Obituary of Carl Raymond Kamulski

Carl Kamulski, of Luna Pier, Michigan and Pembroke, Maine, passed away in his sleep at 3 am on Friday, November 16, 2024, after a long illness. Born May 16, 1942, he was 82 years young. He is survived by his wife, Cheryl, and a younger brother and two sisters. He was predeceased by his beloved brother Paul and wife Frances. He is mourned by Cheryl’s children Jacqueline Erel of Somerset New Jersey, Alison McIntyre (Brian) of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and Michael Krakow of Chicago, Illinois and Luna Pier, Michigan. He will be deeply missed by Cheryl’s grandchildren Bailey (CeCe) McIntyre of Ontario, Canada, Dylan McIntyre of Detroit, Michigan, Kyra (Ryan) Erel of New Jersey, and Alaina McIntyre of Windsor. He will also be missed by his brother Paul’s and Frances’ children, his treasured nephew and niece, Matt Kamulski (Nicole) of Rochester Hills, Michigan, and Sarah Kamulski (Didac) of Catalonia, Spain. And little Pogo, the light of his life, is devastated by his loss.

Born on the east side of Detroit, Carl had a troubled childhood. He lost his father when he was nine, and as the oldest of five children, he struggled to help his mother, grandmother and younger siblings survive. He sold ceramics door to door. He worked two paper routes. He scavenged where he could. He seldom went to school. Eventually he dropped out of school to work in factories to support his family. But later on he halted his downward spiral and returned to school, sometimes living out of an old car. This was the beginning of his life in art. He went on to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts at Wayne State University.

For over twenty seven years, Carl ran the Michigan Gallery in Detroit his child, mistress and muse. He never stopped making art, but seldom promoted his own work. Instead he worked to expose to the world the work of others. He always said his job at the Gallery was to curate the curators and many outstanding exhibits were the result of the genius of artists he selected. And through his annual Motor City Review he provided an opportunity for members, over 2000 at one point, to show their art. Any member could put in a piece; it was a kaleidoscope of artists, from naive to accomplished.

The Gallery was a phenomenon. It had golf and pool tournaments. It had a baseball team, the Gallery Grizzlies. At twice a week life drawing sessions, artists gathered to ‘drink and draw’. The bar was usually open, and artists and lovers of gritty urban art gathered there. Monthly openings lasted well into the morning with local bands performing. The Detroit News called it ‘the gallery on the edge and over the edge.’ Its shows were always exciting.

For four decades he was a Fine Arts professor at Wayne Community College, one of its founding full time faculty. He touched the hearts of thousands of students. Some went on to careers in art and design, and all became patrons of the arts. He was a great teacher, able to inspire and nourish the skills and the souls of his students. He loved the community college, and was sad that his students who became accomplished artists and designers, who went on to Cranbook, Wayne State University, Center for Creative Studies, and a number of other art schools in the country, did not reference where they got their foundation, at the community college. But he understood.

And he was a supporter of the community through his art. For many years he organized art crawls, and bused folks in Monroe, Oakland and Wayne counties to galleries and museums surrounding Detroit, and Toledo, and as far afield as Chicago and Cleveland. He organized more than a dozen cruises, taking students and community members to Mexico, South America, and islands in the Atlantic and Pacific, offering ground tours that enriched their understandings of art and culture.

For 25 years, Carl and Cheryl organized Empty Bowls dinners at their colleges and in their communities, raising over a quarter of a million dollars for local food pantries, five or ten thousand dollars at a time. Different than pricey Empty Bowls dinners in more affluent towns, where tickets could be $50 or $100 a head, a ten dollar ticket allowed just about anyone to have a soup and bread dinner donated by local restaurants and chefs and walk away with a handmade bowl. The goal was to have a community share a dinner modeled on a soup kitchen, knowing all proceeds went to local food pantries to feed the hungry.

While on the faculty of the Downriver Campus of Wayne Community College, Carl was active in many downriver community and arts organizations. Carl and Cheryl also raised funds for Luna Pier for projects such as the city’s electronic sign, the park playscape, the signage and pocket park by Allen Coveand Carl built the planters and refurbished the guardrail at the Allen Cove Bridge with a lot of help from the neighborhood. This and other activities led to Carl and Cheryl’s Luna Pier Citizens of the Year Award. He always gave back.

Carl was adamant that there would be no funeral or wake, but next spring folks will be invited to a celebration of his life near the Gallery. Carl always loved a good party.