschberger, Bonus Saves, um, was working on a mural at Condado Tacos, and we were kind of talking, and I saw him on social media.

I reached out to him.

I was like, Hey, I thought this was a joke.

This is real.

He’s like, yeah, I’ll finish up my project.

They have one more wall if you call them up.

Um, I’m sure we can get you in, and if you can finish it in two weeks, then the job’s yours.

So I talked to the art director.

I was like, Hey, I want to do this.

I haven’t done a mural in, kind of, almost 20 years at that point, felt like, jumped right in.

And then, ever since then, I’ve been doing steady painting and mural work, which I didn’t expect that to happen.

I was purely gonna be, like, illustration and graphic design.

And it just opened up this whole thing of creativity and mental health that I experienced from it, that’s been tremendous.

I been chasing it ever since.

I’m real grateful.

Like, it’s been wonderful.

And, um, yeah, I’m definitely actively chasing it.

And I’m in the room here in our space.

This is my new studio space that I share with my painting partner, Heidi Weiss.

We’ve done 3 murals together, and we started this company this year, last year called Double Vision murals that we want to grow.

And so we’re in the process of doing that right now, and that’s part of, like, our, like, joining forces here together to kind of incubate that.

spend more time together in the creative space, and then hopefully do more work.

With making murals, you don’t have to do the fine tuned detail right up against the wall.

And that’s something that Heidi is really helping me with, as far as, like, loosening up my brushstrokes, being limber, paying closer attention to light, closer attention to value, instead of, like, you know, that stuff’s really important, because when you step back, as, you know, most people are viewing murals from a distance.

And so there’s this metaphor in there that I’m sort of figuring out, too, somewhere in, like, perspective.

It’s a lot more of a to do than, I think, a lot of people understand.

Murals have this sort of magic quality of, like, here it is.

You know, a lot of people see it when it’s done.

It’s very rare that people get to see the process of it.

Okay, now I feel good, I could be.

So for my process for mural, creation starts digitally.

Starts with my iPad.

I use a couple different drawing programs for that.

I use procreate for the iPad, and I use that in conjunction with the camera.

So I take a photo of the substrate, whatever I’m working on.

So let’s say if I have an exterior wall, I go, if I have access to the photo, take a photo of myself, or get it sent to me, and then I’ll superimpose an image over it, and use my, like, Photoshop skills and that kind of stuff to, to kind of skew it in place, and make it look as realistic as it can, within a concept sketch.

So always starts digital, always starts, you know, 11 inch iPad.

But yeah, starts small, and then, um, the challenge of getting that design to the substrate.

So, whatever type of wall it is, and mostly, it’s almost always, like, concrete, stucco, cinder block, but almost all the surfaces are a little bit gnarly.

Like, occasionally you do a brand new one.

I’ve done a couple brand new walls, but and that’s usually drywall for interior.

But yeah, being able to adapt to that space.

One of the things that I think a lot of people don’t understand about that with murals is, if you’re exterior, dealing with weather, you’re dealing with, you’re dealing with wind, sun, rain, people, um, all walks of life, which I’m always open to talk to anybody, but sometimes you’ll have someone that might be distracting you or cracks in the pavement that affect your ladders, you know, that you have to balance your ladders out, or if you have a lift that you have to rent.

And it’s not level, you got to get it level, you have to position things in proper ways.

You have to make sure the lift goes all the way up and doesn’t tip over.

If it’s at a weird angle, if you have ladders in specific spaces or scaffolding, sometimes it has to be tied off to the building.

A lot of this work that we do.

I do, is almost entirely collaborative, and I feel like it’s my kind of job, or, I don’t know, if I call it duty, but, like, to be able to work together, and even if it has to compromise some of the things that I feel like, I might want to die on a hill about, learn to navigate that, and also, I’ve learned from it.

Like, I don’t want to be so opinioned and strong willed in something that I believe in.

I wanna be able to, like, work with everybody.

We’ve met so many different people that walk in with their, you know, different viewpoints on it, and almost all of them have been, like, this is just so mesmerizing, like, to see something grand and large scale, or if anybody has a paintbrush and they’re doing something, someone somewhere is gonna be really interesting in what’s happening.

I think that’s the beauty of being a human being.

Like, we’re excited about our creativity.

We are excited about, like, what we’re working on.

I think I’m completely obsessed with color and saturation and energy.

It’s wild because my business of art making and design is so different than that.

I’m fighting the, got to spend more time on my creative work, visually, and then I’m just like, God, I really want to go play this show or go tour.

I want to go write these songs, you know, or I want to go do this other thing and do this design project, or this collaboration thing.

This studio space getting in here now is really exciting to, like, I’m spending next week.

Just, I’m just making my own artwork.

I haven’t taken some time off in a while.

I’m like, I’m just gonna take some time off to work some more.

If I want to say anything, it’s, like, to every creative that we know in this community, like, just jump in and do it, and you got a crew of people that are gonna have your back, and you might have some that aren’t, but don’t listen to them, and follow the people that got your back, you know, and I just, yeah, Kalamazoo, love this place.

Like, I just, I think it’s probably one of my favorite artistic communities in the nation.

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Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of Greater Kalamazoo.