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Thursday, September 30, 2010

ArtPrize 2010

There are big things going on in Grand Rapids! It's the second annual Artprize competion. Grand Rapids Artprize brings artists from all over the world to be part of a public vote for a huge prize.
With a first prize of $250,000, more than 17,000 artists and 192 venues, the city is packed with art; on the sidewalks, in restaurants, hotels, parks, on the bridges and along the river! It's an amazing thing to see and people are coming from all over to see the art and to vote for their favorite.
My sister Terri and I spent the day on Thursday wandering around the city. We saw so many things and I'm going to share a few of our favorites, along with a few things that we didn't care for.

A spun glass exhibit.


I don't know what these are called but I thought they were pretty cool.


This is not what I consider art, but it made me laugh. This is an outfit to prevent social interaction. The hood makes you look straight ahead and not talk to anyone. I told Terri we should get one for her, because we always tease her that wherever she goes, she finds someone to talk to - and she talks a lot!


This was an exhibit on adoption, featuring these kids that were adopted here in the US and internationally.


This exhibit was so fun! There were all these tubes hanging down and when you walked through them, they made a variety of musical sounds. Jean Stauffer - I thought of Austin and how much he would have loved this one.


Does this look like art to you? We thought it looked like someone was cleaning their office, but I guess everyone has different tastes.


This one is made of 10,000 bars of Neutrogena soap. It smelled so good in this room!


Even the local news trucks are getting into the competition.


This exhibit is called Elephant Walk and is next to the Children's Museum. Their heads bob when the wind blows.


We liked this dragon.

This was one of our favorites. It's Martin Luther King; past, present and future. Here's the amazing part of it - it's made of Rubik's cubes; 4282 of them to be exact!

Here is a closeup of it. I can't imagine turning all those cubes to get the colors right and figuring out where each color should go.


This mosaic frog is reading the Lily Pad Daily.


This one isn't exciting to look at but so fun to see. When people walk up or wave their hands by the sensor, different chords would play. We saw a little boy having fun jumping up and down with a big smile on his face, listening to the music he was making.


This picture doesn't do this justice. There are all kinds of animals carved out of the roots - an eagle at the top, a turtle at the bottom, fish swimming out, a toucan, squirrels and foxes. It was really well done.

One man painted pianos and set them all over the city, so people could play on the streets. I played this one and we heard a few others as we walked.


This entire family of lions was made of nails.

Here is a closeup, so you can see the details.


Another neat dragon.



This is Parsifal, the steam pig. The idea was taken from a book by Jules Verne. Can you believe the size of it?

We had a great time and are already looking forward to next year!

27 comments:

Jean said...

You are right!! Austn WOULD have loved it

Unknown said...

Wow! That's phenomenal. I loved the lions made out of nails and the soap sculpture and, oh, I can't choose my favorite. Looks like so much fun. Did you have to do a lot of walking?

Just Mom said...

Something to prevent social interaction? How about games on Facebook. ;-D

Looks like a lot of fun, Mari!

Sadie said...

That looks like all kinds of fun! People are so creative! What a neat way to spend the day!

Kim said...

Working in downtown Grand Rapids has been so fun and I have been able to see quite a few of these things already...however I plan to walk around tonight after work and see even more of them. Great pictures.

Kari said...

wow that looks like so much fun. I love the rubiks cube MLK and the nail family.
I'd love to be walking through all that amazing art.

Cherdecor said...

So many favorites here.....what a nice show!

Cherdecor said...

So many favorites here.....what a nice show!

Cherdecor said...

Sorry about so many comments.....

Pat said...

What a neat town! It looks like a perfect weather day too!
I would love to see this exhibit, does it happen the same time each year?

Renee said...

Wow~ that was amazing! Such wonderful exhibits.

Kim said...

How very cool! I hope we can attend it next year. Looks like so much fun.

Brooke said...

very cool! :) i had to lol @ the social interaction one. we call talking to anyone and everyone "delmar-ing" after my papaw :)

Karin said...

Thanks for the virtual art walk! Amazing, creative and very artsy stuff. Love all those photos! Glad you had a great day!

So happy for you that your son is coming home.

It's been a busy week and I'm just now catching up with reading blogs!!

Have a blessed week-end!

Kayren said...

Oh, my! Well, I can tell you that the giraffe is my favorite zoo animal and Sparky loves frogs, so those especially caught my eye.

That is quite the variety of art.

Rebecca said...

What an amazing variety! I especially like the ones that produce music (there were several) - and that Rubic Cube portrait was impressive!

I hope you're not getting the rain we have down here this morning. That would put a real damper on the festival...

;) said...

Thanks for the possibility to see this exhibition! It's amazing!
Have a nice day

septembermom said...

Very cool to see all those different ways of expressing creativity. I just love artists. No big surprise, I know Mari!

Betty W said...

Your city is so cool. I would love to see this exhibit in person. So interesting! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Debbie said...

Love all these photos. I especially loved the one made out of Neutrogena!

Sandra said...

Those are so cool, you always get such great shots Mari :)

Sue O said...

I'm jealous. I'm also curious. Which ones didn't you care for?

Crown of Beauty said...

AMazing art pieces. It was good to see the pictures you posted. The neutrogena bar soap etching was so unique. And so were the nails!

I have read around a bit... will try the crockpot chicken recipe tonight!

Love
Lidj

Jenny said...

Good heavens! What a wonderful time you must have had! The weather looks perfect. Of course I am partial to the elephants but Parsifal the steam pig is FABULOUS! And I love those nail lions. Thanks for sharing your terrific photos, Mari!

Lynn said...

I remember all the cool stuff you posted LAST year when you went to this festival. The creativity here is AMAZING! I love that you played one of the pianos on the street.

Lynn said...

I remember all the cool stuff you posted LAST year when you went to this festival. The creativity here is AMAZING! I love that you played one of the pianos on the street.

Rebekah said...

Those are incredible