Quotes by Kirk about just a few of his commissed pieces

"The things I enjoy making for myself are not always very seasy to sell. In fact, they are very difficult most of the time. And as I now work full time as a sculptor, out of necssity I make many different kinds of things."

"I think I am fortunate that I can work with the figure as well as with the pure abstraction because it allows me to meet the needs of vaious commission situations. I feel quite good about the work in Cassopolis because it met the particular needs of that situation.

"At the time I did the St. Joe sculpture it seemed to me that the design of the building called for some kind of large, simple, horizontal form. Because of the general shape of the building and the simplicity of the roof lines, the sculpture had to be quite big."

"I have always had a strong interest in the history of religion, and in my studies in college I developed a great respect for the early beginnings of man and his religious connections. So when the oppotrunity came for me to make the altarpiece at St. John's Epicopal Church in Sturgis, I was really excited to do it."

"With Image of the Invisible God, the outdoor relief at the Presbyterian Church in Kalamazoo, I thought a lot about religion always being insde the church building. Wouldn't it be a good idea if somehow ideas could be outside where people could actually walk up and put their hands on the various events in the life of Christ? That's what I tried to do. The relief has 37 different figures in it and at least nine different scenese from the life of Christ."