Carolyn Mary Kleefeld – Contact Us
Please fill out form as completely as possible so we can contact you regarding your request.
Illustration is an Artist’s Conception
As related in the press release from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts will create a space for the exploration of creativity, enhancing all students’ experiences on campus, linking the arts with academic disciplines, from humanities and social, biological, and physical sciences to business and computer science — and serve as an essential part of the MCLA learning experience. James Birge, president of MCLA says, “Carolyn’s real gift to MCLA is the inspiration to be creative, to have a space where we can be challenged to define what art is and how creativity is a form of expression of who we are, and how we value one another.”
As the new primary gallery and arts programming space on campus, The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts will support MCLA programs by providing opportunities for students to engage with artists, their work, and the community. It will serve as a dynamic and flexible space for faculty engagement and curricular innovation, fostering meaningful interactions with a rotating array of exhibits and programs. This new venue will also support MCLA’s Benedetti Teaching Artists-in-Residence, student artists-in-residence, and student artists.
A cornerstone of The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts will be its integration of Carolyn Kleefeld’s visual art, writing, and poetry, offering ongoing opportunities for students to curate and engage with her work. Carolyn is the author of twenty-five books, many bilingual and trilingual translations, distributed worldwide. Student engagement with Carolyn’s work may take many forms, including independent and collaborative projects that examine a current exhibit, internships that focus on situating Carolyn’s work both in The Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts and in secure areas across campus, and coursework that engages Carolyn’s visual art, writing, and poetry in a wide range of contexts, especially in terms of demonstrating and celebrating the creative process.
A compelling aspect of MCLA is its location in an art mecca. The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is also in North Adams, and the Clark Institute and Williams College, with its large art museum, are nearby and all these art institutions collaborate and share programs.
Carolyn’s forward-thinking gift is a game-changer, not only for our students and faculty but also for Berkshire County and its surrounding communities, and will continue to be for generations to come. — MCLA President James F. Birge, Ph.D.
About MCLA
At MCLA, we’re here for all — and focused on each — of our students. Classes are taught by educators who care deeply about teaching, and about seeing their students thrive on every level of their lives. In every way possible, the experience at MCLA is designed to elevate our students as individuals, leaders, and communicators, fully empowered to make their impressions on the world. In addition to our 130-year commitment to public education, we have fortified our dedication to equitable academic excellence. MCLA has appeared on U.S. News & World Report’s list of Top Ten Public Colleges for 10 consecutive years, earning the No. 6 spot on the list of Top Public Liberal Arts Schools in the nation for 2025, after earning the No. 7 spot the prior three years. The College’s focus on affordable education and economic prosperity is reflected in additional 2025 U.S. News rankings: No. 5 for Top Performer on Social Mobility for liberal arts colleges in the state and No. 2 for Top Performer on Social Mobility for public liberal arts colleges in the country.
By awarding them the Rising Creator label, Facebook recognizes creators whose content receives high audience engagement. This title is given weekly to creators demonstrating strong audience engagement while maintaining quality, originality, and integrity for their content. Recently, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld received this award for the third time. Carolyn shares her latest poetry, artwork, exciting news, and profiles of brilliant thinkers on her Facebook page. She invites you to subscribe to her Facebook page and follow her creative journey online.
Uncorrupted Mystery, 1990. mixed media on canvas.40 x 72 in.
We are happy to announce Carolyn’s third exhibition at the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, Cosmic Connections, which is drawn from their collection of her works. This exhibition includes several of the artist’s large abstract paintings, taken from multiple series, and related drawings made in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
As Carolyn increasingly identified as a poet and visual artist, she began to create abstract, gestural works referencing the landscape and the cosmos. Two bodies of work, Cosmic Connections and Landscape Abstractions, reflect her deepening understanding of the position within what she calls “the flow.” Recognizing herself as a creative being within a larger natural universe, Carolyn’s work from this period expresses her continuing exploration of spiritual movements and consciousness-expansive practices. Including the most representative works from this period in her oeuvre, Cosmic Connections will remain on view through 2024.
We invite you to visit the Kleefeld Contemporary located at 1250 North Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach, CA 90840. Or you can visit the museum’s website to view collections and exhibitions.
Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum presents Carolyn’s newest exhibition, On Top of a Mountain, which opened on February 7 and will run through December 2023. The exhibition showcases her works from her Northern California home where she has welcomed friends, creatives, and thought leaders for decades.
In her journals, she describes her studio as situated “on top of a mountain”, and has inspired this selection of works. Her way of living is organized around sustained engagement with nature, love, solitude, writing and visual art making, and a rejection of market values and consumerism. Always inspired by life, the art on view is part of the artist’s large gift to the Museum.
Some of Carolyn’s paintings and drawings in the exhibition.
Left to Right: Cosmic Energy Beams, Cosmic Stage Over the Rocks, Circus Icon, I Receive Planetary Guidance, and World Catastrophes.
The Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum as the university expanded and updated the museum at Cal State University Long Beach in Long Beach Monday, Jan 31, 2022. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.
California State University, Long Beach
After nearly two years of construction, Cal State Long Beach’s newly renovated and expanded Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum, formerly known as the University Art Museum, is just days away from welcoming guests once again.
“After two years of working to expand and transform our museum, we are overjoyed to welcome our communities to experience our arts complex, new exhibitions and more,” CSULB museum director Paul Baker Prindle said. “We are very excited to advance our focus on visual abstraction, material innovation and arts integration and offer improved access to our collection as an educational resource that is owned by all Californians.”
The museum will open to the public on Saturday, presenting an entirely new concept in appearance and purpose since its founding in 1973. Notably, the museum is bigger. Much, much bigger. Four thousand square feet were added to the museum since construction began in June 2020, more than doubling the exhibit space.
[ LEARN MORE ]
California State University, Long Beach
UPDATE: Cal State Long Beach has made the decision to postpone the Opening Reception and Unveiling of the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum due to state and local Covid-19 protocols and safety considerations for the public and students. We will announce any new events associated with the opening.
We are excited to celebrate the new redesigned Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum complex that introduces fresh attractions and features, including several new galleries and public spaces. Now transformed, the Museum can better serve visitors with more accessible upgraded facilities, inclusive policies, and multi-use spaces that make the only free museum in Long Beach welcoming for everyone. Visitors of all ages can soon experience free programs in exhibition spaces, an Education Laboratory, native and water-wise plant gardens, a refreshed Patron’s Plaza, and a broadened public art park and landscape with even more sculptural works. Unprecedented collection access, a new museum store with Cal State Long Beach alumni-crafted functional art, and flexible spaces for research and learning opportunities offer something for everyone to enjoy.
[ READ MORE ]