A statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. on display in a park in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Photo courtesy of Lisa Reinertson)

A statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. stands in a park in Kalamazoo, Mich. It has been there for the past 29 years and can find its roots to one Benicia artist.
Lisa Reinertson, a resident of Benicia for the past decade, grew up regal in the stories of her parents marching with Dr. King. She came of age in the Sacramento area and went to the University of California, Davis for art studies. During her post-collegiate career, Reinertson heard the UC Davis School of Law was holding a contest to determine the design of a new Martin Luther King statue. Reinertson took the opportunity and submitted her design. It was chosen and is still there to this day, with civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis having visited the statue in 2016.
A few years later, Reinertson heard about Kalamazoo wanting a Martin Luther King statue for their city. It was around the time Reinertson applied for a National Arts Commission, but once again  she gave it a chance and submitted her design to Kalamazoo. The design was chosen, and Reinertson began work on the statue. Ten years later, the city of Riverside commissioned a King statue from Reinertson as well.
Reinertson said it takes a year from the design process to the statue actually being installed. It took her months to get the Kalamazoo statue just right. Reinertson did research on Dr. King by reading books on him, watching videos and remembering her parents’ stories to help her with the statue’s design.
“When I did the piece in Kalamazoo, I remember the difference between the feeling of being in a show with collectors being around, asking if this is a good investment, compared to the community experience of the sculpture going up in Kalamazoo,” Reinertson said. “It was really about Martin Luther King and not about me.”
A group of community activists, who clean up the park where the Kalamazoo King statue stands, inform Reinertson about events held around Martin Luther King’s birthday and the statue.
“I think mostly I feel honored and grateful I could, through making art, continue the message of Martin Luther King and the message of the civil rights movement,” she said. “I hope when people see the work that they can be moved. I am hoping people can be touched emotionally through the artwork and maybe continue some of the messages of the Civil Rights Movement.”

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